Information Technology Consulting - Overview

Overview

The IT consulting industry can be viewed as a Four-tier system:

• Professional services firms which maintain large professional workforces and command high bill rates.
• Staffing firms, which place technologists with businesses on a temporary basis, typically in response to employee absences, temporary skill shortages and technical projects.
• Independent consultants, who are self-employed or who function as employees of staffing firms (for US tax purposes, employed on "W-2"), or as independent contractors in their own right (for US tax purposes, on "1099").
• Information Security Consultants

There are different reasons why consultants are called in:

• To gain external, more objective advice and recommendations
• To gain access to the consultants' specialized expertise
• Simply as temporary help during a one-time project, where the hiring of permanent employees is not required
• To outsource all or part of the IT services