Rankings Based on 2002 Vault Survey of Top Consultants

Boston, MA (April 24, 2003) — Aquent, a global professional services firm delivering IT and Creative solutions, ranked 48th among the “Top 50 Most Prestigious Consulting Firms” in the world, according to a survey of consultants conducted by Vault, a Web site dedicated to providing career and employment information about major corporations.

“Our formula for consulting success is easy to understand when you look at our offerings,” said Chris Moody, president of Aquent’s consulting division. “We combined years of experience providing complex IT solutions to the Global 2000 with an in-depth knowledge of Marketing and Creative Services to form a truly unique service, our Marketing and Branding Technologies practice. This practice has been very successful in showing large corporations how to utilize process and technology to take the mystery out of global brand management.”

Vault surveyed the industry’s top consultants, addressing issues such as work hours, compensation, and diversity. Using knowledge obtained from prior Vault surveys, conversations with consulting professionals, and new industry research compiled for 2002, Vault approached top consulting firms and asked them to distribute the survey to their consultants. More than 1,100 consultants took Vault’s survey, giving a detailed, insider’s perspective on life at the industry’s most prominent firms.

Additionally, Vault asked each respondent to rate the consulting firms on a scale of 1 to 10 based on prestige. Vault collected all of the survey results and averaged the score for each firm. For objectivity purposes, consultants were not allowed to rank their own firms. The firms were then ranked in order, starting with the highest average prestige score, to determine the Vault Top 50.

According to Vault, “We understand that there are problems inherent in any prestige ranking. However, we found that the rankings typically paralleled conventional wisdom….Vault is not ranking firms by profit, size, lifestyle, or quality – we are ranking the most prestigious consulting firms based on the perceptions of currently practicing consultants at peer firms.

“Our goal was threefold: gather informed feedback from consultants at top firms, analyze the results using criteria relevant to job seekers, and condense the results into an accurate, objective and useful career guide.”

About Aquent:
Aquent (aquent.com) is a privately held professional services company with nearly seventy offices in fifteen countries. Aquent focuses on IT and Creative Services, and provides a wide range of consulting, outsourcing, and staffing solutions for Global 1000 companies. Aquent was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Boston, MA