By Osas Ohenhen - Business Development Manager
Benchmarking compensation accurately starts with identifying the right peer group—and in consulting, that also means matching by line of business (LoB).
Many firms operate across multiple LoBs, from strategy to IT implementation to risk advisory. Each of these business lines serves different markets, demands different skill sets, and carries different compensation expectations.
Comparing roles across unrelated LoBs—whether within your own firm or externally—introduces distortions. A senior consultant in digital transformation doesn’t operate under the same market pressures or salary expectations as a peer in commercial due diligence. Yet we frequently see data misused in exactly that way.
One Firm, Multiple Realities
Consulting firms are rarely single-specialty. Even smaller firms may offer services across several distinct areas. Larger firms might have a dozen LoBs under one umbrella. Treating them as one homogenous group for compensation purposes obscures important differences.
Take two examples:
- A consultant in IT Risk & Cybersecurity (ITR) is likely to have a specialized technical background and face strong competition from both consulting and non-consulting employers. Compensation must reflect that scarcity.
- Meanwhile, a peer in Operations-Based Management Consulting (OPO) might face a more traditional consulting talent market, with different leverage models and client fee structures shaping pay expectations.
Even within broadly defined domains like IT or Finance, sub-lines matter. IT Strategy, IT Infrastructure, and Enterprise Software Implementation differ in project focus, required experience, and salary bands.
The Scope of LoBs
Vencon Research tracks more than 35 distinct lines of business in our compensation benchmarking—offering granular, role-by-role data within each. This includes well-established categories and fast-evolving specialties:
- Strategy Consulting Firms
- Operations-Based Management Consulting
- Digital Strategy and Transformation
- AI Consulting
- Commercial Due Diligence
- Restructuring and Turnaround
- Cybersecurity Consulting
- Tax, Transfer Pricing, and Assurance Services
- Actuarial, Legal, and Government Consulting
- ...and many more.
This breadth ensures that benchmarking is never reduced to broad categories like “Consulting” or “IT Services.” Instead, we ensure each job is matched to its correct peer group—based on functional focus, project type, and market conditions.
Why It Matters
HR leaders rely on benchmarking to set competitive pay, manage internal equity, and guide offer negotiations. But those decisions are only as sound as the underlying comparisons. Without alignment to the correct LoB, even the most robust benchmarking data can lead you off course.
At Vencon Research, accurate benchmarking—within clearly defined lines of business—isn’t an extra. It’s a pillar of our methodology. We work closely with clients to ensure each role is benchmarked where it belongs, across a peer group that reflects both the function and the market.