Where's The Business?

As news of the scandal unfolded, some high-tech executives said the conflict-of-interest issues surrounding Andersen,and, by extension, other Big Five accounting and consulting firms,might yield a windfall of new clients for independent solution providers. But, at this point, any extra consulting business has been slow in coming, several solution providers said.

"It's clear, as we expected, that companies are not dumping Andersen consulting. They are dumping Andersen auditing," said Steve Hoffman, senior vice president of strategy and marketing at Cambridge, Mass.-based Sapient. Some new business opportunities have arisen, but they've been few and far between, Hoffman said.

Similarly, EDS has snared only limited new business amid the market disruption fueled by the Big Five's moves to separate auditing and consulting operations, said Mike Thomas, president of global sales for the Plano, Texas-based integrator's E-Solutions unit.

"I presumed the consulting relationship would be the relationship most likely to be broken. I am seeing that not to be the case, and it's a bit more opportunistic than that," Thomas said.

It's no surprise that Andersen consulting clients are sticking with the company and protecting multimillion-dollar IT investments, said Michael Connolly, managing partner for global services at DiamondCluster International, Chicago.

"It would be foolish for someone to walk away halfway through, say, a global PeopleSoft rollout," Connolly said. "The real issue is how Andersen is going to continue to support those large clients, particularly as we see more of their people flying the coop."

DiamondCluster's consulting business hasn't gained new clients during the Andersen fiasco, Connolly said. Most new business arising from the scandal likely would go to other large integrators such as EDS or Computer Sciences Corp., he added.

Still, the Andersen scandal's impact on the public perception of Big Five IT consultants could boost the appeal of independent solution providers, said Nick Padgett, CFO of Inforte, Chicago.

"Whether it will be a huge amount of revenue remains to be seen," Padgett said. "Revenue is not going to double, but it helps if you get a deal or two. And we have a few in the pipeline."