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&lt;p&gt;Am I mistaken, or was there some &lt;i&gt;positive&lt;/i&gt; news for the tech consulting industry this week? Not only did IBM post a 12 percent increase in fourth-quarter profit compared to 2007, it had the temerity to predict a good year ahead for itself. What&#39;s the reason for this outbreak of bullishness? A couple of things, actually. First, according to &lt;i&gt;The Wall Street Journal&lt;/i&gt; (see previous link), software and services revenue at the firm appears to be driving its overall growth. In the &lt;i&gt;Journal&lt;/i&gt;&#39;s own words, &quot;IBM said it was able to increase earnings in the face of a revenue slowdown because it is getting a larger share of its business from high-profit software and services.&quot; Not much translation needed there. &lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The second positive sign for consulting in Big Blue&#39;s report is that it posted a 20 percent increase in outsourcing contracts over the quarter - and it expects more to come despite the downturn. That means more companies are turning to outsourcing and offshoring for tech solutions - great news for the industry, if not necessarily the parts of it housed within the U.S.&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Also in the &quot;good for IBM&quot; category, it emerged this week that the firm is likely to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the strife at beleaguered Satyam - something that has &quot;tarnished the credibility of India&#39;s outsourcing industry&quot; as a whole, according to Bloomberg. That&#39;s placed U.S.-based (and audited) firms front and center for picking up some of the contracts Satyam might otherwise have taken home - great news not only for IBM, but also for Accenture, which Bloomberg also tips to take some new business. &lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And speaking of Accenture, Naomi highlighted its first quarter 2009 results in this post a couple weeks ago, but they&#39;re worth revisiting as well ? especially as they also showed an increase in both consulting and outsourcing services compared to the previous year (6 and 7 percent, respectively). In light of the Bloomberg prediction, the second quarter results should be interesting to watch - particularly in outsourcing.&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;-Posted by Phil Stott&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;

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Profits? Really!

Am I mistaken, or was there some positive news for the tech consulting industry this week? Not only did IBM post a 12 percent increase in fourth-quarter profit compared to 2007, it had the temerity to predict a good year ahead for itself.

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