GCC consulting bill nears $2.5bn amid Saudi Arabia infrastructure push

Technology consulting represents the lion’s share of services provided, growing by 23.9 per cent to $756 million, followed by strategy consulting, which grew 10.4 per cent to $714m.

Saudi Arabia is spending billions of dollars annually on roads, ports, airports, hospitals and schools. Above, inside the first main tunnel being dug for the Riyadh’s metro. Ian Timberlake / AFP

Infrastructure spending in Saudi Arabia boosted spending on consultants last year in the GCC to nearly US$2.5 billion, a new report says.

The report, published today by Source Information Services, notes that over three years, the GCC consulting market has grown by more than $1bn – an amount, it said, that is “roughly equivalent to that of the entire consulting markets of mature European countries like Spain and Italy”.

Total spending in 2014 was $2.47bn, a 15.4 per cent rise over the previous year .Technology consulting represented the lion’s share of services provided, growing by 23.9 per cent to $756 million, followed by strategy consulting, up 10.4 per cent to $714m.

“The GCC is outperforming almost any other consulting market in the world, [but] is still a tough place in which to be a consultant,” said Edward Haigh, Source’s director. “Maturing clients are applying more pressure to consulting firms, and the difficulty of finding the talent you need has never been greater.”

Falling oil prices did little to dampen demand in Saudi Arabia, where the consulting market grew by 22.4 per cent to $1.06bn, according to Source.

“The [Saudi] government is under enormous pressure to build social infrastructure, diversify its economy and serve its people well and it knows it needs the help of consultants to achieve this,” the report said.

But growth in the kingdom’s consulting market faces several challenges, especially as pressure increases on firms to employ greater numbers of Saudis.

“Today you need to supply more people with local capabilities,” said Osama Ghoul, an executive vice president at the IT and telecoms consultancy Devoteam.“It’s hard to find these people and the competition for them is fierce, so sometimes it’s not possible.” The UAE remains the region’s second-largest consulting market, growing last year by 9.9 per cent to $774m.

Source noted that the slower increase reflected the UAE’s status as a maturing consulting market. The report forecast that the continued diversification of the country’s economy would lead to further growth.

“The UAE is more active this year, with the impact of Expo 2020 and the different development strategies of Abu Dhabi and Dubai,” said Waddah Salah, a UAE-based consultant at PwC. “We’re seeing a lot more implementation work [and] the private sector is also spending more.”

The region’s public sector was the largest employer of consultants by sector, followed by financial services and technology, media and telecoms.

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