With the way the crisis affecting so many industries out there. What's going to be hot in the next few years? Ops consulting or strategy? I imagine Ops consulting since companies will want to streamline their operations through lean processes, six sigma etc. No one wants to invest in "growth" these days.

Wrong, lean etc has run for years, and governments and industry are now at the point where there will not be enogh talented bods out there in the next 3-5 years. Its growth im afraid :).

IT consulting all the way: this is the only real consulting out there, and the only one that adds any value.

A view from the other side of the fence, although I am no expert of course: I would go with growth - there is only so far six sigma, lean etc can go, and many organisations seems to lose their apetite for it after getting leaner to a point. Most of the organisations (and individuals) I talk to these days prioritise growth/share of wallet/new proposition build/JV route over cost reduction alone as this still leaves a company susceptible to a downturn in the market. Best form of defence is attack, at least that's what my wife tells me when she hits me with her handbag.

I suppose it depends to an extent it depends whether you are an optimist of a pessimist. The (few at the moment!) optimists will point out that even a downturn creates opportunities (pawn broking anyone?); pessimists will be all about 'battening down the hatches'. What is clear is that we are going through a period of immense change, which will see a major repositioning of certain industries (will FS be left so unregulated again?) and countries (the 'BRIC takeover'). Consequently trying to continue what businesses always did and hope it will still work in the future won't really be an option - so, bring on the change...