Professional Services Management Journal

2010 Professional Services Maturity Model Benchmark survey early results
by Jeanne Urich and Dave Hofferberth of Service Performance Insight

The technology professional services industry is recovering from the worst recession of a lifetime. The good news: With recovery, bill rates are returning to previous levels and aggressive discounting has begun to subside.

The early results from the 2010 Professional Services (PS) Maturity Benchmark survey show significant growth in year-over-year technology professional services revenue and achievement of 2010 PS revenue targets. The significant improvement in revenue achievement is the direct result of increasing bill rates accompanied by a lower level of discounting.

Across the board, average bill rates for most technology consulting job titles have improved moderately to significantly. Bill rates for almost all job categories have returned to prerecession 2007-2008 levels after two years of decline.

The average business consultant bill rate showed the greatest percentage improvement (110 percent), from $171 to $188 per hour. Only the average senior manager/partner bill rate category is showing a year-over-year bill-rate decline — from $232 to $222 per hour.

Establishing a rate sheet

Competitive pressures in the technology professional services industry have created “mini-markets” for technology skills. The most prolific technologies — Oracle, SAP and Microsoft — have well-established bill rates for specific skill sets. Most technology services providers that focus on these platforms understand the unwritten “market rate” for consultants, but huge variances in price ranges occur, depending on services provider reputation, specialization, industry knowledge and skill sets.

Bill rates in emerging technology areas are far less predictable, but a best practice for all services providers is to establish a rate sheet based on skill level with uplifts for risk, complexity, geography or terms. Base your rates on analysis of market rates combined with consultant cost.

In the technology professional services industry, the “rule of thumb” is to establish rates at a minimum of two times (2X) the fully loaded average cost of all the consultants in that job category. In many other professional services specialties such as legal or accounting, the bill rate rule of thumb is four times (4X) the average base salary for all specialists in that job category.