The online consultancy marketplace just got more crowded now that McKinsey & Co. and Bain & Co. have begun competing head-to-head with the same kind of practice the Big 5 have enjoyed for some time.

What does this mean for competition? There isn't a doubt in anyone's mind that staff working for the two firms offer their own spin to e-commerce activities and hold the knowledge so that clients may succeed long term.

However, experts predict that 'brand' is everything on the already-crowded playing field. In brief, experts say that McKinsey and Bain, while solid consulting practices, do not hold the brand-name confidence as Big 5 firms.

This is good news for the accounting and consulting profession, but can the Big 5 maintain their position?

Grady Means, PricewaterhouseCoopers' global leader of the firm's Strategy Consulting Group, said the combination of his firm's size (35,000 consultants)and in-house tech building abilities will continue to benefit the company.

"A McKinsey or a Bain can figure out the strategy issues," Means said. "They are very smart at that. But they cannot do the implementation of technology design, through resourcing, through management. We can do that. This requires a very big scale."