Big4 IT Consultants and the way forward

Demand of the 4 great IT consultants:

“Big 4 accounting firm is looking for IT auditors”, “Big4 experience in IT auditing, SOX 404, business process controls, internal controls” “Big4 ERP consultant with Big 4 experience”, “Great experience at Big4 in SAP market “, Big 4 firm seeks high-level consultants from Oracle, JD Edwards or PeopleSoft Management / Business” … the list of requirements for Big4 IT consultants is limitless!

Big4 IT Saga:

In addition to being outstanding performers, the Big Four and their clients have the ability to achieve success during periods of uncertainty. According to the Deloitte Technology Fast 500, IT and software companies consistently top the Fast 500 list. The latest Trendsetter Barometer survey from PricewaterhouseCoopers reinforces Deloitte’s reports. The survey confirms that the fastest growing companies in the US allocate more than 60% of the budget to information technology.

What drives the Big 4 IT companies?

IT is an ethereal market that demands business and technology improvements in the blink of an eye. Risk management and change management are important tasks for IT professionals at Big4 firms. Today, there are three major requirements that drive the Big 4 IT companies. Are-

Innovative management

Dynamic staff and

Efficient team dynamics.

Organizational performance at the Big 4 IT firms is driven by the fact that audits, controls, business planning, and information systems development are handled exceptionally. Typically, Big4 IT firms choose professionals for information systems audits, disaster recovery, systems development, and information security. Big4, a website that caters to Big4 alumni, receives regular updates on the latest news and trends across Big4’s four IT firms. The training budget per IT employee at Ernst & Young was $ 2,100 for 2003.

Big4 and ERP:

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is an important bet for the 4 great IT professionals. The Big 4 IT software job market is dominated by ERP technologies from Oracle, SAP, PeopleSoft, Siebel, and Great Plains. Salesforce.com, a leader in Hosted CRM services, competes with all the leading providers of “install and customize” ERP technologies. With a list of 300,000 subscribers, Salesforce.com expects to make a profit of $ 300 million in 2006.

Post Oracle-Siebel Union, the enterprise software technology giant SAP also plans to offer hosted CRM services. Moving out of its mainstream enterprise software technology market, SAP is competing against industry bigwigs like BEA, Oracle, PeopleSoft, and Siebel for top honors in hosted CRM services.

Big4 Firms relies on e-commerce and security:

E-commerce and security play an important role in driving the success rate of the Big Four. In June 2005, Sapient Corp. acquired BIS (Business Information Solutions), a SAP-related services company. With this acquisition, the demand for business intelligence and value optimization services increased dramatically.

Another Big4 stalwart, PricewaterhouseCoopers, helps clients by offering IT cost and performance optimization services. PwC enables organizations to focus on IT business risk, IT spending, IT governance, IT risk management, and compliance.

In the information security arena, compliance is a forerunner. Business process controls, internal controls, and SOX 404 are potential players in improving the business performance of the big four IT firms. According to a Deloitte Research report, a security loophole in a shipping container can represent a loss of $ 1 trillion. Businesses around the world lose $ 12.5 billion due to hacking and spam. Additionally, the report also suggests that global companies view business disruption, poor regulatory compliance, erratic interest rate increases, and terrorist activities as factors affecting security.

Performance of service companies and companies related to products:

In fact, service companies perform better and earn higher revenues than product-related companies. Analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers Trendsetter survey complements the performance of the IT services industry. According to the survey, 62% of e-commerce budgets are dedicated to information technology. Service companies allocate 57% of the e-commerce budget to IT staff, while their counterparts, product sector companies, allocate 44% to IT staff.

Big4 Firms and IT Compliance – The Way Forward:

Sarbanes Oxley and IT compliance measures have had a positive effect on the overall health of the big four companies. With IT auditors and financial auditors guarding and optimizing security measures at Big Four firms, does that mean that Big Four IT professionals with the desired attributes are a no brainer? Bet!