The market for technology professional services is highly competitive, with more and more companies striving to achieve the same position in customers’ minds. For example, most professional services firms want to be seen as a responsive industry expert that understands your business and is committed to customer success. Or as an expert that aligns business and IT, delivers measurable value, and acts as a trusted advisor. When every company is striving to achieve the same position, it’s no wonder that professional services firms are scrambling to find an effective way to capture the attention of customers who are bombarded with more and more marketing messages every day.

ITSMA’s The Quest for Marketing Differentiation: 2005 Professional Services and Solutions Brand Tracking Study explores the buyer decision process and benchmarks the brand equity of technology professional services and solutions providers. In particular, the study addresses issues such as:

• Important attributes in and buyer influences on the selection of technology professional services and solution firms
• Aided and unaided technology professional services and solutions firm awareness, along with familiarity with and favorability ratings
• Market positioning of technology professional services and solutions firms
• Purchasing preferences
• Overall buyer satisfaction with industry performance

Key Trends

This examination of the IT professional services and solutions market yields interesting findings related to the vendor selection process, brand equity of services providers, effective marketing, and purchasing preferences. Some of the major trends highlighted in the report include:

• Customer Priorities for the Vendor Selection Process
  The highest -prioritized attributes focus on trust and commitment; past experience with a vendor is a huge factor in the selection process
• Company Awareness
  Penetrating new accounts is difficult; professional services firms can leverage account-based marketing to improve brand positioning and lead generation
• Market Positioning
  Few professional services firms can claim true competitive differentiation
• Industry and Services Provider Report Card
  Any vendor that can truly differentiate itself on the issues most important to customers holds a clear advantage

Study Methodology

ITSMA conducted 401 telephone interviews with U.S.-based IT and business executives (director-level and above) involved in the purchase of IT professional services and solutions. Interviews were held from mid-February through April 2005. Study questions were designed to assess the brand awareness and market positioning of the major professional services providers, as well as to explore key market drivers.

Companies covered in the study include:
Accenture, BearingPoint, Capgemini, Cisco Systems, CSC, EDS, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi Consulting, IBM, Keane, Microsoft, Oracle, Perot Systems, and SAP.

Respondent Demographics

Study respondents all held director, vice president, or C-level positions and represented organizations in multiple major industries with revenue or operating budgets ranging from $300 million to over $20 billion. 70% of the respondents held an IT title, while 30% were business executives. The respondents spanned eight industry segments including:

Respondent Titles			Organization Size			Industry
Director	70%		$300–999M	22%		Government	15%
Vice President	16%		$1–4.9B	32%		Financial services	15%
President/CXO	14%		$5–19.9B	19%		Manufacturing–industrial	14%
			$20B or more	27%		Manufacturing–consumer	13%
						Retail/wholesale trade	13%
						Healthcare delivery	11%
						Communications	10%
						Transportation	9%

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