Many companies worldwide have adjusted to the new normal, regaining pre-pandemic levels of efficiency. The professional services industry is no different, and, as a result, the global professional services market grew to just over $6 trillion in 2021. Furthermore, the increasing adoption of technology, such as artificial intelligence and professional service automation software, has helped professionals improve productivity to further contribute to this growth.
This article highlights the most important professional services automation software statistics, including data on leading companies and service sectors. In addition, we gathered professional service automation software statistics to help professionals learn more about the right technology to adopt.
Professional Services Automation Software Statistics Table of Contents
General Professional Services Market Statistics
The professional services industry has managed to post positive annual growth despite disruptions brought by global lockdowns and companies implementing remote work policies. In the Americas, for instance, the market has stayed strong with a 9.4% growth rate from 2019 to 2020 (Services Performance Insight, LLC). Also, the lower costs of travel and recruitment may have played a role in the continued profitability of professional services firms.
Additionally, industry experts believe that the industry’s growth may be driven by accelerated digital transformation, in particular professional services automation (PSA). To illustrate, professional service automation software statistics in the sections below indicate how technology adoption has contributed to the growth of the professional services industry.
- The United States particularly saw the highest revenue in the ‘professional, scientific, and technical activities’ market in 2020, earning just over $1 trillion (Statista Professional, Scientific & Technical Activities 2021 Report).
- Additionally, by 2030, employment in management, scientific, and technical consulting services will have increased by 330 million (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021a).
- Chinese company Xiamen Xiangyu Co., Ltd. led the business services industry in 2020 in terms of revenue, earning $51 billion (Statista Toplist: Top 100 Companies worldwide: Business Services, 2021).
- Furthermore, professional services comprised 23% of the US’ cross-border imports in 2019 (United States International Trade Commission, 2021).
- The United States also imported a total value of $131 billion in professional services in 2019 (United States International Trade Commission, 2021).
Source: Statista
Professional Services by Subcategory Statistics
The professional services industry spans a diverse range of subcategories, from accountants and architects to doctors and teachers. For example, the largest subcategories in the industry include legal services, accounting/audit services, business and management consulting, and IT services. In addition, global corporations like Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Deloitte have also established themselves as leaders not just in the professional service industry but also in the global business world as standards for profitability and service levels.
To illustrate the growth of different types of professional services, below are the most important statistics in the largest subcategories of the professional services industry.
Legal Services
- The legal services industry in the US is expected to reach a revenue of $348.9 billion by 2024 (O’Connor, 2019).
- Companies have also spent $68 billion on outside legal counsel (BTI Consulting, 2020).
- Leading law firms in the US earned a total of $111 million in 2020 (Law.com, 2021).
- In addition, Kirkland & Ellis LLP ranks as the top-earning US law firm, earning $4.8 billion in revenue in 2020 (Law.com, 2021).
- As a result of its market size, there may be over 446,800 law firms in the US as of 2022 (IBISWorld, 2021a).
- Also, the online legal services market in the US is expected to reach a size of $11.3 billion in 2022 (IBISWorld, 2021b).
Accounting/Audit Services
- The “Big Four” accounting/audit firms in the US—Deloitte, PwC, Ernst & Young, and KPMG—also achieved a combined gross revenue of $67 billion in 2020 (Accounting Today, 2021).
- Deloitte earned $21 billion in revenue in 2021 from consulting services, the highest among accounting firms in the US (Deloitte, 2021).
- Likewise, Deloitte earns the highest revenue from the consumer industry, making $10 billion from the industry in 2021 (Deloitte, 2021)
- In 2020, there were also 1.3 million accountants and auditors employed in the US (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021b).
- Additionally, accounting services in the US were projected to make a revenue of $119 billion in 2021 (IBISWorld, 2021d).
Management Consulting, Business Consulting, and IT Services
- Management consultancies all over the world posted an annual revenue growth rate of 8.8%, lower than the two previous years’ growth rates (Service Performance Insight, 2021).
- Furthermore, the global consulting market reached a size of $132 billion in 2020 (Consultancy.uk, 2020).
- In the US, the consulting industry also had a market size of $64 billion in 2020 (Riserbato, 2020).
- Additionally, the market size of management consulting services is estimated to be at $242 billion (IBISWorld, 2021c).
- Bain & Company achieved a prestige rating of 9.22 in 2021, making it the best consulting firm to work for in the US (Firsthand.co, 2021).
- In addition to general consulting firms, business experts estimate that there were more than 862,600 management consulting businesses in the US in 2021 (IBISWorld, 2021c).
- Management consulting services spent $23 million in advertising in 2020 (Schonfeld and Associates, 2021).
- The global IT services market made a revenue of $929 billion in 2020 (Statista IT Consulting Implementation Report 2021).
- Making 35% of the worldwide market’s revenue ($321 billion), IT outsourcing also accounts for the largest share of the IT services market (Statista IT Consulting & Implementation Report 2021).
Technology Adoption in Professional Services Statistics
As previously mentioned, professional services automation also drives the growth of the professional services industry. Professional service automation examples include the use of software to streamline scheduling and billing and to accurately capture expenses and time spent on projects. In addition, some PSA software integrate with other business systems. For example, professional service automation Salesforce integration combines PSA and CRM features to ensure all business aspects are covered.
Below, we’ve listed some essential professional service automation software statistics, in addition to PSA software market size.
- In 2021, 55% of business technology professionals used CRM platforms such as Salesforce (Workato, 2021).
- Moreover, the majority of business technology firms used collaboration solutions (Workato, 2021).
