IT's in the bag

That's what McKinsey said when it was added to the Vault Guide to the Top 25 Technology Consulting Firms for the first time this year. The traditional strategy house has been moving steadily into the IT space over the past few years, and finally warranted inclusion in the guide. Whether its IT services warrant the No. 1 position, however, is another question, as the McKinsey name goes a long way on the prestige scale.

Booz Allen Hamilton won't be too pleased with that addition, after having reigned in the top spot for the past four years. The firm snagged the No. 2 seed, though, where I'm confident it'll stay for a while. Despite its recent split from the commercial side of the business, Booz Allen is firmly entrenched in the IT consulting marketplace, and has a venerable name in the government sphere, ensuring it a steady stream of high-profile engagements in the future.

Overall, there wasn't much movement in the rankings from last year, though Diamond Management & Technologies Consultants, Inc. made a strong showing, jumping from its prior Best of the Rest position to No. 19. This improvement may be due to after-effects of the firm having streamlined its operations in late 2006 by selling off its operations in Continental Europe, South America and the Middle East to Mercer Management Consulting (now Oliver Wyman). Shedding those layers allows the firm to focus primarily on its established markets in North America, the U.K. and India. The firm is reaping rewards elsewhere, as well, having been named to Crain's Chicago Business' Best Places to Work in 2008, and to the National Association for Business Resources' list of Chicago's 101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For.

Click here to see a full listing of this year's top tech consulting firms.

And stay tuned for our upcoming release of the top-50 management and strategy consulting firms!