Information Technology (IT) is a vast collection of knowledge, tools, solutions, and hardware that deals with computers, storage, networking, and various processes that help exchange data in multiple formats. Generally, the term IT is used more in the context of business operations rather than personal or entertainment purposes.
The IT sector has been growing, transforming, and evolving consistently for the past couple of decades. It has been at the forefront of revolutionizing things like supply chain, telecommunication, automation, software, finance, and more.
According to projections, the IT industry spending will be around $5.3 Trillion in 2022. Yet another IT transformation appears to be on the horizon with emerging technologies like AI, IoT, cloud computing, quantum computing, and enhanced robotics.
However, this evolution and change are not happening by themselves. Key players in the IT industry are spending millions of dollars in research and development to make these technologies more accessible for enterprises worldwide.
Such key players will be the topic of our discussion today. This article will discuss the top 10 IT companies in the world in 2022. We will discuss everything from their history, what services they offer, and their current financial standing.
Table of Contents
Microsoft
- Founded By: Bill Gates and Paul Allen
- Year Founded: 1975
- Headquartered In: Washington, United States
- CEO: SatyaNadella
Brief History
Microsoft is one of the biggest names in the IT sector. It was founded on April 4, 1945, by close friends Bill Gates and Paul Gardner Allen. They started by putting their programming skills to use and developing BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800.
Today, Microsoft is a multinational corporation and is considered a part of the Big Five alongside Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon. Microsoft deals with the development, licensing, manufacture, support, and sales of PCs, computer software, and consumer electronics.
Services and Financial Statistics
Some of Microsoft’s prominent and most successful IT products and services include the Microsoft Windows operating system, the Microsoft Office Suite, and the Explorer and Edge browsers. Its highest-selling hardware products include the Xbox video game consoles and the Microsoft Surface touchscreen PCs.
Microsoft acquired LinkedIn for $26.2 billion in 2016, its largest acquisition to date. Microsoft secured the 21st position in the list of Fortune 500s Largest Corporations by Total Revenue (US) in 2020.
Today, this IT giant has a market cap of 1.77 trillion dollars, making it the third most valuable company in the world. Its twelve-month revenue ending June 2022 was $192.270 billion, a 17.96% rise year-over-year.
HP Enterprises
- Founded by: David Packard and Bill Hewlett
- Year Founded: 1939
- Headquartered in: California, United States
- CEO: Antonio Neri
Brief History
The Hewlett-Packard Company, or HP, was an American multinational IT company founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard. They started this company from the ground up in Palo Alto, California, in 1939. The company initially sold various hardware and software solutions to SMBs and large enterprises.
However, the IT services arm of the company is now known as HPE or Hewlett-Packard Enterprise. It came to be this way in 2015 when the HP Company separated its enterprise products and services branch as a standalone business entity.
Services and Financial Statistics
Today, HPE renders a wide variety of IT services for diverse sectors and applications, such as IT financing, consulting, data storage, data protection, cloud services, IT infrastructure, software, and tech services.
HPE also manufactures enterprise products such as servers and networking equipment. In the cloud market, some of the key services rendered by HPE include E-learning, managed cloud systems, virtual machines, Big Data, and data protection, making it a formidable cloud-computing competitor of dominant corporations like Dell Technologies.
As of 2022, HPE is valued at $15.65B, with a revenue of $6.95B by July 2022.
Accenture
- Founded By: Clarence Delany
- Year Founded: 1989
- Headquartered In: Dublin, Ireland
- CEO: Julie Sweet
Brief History
Accenture began as Anderson Consulting in 1989, serving as the business and technology consulting division of Arthur Anderson-an accounting firm. Later, Anderson Consulting broke off all contractual ties with Arthur Anderson in 2001 and developed into an individual IT corporation.
Services and Financial Statistics
It has since been rebranded as Accenture and is now a leading IT consulting firm that offers services in areas like management and services consulting, operations solutions, business process outsourcing, cloud services, digital marketing, and electronics. Let us briefly look at its various branches and the services they offer.
- Accenture Operations: handles business process outsourcing, IT services, managed operations, and security.
- Accenture Consulting: handles business, management, and technology consulting.
- Accenture Strategy: handles the company’s operations, technology, and business strategy services.
