Research Vice President, Network Life-Cycle Services and Infrastructure Services
Leaders
Accenture
Cisco
Computacenter
HPE
Huawei
IBM
Logicalis
NTT
Orange
TelstraFeatured Vendor
Wipro
Major Players
Verizon
Network consulting services are an evolving market, and the tech buyers will find it valuable to understand where the vendors are heading directionally. As one would expect of market leaders, overall, the participant firms performed very well on this assessment as the services firms have been selected because they have met the required criteria. It is important to understand that while this a mature market, it is also extremely competitive and the vendors continue to invest to provide exceptional technology expertise, tools, and resources for consistency and innovation and consultants to offer strategic guidance to help customers move from their “as is” environment to the new “to be” state as securely and efficiently as possible.
As the networking market continues to evolve — moving from hardware to software and offering new consumption models and even network as a service — network consulting firms will continually refine their offerings to meet customer demand and requirements. The network will continue to be a strategic imperative, underpinning success in collaboration, cloud, 5G/IoT, and business agility. As such, participants in this market understand the importance the network plays in their customers’ business objectives and strive to provide superior business, technology, and operational experiences for continued success.
IDC examined the participants’ capabilities and strategies for helping their customers transform their networks as well as their businesses, technology, and operational processes, which are supported by the strength of their network and being transformed by their network. Key themes demonstrated by leaders in this study are as follows:
Networking, IT, and business requirements demand solutions that work holistically within an enterprise. These solutions are often complex and will require input from a broad spectrum of domains and stakeholders throughout the enterprise. Thus network consulting services projects are often complex, transformative, and differentiated. To maximize value and minimize disruption as an enterprise moves through a network transformation project, enterprise decision makers must:
This section briefly explains IDC’s key observations resulting in a vendor’s position in the IDC MarketScape. While every vendor is evaluated against each of the criteria outlined in the Appendix, the description here provides a summary of the vendor’s strengths and challenges.
Per IDC analysis and customer feedback, Telstra is positioned as a Leader in this 2021 worldwide IDC MarketScape on network consulting services.
Telstra is a Melbourne, Australia-based telecommunications provider. Telstra Purple is a global systems integrator that leverages the capabilities of both organizations to develop and deliver holistic solutions for their customers’ digital transformation initiatives. Telstra Purple organizes its offers to address network, digitization, cloud, IoT, and security solutions for its clients. In addition to its traditional telecommunications business, Telstra Purple has built out a suite of service offers that include professional, managed, and end-to-end consulting supporting its core verticals of government; supply chain, logistics, and retail; and mining and energy.
Telstra Purple utilizes its “4D Consulting” methodology of Discover, Define, Deliver, and Drive coupled with its Customer Engagement Lifecycle to ensure alignment of business, technology, and operational goals. The methodologies and frameworks will be continually enhanced through a combination of M&A activity, ecosystems and partnerships, and new portfolio development in alignment with the company’s technology and growth strategy to provide increased value to its customers.
This IDC MarketScape includes analysis of worldwide network consulting services firms, those with broad portfolios spanning IDC’s network consulting services research coverage with global or regional importance. This assessment is designed to evaluate the characteristics of each firm — not solely the size or the breadth of services. It is conceivable, and in fact the case, that small, focused firms can compete with larger firms on an equal footing. As such, this evaluation should not be considered a “final judgment” on the firms to consider for a project. An enterprise’s specific objectives and requirements will play a significant role in determining which firms should be considered as potential candidates for an engagement.
Vendors were included in this research if they met the following criteria:
For the purposes of this analysis, IDC divided potential key measures for success into two primary categories: capabilities and strategies.
Positioning on the y-axis reflects the vendor’s current capabilities and menu of services and how well aligned the vendor is to customer needs. The capabilities category focuses on the capabilities of the company and product today, here and now. Under this category, IDC analysts will look at how well a vendor is building/delivering capabilities that enable it to execute its chosen strategy in the market.
Positioning on the x-axis, or strategies axis, indicates how well the vendor’s future strategy aligns with what customers will require in three to five years. The strategies category focuses on high-level decisions and underlying assumptions about offerings, customer segments, and business and go-to-market plans for the next three to five years.
The size of the individual vendor markers in the IDC MarketScape represents the market share of each individual vendor within the specific market segment being assessed.
This IDC study represents the vendor assessment model called an IDC MarketScape. This research is a quantitative and qualitative assessment of the characteristics that explain a vendor’s current and future success in the marketplace. This IDC study assesses the capabilities and strategies of many prominent network consulting services firms. This evaluation is based on a comprehensive framework and a set of parameters expected to be most conducive to success in providing network consulting services in both the short term and the long term.
IDC MarketScape criteria selection, weightings, and vendor scores represent well-researched IDC judgment about the market and specific vendors. IDC analysts tailor the range of standard characteristics by which vendors are measured through structured discussions, surveys, and interviews with market leaders, participants, and end users. Market weightings are based on user interviews, buyer surveys, and the input of IDC experts in each market. IDC analysts base individual vendor scores, and ultimately vendor positions on the IDC MarketScape, on detailed surveys and interviews with the vendors, publicly available information, and end-user experiences to provide an accurate and consistent assessment of each vendor’s characteristics, behavior, and capability.
Network consulting and integration services (NCIS) are defined as those activities associated with planning, designing, and building local and wide area data networks (commonly known as LANs and WANs), including multiservice, converged wireless, and wireline networks that allow voice, video, and data applications (such as VoIP and unified messaging) to be propagated across a single, common infrastructure. This study specifically focuses on these services for the enterprise, as defined in the section that follows.
The enterprise market consists of public and private organizations that typically procure project-based NCIS, including design, integration, and optimization services around their corporate voice, data, video, and datacenter infrastructures to serve the needs of their employees. Enterprise IT organizations have historically procured networking solutions (products and services) from one of three sources: network equipment suppliers and their channel partners, systems integrators, and telecom service providers.
And more specifically, this study focuses only on network consulting services and includes the following services activities:
