India's Most Wanted IT Brands

Continued from page: 8

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Business Analytics, Connectivity Providers

Business Analytics

SAP, Oracle, and MS SQL Server were the three brands with a significant current ownership in the business analytics space. None of the known names in this space, like Cognos, SAS, and Hyperion had enough votes for us to comment on their perceptions and performance in the market. Interestingly, the brands that did have high ownership had average brand persuasion indices. On a relative scale, MS SQL Server seemed to have the highest brand persuasion, followed by Oracle and SAP.

On the brand pull front however, SAP seems to be on the gaining end, with more customers from competing brands likely to shift to it than its own customers switching out. Oracle seems to be loosing customers and therefore has a fairly low brand pull. The good news is that business analytics is a fairly lucrative market, because 50% of the survey base said that they didn't own such a solution.

Coming to brand loyalty, SAP was at 65% and seems to be gaining from 7% of Oracle's existing customers. It doesn't seem to be loosing any of its existing customers to any other competing brand. Interestingly, there were also another 35% customers of SAP who didn't have an answer on which brand would they switch to. Oracle on the other hand, had a brand loyalty of just 48%, and is likely to gain more because 6% of MS SQL's existing customers saying that they are likely to switch. Another 45% of Oracle's existing customers however, didn't have any answer on which brand to switch to. The same situation prevails in this segment as well, where the cost of deploying the solutions is so high and requires so much time and resources, that a customer would think twice before shifting to another brand. In face, the customer would think twice before deciding to go for business analytics as well.

Highest top of mind recall: SAP Biz Info Warehouse Highest current ownership: Oracle Most likely to buy: Sap Biz Info Warehouse

The brand momentum picture is also pretty much evident. SAP has the highest brand momentum, and looks quite future ready. Oracle is also ready, but seems to be enjoying its position more due to its existing mass. MS SQL has slightly lower brand momentum, but can really pick up. The upcoming version of SQL Server has some great business intelligence features.

Connectivity Providers

In terms of current ownership, VSNL/Tata Indicom still tops the charts, followed by BSNL, Satyam, Reliance, Bharti, and MTNL in that order. The brand persuasion figure however, is tilting in favor of Bharti. Brand persuasion looks at the ratio of top of mind recall and likelihood of buying. A higher ratio indicates that a brand is more persuasive. Reliance Infocomm was the next most persuasive. VSNL/Tata Indicom despite having high top of mind recall and likelihood of buying had a lower brand persuasion ratio. Bharti seems to be strongly poised for growth. It had the highest brand pull ratio of the lot, which means that more customers are likely to switch to Bharti from other competing brands, than those that would switch away from it. Reliance Infocom and Dishnet DSL were the other brands with a relatively stronger brand pull than other brands, even though they still had more customers likely to switch out than switch in. VSNL and BSNL need to be concerned with all this action happening, because they're loosing in this game. Compared to competition, a lot of customers are likely to switch out of these brands in the next six months than switch in. Even Satyam and MTNL are loosing brand pull, but it's not as drastic as BSNL and VSNL. They need to be concerned nevertheless.

The brand loyalty figures for all the brands weren't very encouraging. Bharti had the highest brand loyalty at 75%, and is likely to gain from both VSNL and BSNL's existing customers. BSNL needs to be careful, as 19% of its existing customers said that they're likely to shift to Bharti. This doesn't mean that Bharti should sit pretty. 6% of its existing customers said that they're likely to switch to Reliance and another 6% to MTNL. VSNL, Reliance, and Satyam all had their brand loyalties falling between 62 to 67%.

Highest top of mind recall: Tata Indicom Highest current ownership: Tata Indicom Most likely to buy: Tata Indicom

Bharti is the overall gainer this time, and is a speed driven brand. Reliance is the next speed driven brand, followed by Satyam. Even VSNL has high brand momentum, that's largely coming because of its large current customer base. BSNL is on the edge, and can become a speed driven brand if it takes the right steps.

MTNL is behind all these brands in both current ownership and momentum.

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