The Top 5 IT Brands of 2012

Every year, we usually determine the favorite IT brands of users across 30+ categories of products and services. This time however, apart from doing that, we also decided to find out which are the highest rated brands by users in each umbrella category, i.e. Hardware, Software, Internet and WAN Services, and Network Hardware. Plus, we also determined the top scoring brand across these four categories.

In order for a brand to win in an umbrella category, it would have to have products and services in multiple categories. Or, it should be so strong in a single category that its score matches those with offerings in multiple categories. Likewise, in order for a brand to score high overall, it should have presence in multiple umbrella categories, or have such strong presence in a single umbrella category that it scores very high.

The process to determine the overall best brands was done in two steps. In the first step, we calculated the overall best brands in each of the four umbrella categories, and then determined the overall best brand across these four categories.

To arrive at the top rated brands in each umbrella category, we took the weighted scores for each brand from all the categories it was present in and combined it. So if brand “X” was present in multiple categories of hardware, let's say it was present in laser printers, MFDs, desktops, as well as laptops. We took its weighted score from each of these categories and added it up. After this, we normalized the score of each brand over 100 points according to the brand that got the highest score in the umbrella category. So if the sum of weighted scores for brand “X” was the highest, it got 100 points, while all others got their scores relative to it.

To arrive at the top scoring brand across all four umbrella categories also, we followed the same process. We took the weighted scores of all brands across all four umbrella categories and added them up. After that, we took the highest scoring brand and normalized scores of the remaining brands according to its score over 100 points. Incidentally, the category AMC provider was not included in any of the four umbrella categories because it didn't really fit into any of them. Its votes were used only for calculating the top rated brand across, but not for any of the umbrella categories. Likewise, we didn't count the votes of D-Link or DIGILINK, because users are confused about these two brands and the differences between them.

So here we have it-- brands that received the highest scores by users.

Top Hardware Brands

It is no easy task to emerge as the top brand in the hardware category, which has nine sub-categories viz. Notebook, Desktop PC, Tablet, LCD Monitor, MFD, Laser Printer, Servers, Tape Drive, and UPS. But HP has done just that by amassing impressive scores in seven out of the nine sub-categories. HP's forte of course, lies in MFDs and Laser Printer sub-categories.

So much has been the clout of HP in this category that the runner up brand in this category i.e. Samsung has only been able to procure 31% in the index score, even though it has managed to be present in five categories, out of which it was the most impressive in the Tablets sub-category.

Dell makes it to the second runner up position by impressing the users mostly in the Notebooks segment. Dell has also made its presence felt in Desktop PC, Tape Drive, and Server sub-categories. IBM makes it to the fourth spot by impressively scoring much in the Server and Tape Drive sub-categories, which is understandable because it's not really playing in the other sub-categories in this segment. Sharing the fourth spot with IBM is Lenovo, by fairing well in the Desktop PCs, Notebook/ultrabooks, and Tablet sub-categories. Possibly if IBM had not sold off its desktop/laptop business to Lenovo many years ago, its combined score would have taken the brand to the runners-up spot based on these scores.

Last but not the least, the fifth spot also has two players--HCL and APC (Schneider Electric). While HCL made it here because it has offerings in five out of nine total sub-categories in this segment, viz. desktop, laptop, tablet, server, and LCD monitors. APC (Schneider Electric) on the other hand made it to the fifth spot due to its sheer dominance of the UPS market.

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Top Software Brands

Microsoft was present in ten out of the total eleven sub-categories that we had included in the software segment this year. The Redmond based software titan emerges as a clear winner in this segment, due to its sheer domination in Desktop OS, network server OS, and email and messaging software. Plus of course, it got respectable scores in the remaining sub-categories it was present in as shown in the table.

Sitting on the second spot here is Oracle, which was present in five sub-categories, i.e. RDBMS, BI, HRM, ERP, and CRM. Oracle's domination in the RDBMS segment is well known. It scores well in the other categories also, and a part of the contribution in those goes to the various companies it acquired over time.

