There are no surprises in the winner and the number two. HP retains the top slot in this bell weather category and IBM/Lenovo is second. But IBM has improved its performance dramatically upping its Users’ Choice index from 46 to 74. HCL at number three also improved its index from 25 to 42. Dell, which was fourth last year, dropped down by one position in the list to number five and Wipro which had gone off the list makes a come back at number six. Local brands, which had seen a sharp decline in user acceptance last year also makes a comeback of sorts, climbing up one spot to be number four.

The market is booming and almost all brands seem to have reaped the benefits. Barring Dell, every one in the Users’ Choice Club has seen an improvement in their Users’ Choice index and brand loyalty. What impresses in IBM’s performance this year is the improvement in brand loyalties from 65% last year to 90 now. Two years back it had registered a brand loyalty of 76%. Thus IBM seems to have successfully arrested the dip they faced last year. Winner HP, meanwhile has also seen its loyalty rise from 81-82 in the last two years to 88 this time. HCL has also seen its brand loyalty rise from 51% two years back to 65% last year and now to 74%. Coming to the competitive landscape, the brand switch matrix for the last three years shows the consolidation happening in the market. The market is consolidating towards HP and IBM with HCL at number three. HP and IBM would benefit more or less equally from purchase switches this year. HCL would benefit from switches from Wipro and “others”. Most of those switching away from Dell are likely to move to IBM, while HP stands to gain the most from current HCL users. For those who are currently using unbranded or local systems and are planning to switch, HP-Compaq is the most preferred brand. Across the different verticals, the top two brands are neck and neck in manufacturing, while in the others the gap widens. HCL lost out in the services vertical, where it was almost a nonstarter.

Brand Shift (%) 2003

Unbranded got almost all its votes from manufacturing. The BPO/ITES segments which are traditional Dell strongholds have opted overwhelmingly for HP this time around. And that is how Dell cam e down in the rankings. When we analyse the results by turnover of the respondents, we see that as the turnover of the respondent increases, the gap between HP and IBM decreases, and at turnovers of Rs 1000 crores and above, IBM overtakes HP. Does this have any long term implications? It would be worth watching.