In IT consulting, Accenture dominates all the lists. Deloitte Consulting and IBM Global Services also consistently rank among the top. This article will provide brief definitions and rankings of best IT consulting firms in the industry.
Table of Contents
What is IT consulting?
IT consulting is the tech support for corporations
In management consulting, IT consultants help clients on how they can utilize information technology to meet business goals and solve problems. Their support ranges from cybersecurity, digitization, to artificial intelligence. IT consulting is an expertise classification of management consulting.
IT consulting firms can be divided into 3 groups: the international firms that specialize in IT consulting (Accenture, IBM Consulting, etc.), the big consulting powerhouses that have their own IT arm (MBB, Big 4) and boutique firms that focus on a local geographical area.
IT consulting is divided by 3 areas of service
Information technology is a broad term, so it is further broken down to 3 smaller areas of expertise: IT strategy, IT operations and IT architecture. Each area will have its corresponding IT consulting service.
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IT strategy consulting helps companies lay out plans on how they should use information technology to meet business goals
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IT operations consulting helps companies implement, manage, deliver and support IT services for the business needs of internal and external users
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IT architecture consulting helps companies set up specifications, guidelines and principles to design IT solutions
In IT consulting, Accenture rules
Accenture is an IT services & consulting company and the biggest global consulting firm by far. The tech boom has greatly aided Accenture’s rise, with large corps more than willing to pay hundreds of millions of dollars every year to keep their tech humming. Accenture has grown so big that it’s basically synonymous with tech consulting.
Just so you can see the scale, here’s a comparison.
The MBB’s combined revenue for 2022 was around $27 billion, not even half of Accenture’s $61.59 billion. The MBB have a total of 70,000 employees, a tenth of Accenture’s.
Its market capitalization of $200 billion tops the global professional services sector, with second place Tata trailing behind by $70 billion.
Accenture is the best tech consulting firm, and it’s not even close. You’ll see later in the rankings.
IT consulting salary and compensation
On average, an IT consultant can make around $87,000 a year before bonuses. Depending on your experience, qualifications, seniority and how big the firm is, the average annual salary may range from $51,000 to $119,000.
Some fringe benefits that consulting firms can offer are sick leaves, vacations, payroll taxes, travel reimbursements, etc.
Top IT consulting firms in the US
The following lists are sourced from Firsthand.co (formerly Vault.com) and Consultancy.org.
Firsthand.co annually invites all consultants in a specific region to rank top consulting firms in that area. The score is based on the percentage of consultants voting for a firm. The consultants can vote for up to 3 firms and can not vote for their own.
Consultancy.org provides information for consultants across industries. The consultancy.org network includes consulting.us, consultancy.eu, consultancy.asia. Consultancy.org ranks firms based on depth of offerings, advisory, expertise, track records and quality of thought leadership. Data is collected from both clients and consultants.
And no matter in America, Europe or Asia, Accenture just runs circles around other firms.
Top IT strategy firms (Firsthand)
|
Ranking |
Firms |
% vote |
|
1 |
Accenture |
58.90% |
|
2 |
IBM Consulting |
26.38% |
|
3 |
Deloitte Consulting |
25.35% |
|
4 |
Boston Consulting Group |
16.38% |
|
5 |
Bain & Company |
12.83% |
|
6 |
PwC Advisory/Strategy& |
10.24% |
|
7 |
Capgemini |
10.16% |
|
8 |
KPMG |
8.58% |
|
9 |
Infosys Consulting |
8.50% |
|
10 |
Booz Allen Hamilton |
7.95% |
|
11 |
Cognizant |
7.87% |
|
12 |
Gartner |
7.17% |
|
13 |
Tata Consultancy Services |
6.14% |
|
14 |
Lockheed Martin IT Consulting |
4.57% |
|
15 |
Slalom Consulting |
4.49% |
|
16 |
Protiviti |
2.83% |
|
17 |
