Abstract
The article aims at giving a brief historic view of the Information technology consulting industry, how it evolved, the key success drivers and the sources providing it a competitive advantage in today’s global market.
Information technology (IT) consulting roots from way back in 1980s with the massive client base of management consulting firms getting more demanding with time to advice them on managing their Information Technology resources at the optimum level while developing their business strategies. This was quite an expected addendum as it often involved increased complexity and expenditure of the required IT utilizations. With time, as the business model matured, an increased number of players like McKinsey and Booz, Allen and Hamilton framed their own areas to provide this service to their enormous client base which consequently provided them a considerable boost in strengthening their client relationship. The key success factors of IT consulting industry will be attributed to:
– Focus on client satisfaction with accurate and time-bound delivery of assignments
– Required skill sets to execute a project at the desired efficiency level
– Cost advantage. Given the current global economy, the same project can be executed by
various firms with the same output. However, the one with the desired output with the
lowest cost wins end of the day
In this current market, time is the most significant source of competitive advantage with the combination of finance, productivity, quality and innovation. Any firm which is capable of delivering a project on or before time with the desired key results is more likely to get a repeat business from it’s clients. The other important source is the degree of adaptability to growing changes. This gives a definite edge to firms considering the immense dynamic nature of cutting edge technologies and the rising demand for fast yet smooth adaptability and utilization in real time projects.
References
www.answers.com
Jalona, S. & Chandrakar, A. Win in the flat world (Infosys)
Nolan, Richard & Bennigson, Larry. Information Technology Consulting (2002)
Stalk, George Jr. Article on “Time-The Next Source of Competitive Advantage”
