Looking at the median IT and engineering staffing firm, revenue was up 9.6 percent in 2013 from the previous year, according to the new Operating Practices Report released by the TechServe Alliance. The report is based on an analysis of 85 firms. TechServe Alliance is a collaboration of U.S. IT staffing firms, solutions firms, clients, consultants and suppliers.

The report also found that high-profit IT and engineering firms delivered profit before taxes of 8.5 percent of revenue, more than double the 4.1 percent of the typical staffing firm in the survey.

“The most recently released Operating Practices Report and companion Sales & Recruiter Metrics Report have been expanded this year to look at variety of new metrics,” TechServe Alliance CEO Mark Roberts said. In addition to highlighting what “high-profit” firms do differently, the reports capture data on new issues such as the effectiveness of LinkedIn as a recruiting tool, the impact of SOW on margins and much more.

“Through data-driven management, the implementation of industry best practices, and modeling the behavior of high-performing firms, companies have the ability to improve their top and bottom-lines,” Roberts said.