The IT enterprise services market was dominated by IBM and HP in the year 2009 as the two collectively made for close to 20% market share, reveals a new research from market research firm, Springboard Research’s new report “Asia Pacific IT Services Competitive Report: Survival of the Fittest.”

Overall, IBM led the pack of IT vendors. It emerged as the market leader for Application Services. HP Enterprise Services is the leader for Infrastructure Services in 2009 while Accenture is the leader for Consulting services. IBM is ranked second for Infrastructure Services as well as Consulting services.

Other leading vendors include Unisys, Fujitsu and CSC. The report says that Korean vendors such as Samsung, SDS and LG CNS also scored well overall but mainly due to their business in their domestic market.

“Organizations with a multi-dimensional approach to IT services, a focus on industry specific solutions and ability to transform customer’s business to keep pace with the market are better placed than any other service provider to overcome challenges that economic downturn throw up,” says Sudip Saha, Senior Analyst, IT Services, at Springboard Research. “The overall market shows a preference for vendors with an integrated and end-to-end services portfolio and the ability to combine software, hardware and services,” adds Saha.

“More than ever before, we see the next 12-24 months as a particularly pivotal point of transition for the competitive makeup of the IT industry in Asia/Pacific. Current market valuations and company challenges present ripe conditions for strategic acquisitions for astute IT providers,” comments Phil Hassey, Vice President, IT Services, at Springboard Research. “In combination with some of the fundamental shifts taking place in technology delivery – with Virtualization, Cloud Computing and SaaS most noteworthy among them – it is clear that the industry is at a point where IT providers need to have a sound active M&A strategy linked with the ability to integrate and execute for long term success,” concludes Hassey.