Information Technology Consulting in Global Information Technology

In general terms, IT consulting is the service provided by an IT consulting agency when a company implements a new IT system, that is, a system with which companies store, retrieve, disseminate, and use information (FEACO, 2006). Parallel to the internationalization of the IT sector in globalizing economies, the field of IT consulting has grown and diversified significantly during the last ten years, comprising at present a wide range of business areas, technologies, and services. Due to the fact that information technology is increasingly seen as linked to business strategy, the borders of management consulting are becoming more difficult to discern. This chapter covers the various aspects of IT consultants’ work to enable a more detailed exploration of their practices and their influence in organizations around the globe in the future. It gives an overview of the latest developments in IT consulting, identifying the main characteristics and discussing current research on the roles of IT consultants in broad economic and specific organizational contexts, providing a conceptual framework for further analysis.