Information technology consulting
IT consultant (also IT Consultant) advise companies or project teams in the implementation, maintenance and development of IT systems.
Vocational
The term IT consultant is a very broad job title. It is located as a service profession in the overlapping field of engineering- IT occupations and classical ( or management ) consulting firm.
General broad knowledge of computer science, especially in software engineering and business management knowledge for a career as an IT consultant is required. Building on these basic skills, most IT consultants are specialized in one field and dedicate themselves in the exercise of their activities focus on one or a few topics, such as the analysis of requirements ( requirements engineering ) for Business Information Systems, the safety analysis of IT systems or asset management. Furthermore, most IT consultants on a specific industry, such as the automotive industry or banking and insurance, specialized.
In addition to the system vendors that offer consulting services for their own systems, many consulting firms are active in the IT consulting. In addition, the market offers opportunities to be self-employed self-employed.
By typical project maturities of three months to a few years and some very specific knowledge requirements on the client side, it is necessary very respond individually to the needs of the customer and Controllen the project tasks by an appropriate project management on a regular basis and keep track.
The projects in which IT consultants working can be of a very different nature, ranging from the development of a suitable corporate strategy to technology and the implementation of individual software components. For example, a study on the feasibility of the new requirements is created in a project to implement new statutory accounting rules first. Subsequently, an appropriate accounting and account logic is developed. Finally, the new customizations are tested and implemented in the system.
Job Title
The Occupation IT consultant is not a protected term under German law, and a formal qualification must not be provided to accommodate the occupation as an IT consultant.
Since 2002, however, the legally protected professional designation Certified IT Consultants (Certified IT Business Consultant) as a further education qualification according to the Vocational Training Act ( Vocational Training Act).
Market for IT consulting and systems integration in Germany
2012 determined the following merchants also instrumental in the German market for IT consulting and systems integration:
- * ) Revenue and / or employee figures are partly estimated.
- 1) Sales of IT consulting and system integration
- 2) Revenues include sales to management consulting
- 3) As of 2012, including the sales of Plaut AG
- 4 ) Consolidated IT consulting and system integration and IT service figures for 2011 a total of 1,680 million euros and 9,200 employees
- 5), among others Acquisition of tecops personal GmbH 08/2012
- 6) acquisition of perdata Society for Information Processing mbH Leipzig
The inclusion in this ranking is subject to well-defined criteria. More than 60 percent of sales to be achieved through IT consulting, custom software development and systems integration.
Lünendonk GmbH, Kaufbeuren, continuously considered since the mid- 1990s, the market for IT consulting and systems integration in Germany. Here, the market research firm does not claim to represent the overall market. It focuses rather on the examination of the leading vendors in a particular market segment. In addition, some medium-sized and small IT consulting and system integration companies are included in the analyzes for comparison purposes. These companies together represent the basic structure of the market and such a high share of sales in the market that inferences for the overall situation and development are possible. The analysis of 2013 includes 65 companies, including the Top 25
29.4 billion euros generate the investigated Lünendonk IT consulting and IT service companies in total in 2012. Comparable market for IT services was, according to industry association Bitkom 2012 to 34.9 billion euros. While accounts for 10.5 billion euros on IT consulting and systems integration, IT service providers have realized 18.9 billion euro.
For the current year 2013, called on the Lünendonk study for the German market for IT consulting and systems integration growth rates of " about 0-5 percent " of three-quarters of the participants. 16.0 percent expect an increase of " about 5 to 10 percent," and only five percent believe in a market growth rate of " about 10 percent " in 2013. Only 4.0 percent of the company go from a market stagnation or a decline in market. On average, the forecasts for 2013 result in a growth rate of 5.0 percent.
Overall, 16 percent of IT consulting and system integration companies had to report for 2012, a decline in sales. These 6 percent come with stagnant sales. This means that more than one-fifth of the study participants in 2012 could not reach a growth in sales. Taken together, 43.0 percent to double-digit growth. A third ( 35.0 %) of all company increased its revenues digit. The average sales growth amounted to 11.5 percent.
Expectations for the future remain optimistic: The companies expect to be able to grow in sales on average by 8.6 per cent in the current year 2013. For the years 2013 to 2018, the service also has a high average annual growth of its sales (8.5%) predict.
75 680 people were employed in the year 2012 in the IT consulting and systems integration industry. This results in the sum of an absolute increase in employees of the companies involved in the study compared to 2011 by approximately 11,347 ( 11.4 %). The information provided by respondents give a proportion of staff from an average of 16.0 percent for management, administration and sales, of which 11.0 percent to managers or administrative staff and 5.0 per cent accounted for by sales personnel. The sales development in this industry is inextricably linked with an increase in employees as they are the real factors of production in this business.
When the subject company, the " IT consulting " as is activity definition clearly at the top. It represents on average 26.5 per cent of the relevant turnover of the companies surveyed. Followed in second place with 14.0 percent, " custom software development " before " system integration " with 12.3 percent. " Standard Software Introduction" is 9.2 percent in fifth place. In a broader sense also includes the following two categories of benefits to the portfolio of IT consulting and system integration companies: the " provision of IT specialists" as a resource support for customer projects makes 9.3 percent and accounted for by the " management consulting " 5.9 percent of sales. Of increasing importance for the companies in this market segment the activity " outsourcing " in its different variants ( 13.1%). When other activities are often associated with the System Integrator role tasks of importance: " Software maintenance and distribution " (5.5 %) and " hardware maintenance and sales " ( 0.6%).
Industrial companies and financial service providers have for years been the main customers of IT consulting and systems integration companies in Germany. On average, the companies who participated in the study reach 29.8 percent by industry and 24.7 percent of their revenue from financial services providers such as " banks " and " insurance ". Separately divided into sectors, "bank " with an average revenue share of 18.6 percent, the largest customer group of IT consulting and systems integration companies in Germany. The market sector " automobile industry " with 13.4 percent is in second position in front of " telecommunications, IT " (13.3%). The sector "Energy" follows with 9.0 percent, the "trade" with 7.2 percent and " insurance " with 6.1 percent.
Qualification measures
Until 2002, there was no independent studies or vocational training, which led directly to the job description for the IT consultant, so working in Germany IT consultants have relatively different professional backgrounds and careers.
The classical qualification measure for future work as an IT consultant ( especially in large consulting and systems houses ) is a university degree, typically in computer science, business or a related subject area.
The University of Hamburg, since the winter semester 2010/2011 with the consecutive Master's program IT management and consulting for the first time in Germany a specific university training period for an IT consultant to. Since the summer semester of 2007 also Master study course is offered information management and Consulting ( M.Sc.) at the University of Applied Sciences in Ludwigshafen.
In addition, since 2002, there is also the certified IT consultants under the state's IT training regulations. The so-called " Operational Professionals " are divided into four different profiles: Certified IT Systems Manager ( Certified IT developers ), Certified IT Business Manager ( Certified IT Project ), Certified IT Business Consultant ( Certified IT Consultants ) and Certified IT Marketing Manager ( Certified IT economist ).
As part of this in-service training a total of seven exams have filed and a practice paper will be prepared, a prerequisite for admission to the examination is to verify the qualifications of a certified specialist or an equivalent qualification. The tests are completed usually at the local Chamber of Commerce.
These statements are similar to the ' foreman ' in the industrial and skilled trades.