MADRID, 25 Jul. (Portaltic/EP) -
IBM, followed by Oracle and Microsoft, is the largest company in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector, according to the second ranking 'Global ICT 50' of the strategic consultancy Booz & Company. Cisco, Apple, HP, Google, Accenture and Samsung also figure in the Top 10.
The report highlights that progressive digitalization is not only changing the behavior of the final consumer, but has also driven important changes in the Information and Communication Technologies space.
The clear divisions between hardware companies, software companies, telecommunications and IT service providers have disappeared and today they are operating in an overlapping market. Software and hardware companies, with their integrated solution models, continue to gain traction over IT service providers.
In terms of ranking, it is led by IBM thanks to its broad product portfolio and global presence, followed by software giants Oracle and Microsoft. In this way, the same companies occupy the top three positions this year but in a different order. In fourth position is SAP followed by Cisco, Apple and HP and complete the top ten positions Google, Accenture and Samsung.
"The Top 10 of this ranking reveals that software and hardware vendors are dominating the ICT industry. The software and Internet segment with companies such as SAP, Google and Amazon (which is not in the Top 10) have made the biggest advances," says one of Booz & Company's partners, Olaf Acker.
"Regional IT service providers have not been able to keep pace with the market trend, and have had to give in this year. On the other hand, the "continuous expansion of the offer of services" and products of Samsung and Google "have made them among the top 10 companies".
However, "a broad portfolio is not the key to success", and they say so in the press release. "Expanding the portfolio of services is not linked to financial success." Consistency prevails over volume, says the co-author and director of Booz & Company, Germar Schröder. "You have to take into account other factors such as global presence, innovation and branding. For example, six of the top 10 companies listed in this ranking also appear among the top 10 most innovative companies in the world (according to the Global Innovation 1000), and 13 of the 50 companies studied appear in the Top 100 of Interbrand Best Global Brands 2012".
The growth of previous years is no longer occurring in the same proportions and magnitudes. The 50 companies in the study collectively recorded modest revenue growth for the year, from $2.01 trillion (€1,529 million) in 2011 to $2.07 trillion (€1,575 million) in 2012.
Major software vendors are the only group that has achieved strong revenue growth for the fifth year in a row. By contrast, the global IT services companies and telecom providers analyzed were the only group in the study where growth stalled (despite managing to stabilize their EBIT margins in 2012). And the only group that is achieving stable growth and growing margins in the last five years is the one formed by infrastructure and hardware companies, mainly due to an individual and integrated business model based on hardware and complemented with services and elements in the cloud (cloud computing). "The results of the study confirm the strength of this business model," explains Acker.
For the realization of this second edition of the Global ICT 50 ranking, Booz & Company has analyzed the four industries of the digital supplier market (hardware, software, telecommunications and IT services). The results of the study are based on the analysis of the different sources of publicly available information, especially with regard to financial parameters, structure and portfolio of products, innovation and sales. These areas were evaluated using quantitative and qualitative criteria to determine a score for each company, which has generated the sectoral and global ranking.
Related links:
- Boaz & Company
