The Use of Digital Technologies in German Business Consultancies

Abstract

The increased digitalization of the economy and society has triggered drastic changes in companies and confronted them with enormous challenges. The consulting industry is also strongly affected by this digital transformation. In an exploratory study, we examined digitalization's impact on management consultancies in Germany and their use of digital technologies. In our article, we provide insights into which digital technologies are considered to be important for the different phases of consulting and how digitalization affects the work of management consultants. From the perspective of such consultants, we discuss the technologies currently in use and offer an outlook on their future importance based on an online survey. Our results reveal that many business consultancies already rely heavily on digitalization and use a variety of digital technologies in all phases of the consulting process. Although business consultancies currently use well-established technologies, they remain aware of the growing importance of modern technologies for the future of consulting services.