With global management consulting services revenue climbing from $266.1 billion in 2022 to a projected $308.8 billion in 2025, this post breaks down the tech industry trends and benchmarks driving demand, from strategy and digital transformation to operations and supply chain work.
Key Takeaways
- 42% of respondents reported using management consulting services for business strategy work
- 32% of respondents reported using management consulting services for digital transformation work
- 28% of respondents reported using management consulting services for operations and supply chain work
- World expenditure on management consulting services was $253.8 billion in 2021
- $266.1 billion global management consulting services revenue in 2022
- $279.3 billion global management consulting services revenue in 2023
- 3.2% of firms' total IT spend (median) is allocated to consulting and system integration
- VMware indicates that organizations can achieve 30–50% reductions in data center footprint through virtualization
- Gartner estimates that by 2025, 30% of enterprises will use cloud cost management tools
- KPMG reports that 70% of large-scale transformations do not meet objectives
- Ponemon/IBM: the average time to identify a data breach was 207 days (2023 report)
- Ponemon/IBM: the average time to contain a data breach was 73 days (2023 report)
- In 2023, 51% of enterprise workloads were in the cloud (Gartner cloud adoption metric)
Management consulting spending is rising fast as strategy, digital transformation, and operations support cloud and AI adoption.
Industry Trends
142% of respondents reported using management consulting services for business strategy work[1]
Verified232% of respondents reported using management consulting services for digital transformation work[2]
Verified328% of respondents reported using management consulting services for operations and supply chain work[3]
Verified442% of enterprises planned to increase spending on cloud and cloud-adjacent services in 2024[4]
Directional537% of enterprises planned to increase spending on cybersecurity in 2024[4]
Single source6Gartner predicts that by 2025, 85% of customer interactions will be managed by AI[5]
Verified7Gartner predicts that by 2026, 65% of enterprise software solutions will use AI[6]
Verified8Worldwide spending on IT services is forecast to grow at a 7.0% CAGR during 2024–2028 (IDC estimate)[7]
Verified9For 2024, IDC forecasts global spending on IT services to be $1.6T with consulting and systems integration among major drivers[7]
Directional10In 2023, global IT spending increased by 5.1% year over year (Gartner estimate)[8]
Single source11Gartner forecast worldwide IT spending will total $5.0 trillion in 2024, with growth of 8.7%[8]
Verified12Gartner forecast enterprise IT spending in North America will grow by 6.5% in 2024[8]
Verified13Gartner forecast enterprise IT spending in Europe will grow by 5.7% in 2024[8]
Verified14Gartner forecast enterprise IT spending in Asia/Pacific will grow by 6.3% in 2024[8]
Directional15Gartner predicts that by 2025, 60% of new enterprise applications will be developed using composable architecture[9]
Single source16Gartner predicts that by 2026, 80% of product teams will use a product platform approach to accelerate delivery[10]
Verified17Gartner predicts that by 2027, 25% of customer service operations will be managed by AI copilots[11]
VerifiedIndustry Trends Interpretation
Across strategy, digital transformation, and operations, firms are aligning budgets toward cloud and cybersecurity, with 42% planning higher cloud spend in 2024 and 37% increasing cybersecurity spending, while Gartner projects AI-driven customer and software experiences will rapidly expand from 85% of customer interactions by 2025 to 65% of enterprise software solutions using AI by 2026.
Market Size
1World expenditure on management consulting services was $253.8 billion in 2021[12]
Verified2$266.1 billion global management consulting services revenue in 2022[12]
Verified3$279.3 billion global management consulting services revenue in 2023[12]
Verified4Expected $292.9 billion global management consulting services revenue in 2024[12]
Directional5Expected $308.8 billion global management consulting services revenue in 2025[12]
Single source6$162.1 billion U.S. management consulting services market revenue in 2023[13]
Verified7$31.5 billion management consulting services revenue in the UK in 2023[13]
Verified8$34.2 billion management consulting services revenue in Germany in 2023[13]
Verified9$20.1 billion management consulting services revenue in France in 2023[13]
Directional10$8.9 billion management consulting services revenue in Australia in 2023[13]
Single source11Global spending on IT services is projected to reach $1.64 trillion in 2024[8]
Verified12$1.64 trillion global IT services spending projection for 2024 (IT services includes consulting and systems integration)[8]
Verified13$493.6 billion global software spending projected for 2024[8]
Verified14IDC projects worldwide spending on public cloud services to reach $679.0 billion in 2024[14]
Directional15IDC projects worldwide spending on public cloud services to reach $1,000.4 billion in 2028[15]
Single source16IDC projects worldwide spending on IT services to reach $1.6 trillion in 2024[7]
Verified17Worldwide IT spending reached $5.1 trillion in 2023 (Gartner)[8]
Verified18Worldwide IT spending is forecast to reach $5.0 trillion in 2024 (Gartner)[8]
Verified19Gartner forecast IT services spending will reach $1.66 trillion in 2024 (including consulting and systems integration)[8]
Directional20McKinsey: generative AI could add $2.6–4.4 trillion annually to the global economy[16]
Single source21$1.8 trillion could be generated through productivity gains from generative AI (McKinsey midpoint range)[16]
Verified22McKinsey estimates that generative AI could create $400 billion to $800 billion of value in retail, and $700 billion to $1.3 trillion in banking globally[16]
Verified23The cloud market is expected to reach $1.1 trillion by 2026 (global cloud infrastructure and platform services estimate from Gartner)[17]
VerifiedMarket Size Interpretation
Global management consulting revenue is set to rise from $279.3 billion in 2023 to $292.9 billion in 2024 and $308.8 billion in 2025, supported by rapid growth in IT services projected to reach $1.66 trillion in 2024 and public cloud spending of $679.0 billion that same year.