- 88% of companies in the professional services industry also plan to adopt cloud computing by 2025 (World Economic Forum, 2020).
- The top-used commercial solutions among professional services firms include corporate financial management software (94%), CRM systems (83%), professional service automation systems (79%), human capital management platforms (70%), and business intelligence solutions (53%) (Service Performance Insight, 2021).
- The business and government sectors are also expected to spend up to $2.1 trillion on information and business technology in 2022 (Bartels, 2021).
- Additionally, these sectors are expected to allocate the highest spending to software ($482 billion), CIO staff spending ($446 billion), and tech consulting services ($342 billion) (Bartels, 2021).
- 34% of customers rate AI automation and robotics as “excellent” for customer experience (NTT, 2021).
- 60% of law firms plan to move practice management workflows to the cloud (Aderant, 2020).
- In addition, document management systems (83%) had the most positive impact on legal professionals’ productivity (Aderant, 2020).
Source: Aderant
Leading Professional Service Automation Software
- monday.com. Centralized storage and access to all information regarding projects are possible with this application. Get to know what makes it a top professional service automation software in this monday.com review.
- Wrike. This cloud-based software is also dedicated to professional services and streamlines workflow with its automation capabilities. Read this Wrike review to learn more about what it offers.
- BigTime. Get rid of arduous processes using this integrated time management and billing software. Details are here in this BigTime review.
- QuickBooks Enterprise. Growing businesses can benefit from this accounting platform, which automates estimates, proposals, and other documents. This QuickBooks Enterprise review can also help you better understand the software’s capabilities.
- ProjectManager. Project planning and scheduling tools are the core features of this application. See what else it can do in this ProjectManager review.
Professional Services Automation Challenges Statistics
But, even with the use of tools like accounting platforms, there are still challenges that get in the way of the growth of the professional services industry. For example, many professional services companies have expressed the need for reskilling professionals and their experiences with recruitment difficulties. Moreover, barriers such as the lack of investment capital also prevent professional services firms from fully adopting technology into their workflows.
Below are some important data on professional services automation challenges, which can be helpful in addition to professional services automation software statistics.
- The top challenges law firms faced in 2020 included operational efficiency (39%), tech adoption or implementation (32%), and cybersecurity threats (30%) (Aderant, 2020).
- Also, in 2020, 44% of consulting firms worldwide faced the need for new skills (Hinge, 2021).
- Furthermore, it takes 91.3 days to recruit and hire for standard positions at accounting firms (Service Performance Insight, 2021).
- Meanwhile, according to 29% of companies in the professional services industry, reskilling takes less than one month (World Economic Forum, 2020).
- Professional services organizations also reported an attrition rate of 11.6% in 2020 (Service Performance Insight, 2021).
- Lastly, shortage in investment capital is the biggest barrier to new technology adoption for 54% of companies in the professional services industry (World Economic Forum 2020).
What’s in Store for the Professional Services Industry?
If these professional services automation software statistics are any gauge, technology is slated to play a huge role in the professional services industry. However, it seems like professional services automation is just the beginning. Client expectations are rapidly changing every day, and, as a result, professional services firms that want to continue providing value must fully embrace digitalization.
In addition, companies will also benefit from taking a holistic approach to digital transformation. This means using technology that allows companies to unify business functions throughout the service delivery process.
If you want to do further reading on professional services automation software, check out our comparison of the top professional services automation software today.
References:
- Accounting Today. (2021). 2021 top 100 firms. Arizent
- Aderant. (2020). Aderant 2020 business of law and legal technology survey. Aderant
- Bartels, A. (2021, May 6). Forecasting in uncertainty: Q1 2021 data confirms the strength of the US tech market. Forrester
- BTI Consulting. (2020). BTI litigation outlook 2020. BTI Consulting
- Consultancy.uk. (2020, May 26). Market size of the global consulting industry in 2020? Consultancy.uk
- Deloitte. (2021). 2021 global impact report. Deloitte
- Firsthand.co. (2021). Best consulting firms to work for | Most prestigious | Vault.com. Firsthand.co
- Hinge. (2021). High growth study 2020. Deltek
- IBISWorld. (2021a). Law firms in the US – number of businesses 2001–2027. IBISWorld
- IBISWorld. (2021b). Online legal services in the US – market size 2005–2027. IBISWorld
- IBISWorld. (2021c). Management consulting in the us – market size 2002–2027. IBISWorld
- IBISWorld. (2021d). Accounting services in the US – market size 2003–2027. IBISWorld
- NTT. (2021). Global benchmarking | 2021 results portal. NTT
- O’Connor, C. (2019). Law firms in the US. IBISWorld
- Riserbato, R. (2021, August 24). The rewarding world of small business consulting. HubSpot Blog
- Schonfeld and Associates, Inc. (2021). Advertising ratios and budgets, 2021. Radio Advertising Bureau
- Services Performance Insight, LLC. (n.d.). SPI 2021 professional services maturity™ benchmark. Kimble
- Statista IT consulting & implementation report 2021. (2021). Statista
- Statista professional, scientific & technical activities report 2021. (2021). Statista
- Statista toplist: Top 100 companies worldwide: business services, 2021. (2021). Statista.
- United States International Trade Commission. (2021). Recent trends in US services trade: 2021 annual report (5192). USITC
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2021a). Employment projections — 2020–2030. BLS
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2021). Occupational employment and wages — May 2020. BLS
- Workato. (2021). State of business technology. Workato
- World Economic Forum. (2020). The future of jobs report 2020. World Economic Forum
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