You don't mention what type of IT Consulting you do so I'm going to provide several examples in different areas. In each case, I'm going to presume that the answer is not immediately clear from experience. And in most cases, I'm going to use examples that would be included in a regular project -- so presume that these are standalone projects.

Chip please correct me if my examples aren't up to snuff.

Research projects are based on the client asking a question ...

1. Should we use the cloud? (Or is there an opportunity for us in the cloud?) (Asked when cloud was first hitting the news)
2. Is the iPad, Kindle Fire or Amazon (or Windows 8 tablet) a direction we should take with our hardware purchases? (Presumably to replace laptops).
3. Is there a way to generate code rather than have our programmers write every line?
4. Is there a need to replace this software package?
5. Is this software package really so much better than that software package?
6. What are the benefits of Agile vs the benefits of Traditional project management in the real world?
7. What is Agile PM and should I be concerned? (asked a few years ago).
8. Are there alternatives to the PMBOK and what are the major differences?
9. Where can I find benchmarking information and how much will it cost?

Does that help?

Glen Ford
http://www.vproz.ca