IBM and HP Are Still the Top Brands for Consulting and Technology Services, According to ITSMA Study

Jan. 25, 2012 - PRLog -- In its eleventh year conducting the Professional Services Brand Tracking Study, ITSMA sees the strong brands getting even stronger. IBM remains number one for top-of-mind awareness, with more than half the respondents naming IBM as the company that first comes to mind without prompting (unaided awareness) when they think of consulting and technology service providers. This is a significant jump from the 2010 study, where 39% named IBM.

HP was helped by its acquisition of EDS, and has secured its position in the number two spot for unaided awareness after vaulting ahead of Accenture for the first time in the 2010 study.

“Interestingly, EDS has just about fallen off the radar screen as a brand, just one year post acquisition. This, combined with HP’s brand equity improvement, points to a smooth transition,” said Julie Schwartz, ITSMA’s Senior Vice President of Research.

The study also showed that most companies continue to be associated primarily with their traditional roots and less so with their newer services and capabilities. Deloitte, KPMG, PwC, Accenture, and Capgemini are strongly perceived as consulting providers; Wipro, TCS, HCL, CSC, and Cognizant are perceived mainly as outsourcers; and HP, IBM, and Infosys are seen as technology services providers. Infosys stands alone as the only global India-based company not seen primarily as an outsourcer.

Brand Growth Opportunities Abound
The market remains fragmented as “other” companies, or those named only once, commanded 35% of the unaided awareness, more than any single company, except IBM.

“In a market as uneven as this, less well-known players have an opportunity to gain mindshare,” Schwartz observed. “However, brand equity cannot be built overnight. It takes consistent and persistent marketing. This includes activities like conducting research to find out what’s most important to your target market, promoting your strengths, highlighting your thought leadership, and substantiating your brand and differentiation with proof points.”

Consulting and Outsourcing Seen as Important Investments During Economic Fluctuations
Other areas of opportunity include outsourcing and consulting, as one-third of respondents plan to increase spending on outsourcing and more than half think that investing more in technology or business process outsourcing and consulting better prepares organizations for economic fluctuations.

Brand Equity Index Score
ITSMA determines brand leadership by assigning each company an ITSMA Brand Equity Index (BEI) score, a composite index based on individual firms’ ratings for unaided awareness, aided awareness, top-of-mind recall, familiarity, and favorability. The index allows companies to track changes in brand strength over time in addition to making competitive comparisons.

Based on its BEI, IBM emerges with the highest brand equity for the examined professional services firms. Other top achievers include HP and Accenture. The next tier of BEI ranked companies includes PwC, Deloitte, KPMG, and Capgemini. The top five Indian-heritage companies tracked in the study include Infosys, Cognizant, TCS, Wipro, and HCL.

Methodology
ITSMA interviewed 460 senior IT and business decision makers based in the US, UK, France, Germany, Brazil, and Australia. Study respondents all held director, vice president, or C-level positions and represented organizations with revenue or operating budgets ranging from $100 million to over $20 billion in seven major industries:

• Communications
• Energy/Utilities
• Financial Services
• Healthcare
• Life Sciences
• Manufacturing
• Public Sector

Respondents qualified for inclusion based on their involvement in purchasing professional services and solutions, defined as “technology and/or related business services (such as consulting, systems integration or implementation, or outsourcing) applied to address customer business objectives and valued at $100,000 or more.” The report examined 15 professional services and solutions firms, including Accenture, Atos, Capgemini, Cognizant, CSC, Deloitte, HCL, HP, IBM Global Services, Infosys, KPMG, Logica, PwC, TCS, and Wipro.

For more information on the study, please see http://www.itsma.com/research/professional-services-and-s... or contact Julie Schwartz at +1-781-862-8500, Ext. 112, or at jschwartz@itsma.com.

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ITSMA provides research, consulting, and training to the world’s leading technology, communications, and professional services providers.