Big4 IT Consultants and The Road Ahead
Demand for Big 4 IT Consultants: "A Big 4 Accounting firm
is seeking IT Auditors," "Big4 experience in IT Audit, SOX 404,
Business Process controls, internal controls" "Big4 ERP
consultant with Big 4 experience," "Strong Big4 experience in
the SAP market," "Big 4 firm seeks senior level Oracle, JD
Edwards or PeopleSoft Management/Business Consultants" ... the
requirements list for Big4 IT consultants is limitless!
Big4 IT Saga: Apart from being extraordinary performers,
the Big Four firms and their clients have the knack of
achieving success during uncertain periods. According to
Deloitte Technology Fast 500, IT and Software firms consistently
lead the Fast 500 list. The latest Trendsetter Barometer survey
from PricewaterhouseCoopers strengthens Deloitte's reports. The
survey avers that the fastest growing companies in the U.S.
allocate more than 60% of the budget for Information Technology.
What drives the Big 4 IT Firms? IT is an ethereal market
that demands business and technology improvements at the drop of
a hat. Managing risks and handling change are important tasks
for IT professionals at the Big4 firms. Today, there are three
significant requirements that drive the Big 4 IT firms.
They are-
Innovative Management
Dynamic Staff and
Efficient Team Dynamics.
Organizational performance at Big 4 IT firms is driven
by the fact that the Information Systems Audits, Controls,
Business Planning and Development are handled exceptionally.
Typically, Big4 IT firms choose professionals for
Information Systems Audits, Disaster Recovery, Systems
Development and Information Security. http://www.big4.com
- a website catering to
Big4 alumni - receives periodic updates on the latest news and trends at the Big
Four IT firms. The training budget per IT employee at Ernst
& Young was U.S.$2,100 for the year 2003.
Big4 and ERP: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a
major bet for Big 4 IT professionals. Big 4 IT
software job market is dominated by ERP technologies from
Oracle, SAP, PeopleSoft, Siebel and Great Plains.
Salesforce.com, the Hosted CRM services leader, competes with
all the top "Install and Customize" ERP technologies providers.
With a 300,000 subscribers list, Salesforce.com expects to reach
a U.S.$ 300 million profit in 2006.
Post Oracle-Siebel Union, Enterprise Software Technology giant,
SAP, is also planning to offer hosted CRM Services. Budging from
its conventional Enterprise Software Technology market, SAP is
competing against industry bigwigs like BEA, Oracle, PeopleSoft
and Siebel to earn top honors in hosted CRM services.
Big4 Firms rely on E-business and Security: E-business
and Security are playing important roles in driving the success
rate of Big Four firms. In June 2005, Sapient Corp.
acquired BIS (Business Information Solutions,) a SAP-related
services firm. With this acquisition, the demand for Business
Intelligence and value Optimization Services increased
tremendously.
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, SOX
404 are potential players in improving the business performance
of the Big Four IT firms. As per a Deloitte Research
report, a security loophole in a shipping container can amount
to U.S.$ 1 trillion loss. Companies worldwide lose U.S.$ 12.5
billion due to computer hacking and spamming. Additionally, the
report also suggests that global companies consider business
disruption, poor regulatory compliance, erratic surges in
interest rates, terrorist activities as factors affecting
Security.
Performance of Service Companies and Product-related
companies: As a matter of fact, service companies are
performing better and reaping higher revenue than the
product-related companies. The analysis made by the
PricewaterhouseCoopers' Trendsetter survey compliments the
performance of IT services industry. As per the survey, 62% of
e-business budgeting caters to Information Technology. Service
companies bestow 57% of the e-business budget towards IT
personnel, while their counterparts, the product sector firms,
allocate 44% for IT personnel.
Big4 Firms and IT Compliance - The Road Ahead: Sarbanes
Oxley and IT Compliance measures have had a positive effect on
the overall health of the Big Four firms. With IT
auditors and financial auditors standing guard and streamlining
the Security measures at Big Four firms, does that mean
Big Four IT professionals with desired attributes are a
hotcake? You bet!