IBM Ranks Number One in ITSMA's Eighth Annual Brand Tracking Study for IT Professional Services

IBM's brand equity score improves over 2005; Oracle, HP, and Accenture also attain high BEI scores

LEXINGTON, Massachusetts—October 17, 2006—Recent research from ITSMA shows that buyers of IT professional services and solutions are more aware of, more familiar with, and more likely to call IBM than any other firm examined in the study.

Since 1999, ITSMA has conducted its IT Professional Services Brand Tracking Study to explore key market drivers and assess the brand awareness and market positioning of the major industry services providers. The study assigns a Brand Equity score for each company examined in the study. Individual firms are rated for unaided awareness, aided awareness, first firm to call, familiarity, and favorability; these ratings are then weighted and summed to attain the Brand Equity Index (BEI) score.

Leaders

With a BEI score of 50.8—up from 48.4 in 2005—IBM Global Services emerges with the highest BEI score for the examined IT professional services firms. Other top achievers include Accenture, EDS, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, and SAP.

In addition, the report shows that companies such as BearingPoint that are narrowly focusing their marketing on specific verticals are achieving year-over-year increases in brand equity in those targeted industries.

The study also identifies client priorities for selecting IT professional services suppliers. The top three attributes buyers look for when selecting an IT professional service provider are:

• Commitment to delivering business results
• Collaboration with clients
• Quality solutions

Methodology

ITSMA interviewed 400 U.S.-based senior IT and business decision makers from companies reporting annual revenue or operating budget of $200 million or greater in eight industry segments:

• Communications
• Financial services
• Healthcare payer
• Life sciences
• Manufacturing
• Public sector
• Retail trade
• Transportation

Respondents qualified for inclusion based on their decision-making authority in purchasing IT professional services, defined as technology and/or related business services, such as consulting, integration, or outsourcing.

The report examined the following 16 professional services and solutions firms: Accenture, BearingPoint, Capgemini, Cognizant, Computer Science Corporation, EDS, Fujitsu Consulting, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi Consulting, IBM Global Services, Infosys, McKinsey, Oracle, SAP, and Wipro.

For more information on the study, please see http://www.itsma.com/research/abstracts/BPS007.htm

About ITSMA
ITSMA specializes in helping companies market and sell services and solutions more effectively. As a membership organization, we work with the world's leading technology, communications, and professional services providers to generate increased demand, strengthen customer relationships, and improve brand differentiation. ITSMA members include business leaders such as Accenture, BT, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, SAP, and Tata Consultancy Services, among others. Our comprehensive research, consulting, and training on topics including ITSMA Account-Based Marketing ^SM, Brand Positioning, and Solutions Development provide the insight and experience companies need to improve business results. ITSMA is based near Boston, and has offices in London and Tokyo. Learn more at www.itsma.com.