Cost Analysis
13.2% of firms' total IT spend (median) is allocated to consulting and system integration[18]
Verified2VMware indicates that organizations can achieve 30–50% reductions in data center footprint through virtualization[19]
Verified3Gartner estimates that by 2025, 30% of enterprises will use cloud cost management tools[20]
Verified4Gartner predicts that by 2024, 60% of enterprises will use IT operations analytics (impacting optimization spend)[21]
Directional5IBM reports that the average cost of a data breach was $4.45 million in 2017[22]
Single source6IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024 states the average total cost of a data breach is $4.88 million in 2023[22]
VerifiedCost Analysis Interpretation
With only 3.2% of firms’ IT spend going to consulting and system integration but strong momentum toward virtualization and cloud and operations analytics, organizations are likely being pushed to optimize faster even as data breach costs remain high at $4.88 million on average in 2023 compared with $4.45 million in 2017.
Performance Metrics
Performance Metrics Interpretation
With 70% of large-scale transformations failing to hit their objectives and data breaches taking 207 days to identify and 73 days to contain on average, organizations are clearly struggling to execute both change and security fast enough to matter.
User Adoption
1In 2023, 51% of enterprise workloads were in the cloud (Gartner cloud adoption metric)[24]
VerifiedUser Adoption Interpretation
In 2023, 51% of enterprise workloads were already in the cloud, showing that cloud adoption is now the majority reality for management consulting tech environments.
References
- 1statista.com/statistics/1047373/management-consulting-services-used-by-purpose/
- 2statista.com/statistics/1047378/management-consulting-services-used-by-purpose-digital-transformation/
- 3statista.com/statistics/1047385/management-consulting-services-used-by-purpose-operations-supply-chain/
- 12statista.com/statistics/245819/management-consulting-services-global-revenue/
- 13statista.com/statistics/245815/management-consulting-services-revenue-by-country/
- 4gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-03-26-gartner-analyst-finds-cloud-spending-to-increase
- 5gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-10-05-gartner-predicts-the-future-of-customer-interactions-with-generative-ai
- 6gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-11-21-gartner-predicts-65-percent-of-enterprise-software-will-use-ai-by-2026
- 8gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-02-15-gartner-forecasts-worldwide-it-spending-to-reach-5-trillion-in-2024
- 9gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-10-10-gartner-predicts-60-percent-of-new-enterprise-applications-will-be-developed-using-composable-architecture-by-2025
- 10gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-02-20-gartner-predicts-80-percent-of-product-teams-will-use-a-product-platform-approach-by-2026
- 11gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-01-23-gartner-predicts-ai-copilots-will-manage-25-percent-of-customer-service-operations-by-2027
- 17gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-02-xx-gartner-forecast-cloud-spending
- 18gartner.com/en/documents/3982375
- 20gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2022-06-16-gartner-predicts-30-percent-of-enterprise-organizations-will-use-cloud-cost-management-tools-by-2025
- 21gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-10-30-gartner-predicts-60-percent-of-enterprises-will-use-it-operations-analytics-by-2024
- 24gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-02-xx-gartner-forecast-enterprise-cloud-adoption
- 7idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS51778424
- 14idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS51832224
- 15idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS52053624
- 16mckinsey.com/capabilities/quantumblack/our-insights/the-economic-potential-of-generative-ai-the-next-productivity-frontier
- 19vmware.com/topics/glossary/content/virtualization.html
- 22ibm.com/reports/data-breach
- 23kpmg.com/xx/en/home/insights/2023/04/transforming-for-the-future.html