Kearney |
2.52% |
|
= |
Wipro Limited |
2.52% |
|
19 |
BAE Systems North America |
2.28% |
|
20 |
CGI |
2.20% |
|
= |
Northrop Grumman IT Consulting |
2.20% |
Top IT operations consulting firms (Firsthand)
|
Ranking |
Firms |
% vote |
|
1 |
Accenture |
56.98% |
|
2 |
IBM Consulting |
23.42% |
|
3 |
Deloitte Consulting |
22.12% |
|
4 |
KPMG |
13.01% |
|
5 |
Capgemini |
12.23% |
|
6 |
Boston Consulting Group |
11.10% |
|
7 |
Bain & Company |
10.75% |
|
8 |
Infosys Consulting |
9.80% |
|
9 |
Cognizant |
9.54% |
|
10 |
Tata Consultancy Services |
8.76% |
|
11 |
Booz Allen Hamilton |
8.41% |
|
12 |
PwC Advisory/Strategy& |
8.15% |
|
13 |
Slalom Consulting |
5.64% |
|
14 |
Wipro Limited |
3.82% |
|
15 |
Gartner |
3.56% |
|
= |
Lockheed Martin IT Consulting |
3.56% |
|
17 |
BAE Systems North America |
2.69% |
|
18 |
Protiviti |
2.60% |
|
19 |
North Highland |
2.43% |
|
20 |
CGI |
2.25% |
Top IT architecture firms (consulting.us)
|
Ranking |
Firms |
|
1 |
Accenture |
|
2 |
Deloitte Consulting |
|
3 |
PA Consulting |
|
4 |
Analysys Mason |
|
5 |
Bain & Company |
|
6 |
Boston Consulting Group |
|
7 |
Capco |
|
8 |
Cedar Management Consulting |
|
9 |
Cordence Worldwide |
|
10 |
EY Parthenon |
|
11 |
McKinsey & Company |
|
12 |
Nextcontinent |
|
13 |
PwC Advisory/Strategy& |
Top IT consulting firms in Europe
Top IT strategy firms (consultancy.eu)
|
Ranking |
Firms |
% vote |
|
1 |
Accenture |
56.07% |
|
2 |
Capgemini |
29.04% |
|
3 |
IBM Global Services |
25.18% |
|
4 |
Deloitte Consulting |
14.71% |
|
5 |
McKinsey & Company |
12.68% |
|
6 |
Infosys Consulting |
11.95% |
|
7 |
Boston Consulting Group |
11.03% |
|
8 |
Tata Consultancy Services |
8.64% |
|
9 |
Bain & Company |
8.27% |
|
10 |
Atos Origin |
8.09% |
|
11 |
EY Parthenon |
7.54% |
|
12 |
Cognizant |
6.43% |
|
13 |
BearingPoint |
5.70% |
|
= |
KPMG |
5.70% |
|
15 |
PA Consulting |
5.33% |
Top IT operations firms (Firsthand)
|
Ranking |
Firms |
% vote |
|
1 |
Accenture |
58.69% |
|
2 |
Capgemini |
22.62% |
|
3 |
IBM Global Services |
22.13% |
|
= |
McKinsey & Company |
22.13% |
|
5 |
Boston Consulting Group |
18.03% |
|
6 |
Deloitte Consulting |
15.57% |
|
7 |
Bain & Company |
9.34% |
|
= |
Infosys Consulting |
9.34% |
|
9 |
Tata Consultancy Services |
7.54% |
|
10 |
BearingPoint |
7.38% |
|
11 |
Gartner |
6.72% |
|
12 |
EY Parthenon |
5.90% |
|
13 |
Atos Origin |
5.57% |
|
14 |
PwC Advisory/Strategy& |
5.25% |
|
15 |
Cognizant |
5.08% |
Top IT architecture firms (consultancy.eu)
|
Ranking |
Firms |
|
1 |
Analysys Mason |
|
2 |
Anderson MacGyver |
|
3 |
Cordence Worldwide |
|
4 |
Digital Power |
|
5 |
Horváth |
|
6 |
Metyis |
|
7 |
Deloitte Consulting |
|
8 |
Bain & Company |
|
9 |
Cedar Management Consulting |
|
10 |
Coeus Consulting |
|
11 |
convedo |
|
12 |
DMW |
|
13 |
Elabor8 |
|
14 |
McKinsey & Company |
|
15 |
Nextcontinent |
Top IT consulting firms in Asia
Top IT strategy firms (Firsthand)
|
Ranking |
Firms |
% vote |
|
1 |
Accenture |
48.42% |
|
2 |
IBM Global Services |
25.00% |
|
3 |
Infosys Consulting |
24.77% |
|
4 |
Tata Consultancy Services |
19.82% |
|
5 |
Capgemini |
14.19% |
|
= |
McKinsey & Company |
14.19% |
|
7 |
Bain & Company |
13.29% |
|
= |
Deloitte Consulting |
13.29% |
|
9 |
Boston Consulting Group |
12.84% |
|
10 |
Wipro Limited |
8.56% |
|
11 |
EY Parthenon |
7.66% |
|
12 |
KPMG |
7.43% |
|
13 |
PwC Advisory/Strategy& |
6.53% |
|
14 |
Gartner |
5.41% |
|
15 |
HCL Technologies |
5.18% |
Top IT operations firms (Firsthand)
|
Ranking |
Firms |
% vote |
|
1 |
Accenture |
42.52% |
|
2 |
IBM Global Services |
26.64% |
|
3 |
Tata Consultancy Services |
21.26% |
|
4 |
Infosys Consulting |
17.29% |
|
5 |
Deloitte Consulting |
13.79% |
|
6 |
Capgemini |
13.55% |
|
7 |
McKinsey & Company |
12.62% |
|
8 |
Boston Consulting Group |
11.21%% |
|
9 |
Bain & Company |
10.75% |
|
10 |
Wipro Limited |
10.51% |
|
11 |
KPMG |
8.18% |
|
12 |
HCL Technologies |
7.71% |
|
= |
Tech Mahindra |
7.71% |
|
14 |
EY Parthenon |
7.01% |
|
= |
PwC Advisory/Strategy& |
7.01% |
Top IT architecture firms (consultancy.asia)
|
Ranking |
Firms |
|
1 |
Cedar Management Consulting |
|
2 |
Deloitte Consulting |
|
3 |
Analysys Mason |
|
4 |
Bain & Company |
|
5 |
Boston Consulting Group |
|
6 |
Cordence Worldwide |
|
7 |
Elabor8 |
|
8 |
McKinsey & Company |
|
9 |
Nextcontinent |
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