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Gartner: worldwide IT services revenue sees 6% growth in 2005     Worldwide IT services revenue totalled $624.4bn in 2005, a 6% increase from 2004 revenue of $588.9bn, according to Gartner, Inc.    “Traditionally, the outsourcing service segment has been the key growth area for the worldwide IT services market, but that trend was altered in 2005,” said Kathryn Hale, research vice president for Gartner’s worldwide IT services group. “In 2005, project-based services and software support grew at a greater rate than the overall market average, which has not been the     case since 2000.”    IBM continued to be the worldwide market leader, but its growth rate was below the industry average. Accenture and CSC were the only vendors in the top six that experienced revenue growth rates above the overall market average.    Healthcare organisations provided the greatest growth in spending on external IT services providers in 2005, but this segment is relatively small compared to other verticals. The healthcare category increased its spending from $17.9bn in 2004 to     $19.4bn in 2005, representing a growth rate of 8.7%. The financial services market continued to be the largest vertical for IT services revenue with revenue totalling $141.3bn in 2005, a 7% increase from 2004.    In the Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region IT services revenue totalled €173bn in 2005, a 5.8% increase from 2004.    “Project-based services, that is consulting, development and integration, returned to a healthier growth in 2005 with a 5.6% increase from 2004,” said Robert De     Souza, principal research analyst at Gartner in EMEA. “In addition, process management grew almost 2% higher than the average market growth with an increase of 7.9% compared to last year.”    The top five vendors remain the same as last year with some movement in ranking. IBM maintained its number one position while decreasing its market share slightly. Hewlett-Packard lost its number two position to Accenture who moved up from the number four spot and increased its market shares to 3.7% in 2005. T-Systems’ market     share dropped slightly in 2005 pushing it down to fourth position.    These estimates are preliminary at this time. Detailed market share statistics are scheduled to be published in August. The data published covers approximately 450 IT services vendors, seven geographic regions, 40 countries, six IT services segments, six IT platforms, and 14 vertical industries in 37 countries.

Business consulting to grow over next five years, says IDC     According to a recent IDC study, business consulting is set to be an area of increasing focus and innovation for services providers, as well as greater user spending. Market researcher IDC expects worldwide business consulting spending to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.9% from 2005-2010.    The study attributes this upward forecast primarily to the accelerating convergence of business and IT processes. This increasing link between business and IT is in part causing nearly all general management consultancies (GMCs), advisory firms, and consulting niche players to significantly build up their technology-focused     capabilities, intellectual property (IP), and talent.    “The growing convergence of business and IT – in dialogue and in fact – has obscured many of the strict distinctions between the IT and business sides of consulting services,” said Bo Di Muccio, program manager for Consulting Services at IDC. “While the nature of the activities and players in these markets still warrants treating IT and business consulting separately, the primary implication of this convergence is that the business consulting market is more closely tied to IT than ever. IDC believes that the worldwide business consulting market is poised to settle into a phase of growth that will be     stronger than we have been predicting for some time.”    The study finds that business consulting spending will not grow uniformly across geographies. From a large base, business consulting will grow slowest in the Americas, fastest in Asia/Pacific, and at a pace approximately in the middle in EMEA. For this reason, the Americas region will lose business consulting spending share slightly over the next five years to both EMEA and Asia/Pacific. However, the study finds that throughout the forecast period the Americas will be the locus of well over half of all global business consulting spending, and will be the principal geographic driver of dynamics in     this market.    “As business consulting services providers universally scramble to acquire technically focused talent and build technical capabilities and intellectual property, their ability to deliver across business and IT functions is becoming less and less of a potential differentiator,” added Di Muccio. “Therefore, business consultants will increasingly be forced to find other ways of differentiating themselves, and one example is through the productisation of business consulting offerings.”    The study, Worldwide Business Consulting Services 2006-2010 Forecast, offers a comprehensive analysis     of the global business consulting market and provides a five-year forecast based on analysis of consulting buyers’ needs and behaviour, market trends and imperatives, the competitive landscape, pricing, and talent management dynamics. Worldwide business consulting spending is segmented by geographic region and service line. The study also provides a comparison of IDC’s 2005 and 2006 forecasts, along with guidance for providers of business consulting services, management consultancies, advisory firms, IT services firms, and buyers of business consulting services.

Candidate activity heightens as firms vie to attract the right talent     Candidate interest in management consultancy careers reached a nine-month high in May, according to the latest figures released by Top-Consultant.com – the specialist jobs board for the management consultancy sector.    Views of job adverts were at their highest level since September 2005, itself one of the busiest months in the consultancy recruitment calendar.     quarter 2005 and 309,000 in the first quarter of 2006.    “A combination of record levels of job postings and the recently announced industry growth figures have given candidates the belief that today’s market offers exceptional opportunities for a change in career direction and faster career progression,” commented Top-Consultant     Director Tony Restell. “This has resulted in heightened levels of candidate activity on our jobs board – which is great news for advertisers and also a barometer of how fluid the candidate market is right now.”    The announcement of 26% growth in candidate activity levels since the fourth quarter of 2005 comes just two weeks after the industry announced that firms had     increased their employment of consulting staff by 27% in 2005. Similar hiring volumes are expected in 2006 and the need to hit aggressive headcount targets has made recruitment and retention firms’ number one priority for the coming year, according to industry body the MCA.           Candidates interested in careers in consulting reviewed job adverts a total of 370,000 times in May 2006, up from a monthly average of 294,000 in the fourth

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