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Features

Wipro Calling...

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DQI Bureau
New Update

EQ is the ratio between the image and visibility points. Greater the index, higher is the ratio of positive coverage in relation to total coverage received
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It has been a fascinating race amongst the IT companies for the Cir rus Top
10 during the last five months. January 2002 was a decisive month, with Infosys
moving full steam ahead of Microsoft to emerge #1 on the cumulative Cirrus image
index during October 2001-January 2002. And while the company continued to hold
its position in February, there has been some amount of excitement for the
second and third slot –Wipro managing to overtake Microsoft by a very slim
margin of 104 Cirrus image points (CIP) to notch the second slot. Interestingly,
however, the monthly CIP for various IT organizations has a different story to
tell.

The CIP gathered by different IT companies during February 2002 are a clear
indicator of their intent and aggression. Wipro, Microsoft, HP, Cisco and TCS
moved ahead during this month, while Infosys, IBM, Satyam and CMC actually saw a
drop in their CIP over January. On a month to month basis, Infosys posted a
negative growth of 81% to score 961 CIP as it slipped from #1 slot to #4. Satyam
also dropped significantly from #3 to #7 with a negative growth of 66%. TCS, on
the other hand posted an impressive 96% growth and moved up from #7 to #3 slot
during February. Microsoft also moved two notch ahead to capture #2 slot even as
Wipro emerged leader of the pack. HP and Cisco also have moved ahead by one
notch to #5 and #9 slots respectively.

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Image Ranking 
While Infosys is marching ahead with cumulative Cirrus image points of 10,727 during the five-month period of October 2001-February 2002, it could manage only 961 CIP during February. Hence, despite being #1 on the cumulative image graph, Infosys ranked #4 on the monthly graph. Wipro which moved from #2 to #1 slot during this month, but despite losing shine by 9% vis-a-vis January.
TCS, which was at #10 in December 2001 and #7 in January, jumped four notches to emerge #3, even as Microsoft moved up from #4 to #2. On the cumulative list, Microsoft stands at #3, Satyam Computers at #4 and TCS #5.

In terms of quality of exposure index (EQ), while Infosys and IBM top the
chart with 136 and 133 points respectively, last month’s toppers Cisco and TCS
have been pushed to #8 slot with 100 points each. CMC also shares the #8 slot
with the two. Microsoft, which was pushed out of the EQ Top 10 index in January,
made a comeback at #7 slot with 102 points.

Cirrus’ mapping of stories in February indicates that while IBM gained primarily due to articles on its R&D efforts and alliances, HP got its share of the limelight due to the proposed merger with Compaq. TCS scored on stories focussing on its achievements on the exports front, while human resources did the trick for Infosys. Seen from a day-to-day perspective, the different story categories that are used by Cirrus help companies find weak spots, on which they can accelerate their promotional focus. By that yardstick, the segments ignored by most companies in February–R&D and HR–could well be opportunity areas in coming months 
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What this means is that the two companies managed their media efforts the
best. However, it does not meato say that others haven’t but only suggests
that efforts to have positive articles is so much more urgent for companies that
are at the lower end of the list.

Cirrus helps micro-manage media relations. In February, the top five companies cornered 5,643 image points–78.5% of the total 7,188 points collected by the Cirrus Top 10 IT companies

SHUBHENDU PARTH In New Delhi

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