Post job

Business consultant vs information technology consultant

The differences between business consultants and information technology consultants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a business consultant, becoming an information technology consultant takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a business consultant has an average salary of $87,214, which is higher than the $84,790 average annual salary of an information technology consultant.

The top three skills for a business consultant include data analysis, project management and strong analytical. The most important skills for an information technology consultant are customer service, database, and project management.

Business consultant vs information technology consultant overview

Business ConsultantInformation Technology Consultant
Yearly salary$87,214$84,790
Hourly rate$41.93$40.76
Growth rate11%9%
Number of jobs128,033142,475
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 64%
Average age4443
Years of experience46

What does a business consultant do?

A business consultant is an individual who works directly with business owners on developing a business plan and identifying their marketing needs. Business consultants offer business owners a wide range of services, such as supplementing existing staff, provide expertise in a specific market, and influencing other people. To increase revenue in business, business consultants should have experience success with the previous business owners. Business consultants must also have a bachelor's degree in business management and received years of field training.

What does an information technology consultant do?

An Information Technology Consultant, also known as IT Consultant, is responsible for sharing extensive knowledge of Information Technology by providing suggestions and solving issues within the company. Among the duties include installing and maintaining the necessary software and hardware, designing new procedures, overseeing all implementations, and ensuring that all systems are running smoothly, employing methods to secure databases, and providing essential instructions when needed. Furthermore, an Information Technology Consultant needs to coordinate and report to management or supervisors at all times.

Business consultant vs information technology consultant salary

Business consultants and information technology consultants have different pay scales, as shown below.

Business ConsultantInformation Technology Consultant
Average salary$87,214$84,790
Salary rangeBetween $64,000 And $117,000Between $62,000 And $115,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASeattle, WA
Highest paying stateAlaskaWashington
Best paying companyZSCalifornia Resources
Best paying industryTechnologyFinance

Differences between business consultant and information technology consultant education

There are a few differences between a business consultant and an information technology consultant in terms of educational background:

Business ConsultantInformation Technology Consultant
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 64%
Most common majorBusinessComputer Science
Most common collegeNorthwestern UniversityStanford University

Business consultant vs information technology consultant demographics

Here are the differences between business consultants' and information technology consultants' demographics:

Business ConsultantInformation Technology Consultant
Average age4443
Gender ratioMale, 62.8% Female, 37.2%Male, 83.4% Female, 16.6%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 8.0% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 8.9% Asian, 13.4% White, 65.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%Black or African American, 10.5% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.2% Asian, 14.5% White, 58.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage12%8%

Differences between business consultant and information technology consultant duties and responsibilities

Business consultant example responsibilities.

  • Partner with PMO and lead testing effort to ensure completeness of test data sets and to manage risk.
  • Manage requirements gathering, identify KPI s, and oversee design and architecture decisions.
  • Manage various SOX, HIPAA and PCI compliance projects from the planning stages to completion.
  • Apply the specific rules for HIPAA X12, Medicaid manage care requirements and industry best practices for transaction handling.
  • Manage external technology suppliers to assure functional operations and system architecture meet the business needs.
  • Perform successful UAT - good knowledge & experience in SDLC - SQL querying and data analysis.
  • Show more

Information technology consultant example responsibilities.

  • Accomplish telecommunication design and installation consulting services on VOIP phone systems.
  • Develop functional requirements as well as managed development and quality assurance activities using a full SDLC.
  • Ensure adequate security protections for proprietary data and intellectual property; manage and configure firewalls and security posture.
  • Lead enterprise-wide virtualization effort, overseeing and completing vendor/hardware qualifications, architecture/design, installation, configuration, migration and documentation.
  • Lead disaster recovery exercises, infrastructure hardware/software decommissioning initiatives and redeployment of legacy application retirements/migrations for Fannie Mae (client).
  • Assist in deploying PC's and laptops to sales organization as well as updating the OS as necessary per laptop specifications.
  • Show more

Business consultant vs information technology consultant skills

Common business consultant skills
  • Data Analysis, 10%
  • Project Management, 9%
  • Strong Analytical, 8%
  • Analytics, 7%
  • Healthcare, 5%
  • Tableau, 5%
Common information technology consultant skills
  • Customer Service, 8%
  • Database, 8%
  • Project Management, 8%
  • Cloud, 8%
  • Troubleshoot, 4%
  • Business Processes, 4%

Browse business and financial jobs