Close on its heels on the third spot is SAP, which was present in 4 out of 5 SAP sub-categories in this segment. It obviously has much better weighted scores than competitor Oracle in all the business apps, i.e. ERP, CRM, and HRM, but fell a little behind in BI. But the fact that despite not being present in the RDBMS space, it manages to give Oracle a tough fight is commendable.

Sitting on the fourth spot is VMware, and there are no prizes for guessing why it's there. It reigns supreme in the server virtualization category to a level where its name is considered synomous to virtualization.

Last but not the least in this segment is IBM, sitting on the fifth spot. The brand, which has mostly been known for its clean sweep presence in large enterprises is now gradually making inroads into the SME space as well. It's already present in four sub-categories of the eleven we rated this time, and we hope the brand will increase its mindshare in this space.

Top Network Hardware Brands

Cisco has scored the highest in this segment and appears to have quite a strong hold. Its lead has the remaining players biting the dust. The fact that the networking giant, which always dominated the large and very large enterprise space continues its winning streak in the SME segment as well as impressive. The networking giant is present in four out of six total sub-categories we had surveyed this year. These include network switches and routers, firewalls, and video conferencing.

D-Link, which has always been a strong contender in the SME networking space is sitting at the runners up spot by a comfortable margin. It managed to amass scores in three out of six categories surveyed this year--network switches and routers, and video conferencing equipment.

Sitting on the third spot in this segment is HP, which makes its presence felt in four out of six categories, i.e. network switches and routers (from is ProCurve brand and the 3Com acquisition), network storage, and racks & enclosures.

Top Internet and WAN Services Brands

This segment is no longer about basic Internet broadband and WAN connectivity anymore. We've actually included five sub-categories in this segment--ISP, WAN Connectivity, Cloud Computing, Corporate 3G data cards, and Web Hosting provider. As a result, there are both telecom and non-telecom players providing their offerings in this space.

The winning spot has been acquired by the Tata group in this segment, and it's attributed to its strong presence in three of five sub-categories--WAN connectivity, ISP, and corporate 3G data cards.

However, the telecom giant is not sitting comfortably on the top spot in this segment. Close on its heels is Bharti Airtel, which is also present in the three categories where it's currently strong. Moreover, it needs to be worried because Airtel recently made an entry in the Cloud Computing space.

The third spot in this segment goes to Net4India, which could come as a surprise at first glance, because its score puts it ahead of. A closer look will reveal the reason--the brand literally dominates the web hosting space in India, with no other player coming even close. On top of that, the brand also has some traction in WAN connectivity and ISP service

And the Top IT Brand is...

Once we determined the top IT brands across individual segments, we went on to find the overall best IT brands. Here, besides taking the weighted scores of various brands across the top four umbrella segments, we also included the scores of brands in the IT support services sub-category. This category didn't really fit into any of the other umbrella categories, but was important none the less. Any organization small or large can't really manage their IT infrastructure without getting into an annual maintenance contract with a vendor.

The number one spot this year for the overall best IT brand goes to Microsoft. The software giant has amassed such a huge score in the software category that it's enough to take it to the top spot. Its recent entry in the Cloud Computing space with the Azure platform has also helped it gain a few more points.

Close on the heels of Microsoft, sitting on the second spot is HP, which dominates the Hardware segment but also has presence in the remaining three categories as well.

The third spot is shared by two brands--Cisco and Oracle. The former has managed to reach here due to its sheer dominance in the network hardware segment, while the latter holds a respectable score in the software segment. Oracle also has a small presence in the Internet and WAN services category due to its cloud based offering.

Not far behind these two is IBM on the fourth spot, with presence across all four segments, and strong presence in IT support services.

SAP sits on the fifth spot, because of its strong presence in the software segment. It's not there in any other segment, but being a well known name in software helps it gain the honor of being number five in the minds of SME users in India.

These were the highest scoring brands in our survey this year. In the pages to follow, we tell you the top brands by individual sub-categories.