- Accenture Technology: handles software research, development, administration, and execution.
A global workforce of about 6,99,000 individuals, a presence in over 120 countries, and brands like Unilever, Marriott, and the Royal Shakespeare Company as its clients make Accenture a genuinely successful IT company in 2022.
Today, Accenture Plc is valued at $164.45B, with a revenue of $16.6B as of May 2022.
IBM
- Founded By: Charles Ranlett Flint
- Year Founded: 1911
- Headquartered In: New York, United States
- CEO: Arvind Krishna
Brief History
IBM is recognized worldwide as a pioneer technology corporation in various IT-related sectors. It was founded in 1911 by financial capitalist Charles Ranlett Flint in Endicott, New York. Initially, it was called CTR or the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company. However, in 1924, the name was changed to IBM (International Business Machines).
Services and Financial Statistics
Cloud computing, data analysis, cognitive computation, the Internet of Things, IT infrastructure, and securities are some of the biggest income generators for IBM. If we talk about IT services, two of its key divisions come at the top.
GTS Division: GTS stands for Global Technology Services, and it is IBM’s administration and infrastructure unit. It also caters to client system maintenance, infrastructure, and business process outsourcing.
GBS Division: GBS stands for Global Business Services and mainly deals with software services and IT consultancy. This client-facing arm of IBM also deals with systems integration and project management solutions.
Today, IBM is leading the industry as a corporate blockchain leader. It also holds the record for generating most patents as a business due to its generous funding of R&D expenditures. Of the world’s top 100 banks, 92 percent use IBM’s services in mainframe infrastructure and security of financial processes.
Today, IBM Corporation is valued at $110.83B with a revenue of $15.54B as of June 2022.
SAP
- Founded By: DietmarHopp and HassoPlattner
- Year Founded: 1972
- Headquartered In: Weinheim, Germany
- CEO: Christian Klein
Brief History
SAP is well-known today in the corporate sector due to its software solutions for various enterprise applications. It was founded by German programming engineer DietmarHopp and his friends in 1972 in Weinheim, Germany.
Services and Financial Statistics
Its most famous software solution is SAP ERP(Enterprise Resource Planning), which is a group of digital tools that store, analyze, and manage data from various business transactions and handle various working parts of a corporation. This includes accounting, procurement, project management, risk management, compliance, and supply chain operations. Apart from its ERP products, SAP also offers software in areas such as:
- PLM(Product Lifecycle Management)
- CRM(Customer Relationship Management),
- EPM(Enterprise Performance Management),
- SCM(Supply Chain Management)
- SRM(Supplier Relationship Management)
- BTP(Business Technology Platform)
All these enterprise solutions cater to small, mid-level, and large businesses, making SAP a go-to IT Corporation for many organizations. SAP is also at the forefront of harnessing technologies like cloud computing, blockchain, the Internet of Things, and machine learning and making these technologies more accessible to enterprises.
SAP has 400,000+ customers in over 180 countries and a workforce of about 100,000+ employees in more than 140 countries. This leaves no doubt about SAP’s status as one of the leading IT companies in the world.
SAP SE has a market valuation of about $98.10B, with a revenue of approximately $7.2B till June 2022, which is a 12.72% rise year-over-year.
Oracle
- Founded By: Bob Miner, Larry Ellison, and Ed Oates
- Year Founded: 1977
- Headquartered In: California, United States
- CEO: Safra A. Catz
Brief History
Oracle was founded by Larry Ellison, Bob Milner, and Ed Oates in 1977 in Santa Clara, California, United States. Initially, it was named Software Development Laboratories(SDL). In 1983, the company renamed itself Oracle Systems Corporation, then in 1995, it renamed itself again to Oracle Corporation.
Services and Financial Statistics
The primary revenue-generating activities of the Oracle Corporation involve designing, manufacturing, and marketing database technology and software. The company also deals in cloud engineering, business software, and hardware products. The key products of the Oracle Corporation are database management systems and enterprise software solutions. These solutions cater to various organizational applications, such as supply chain operations, procurement, accounting, project management, risk management, and compliance.
In addition to the key products and services mentioned above, Oracle has a whole rostrum of technical and business consulting services, hosting services, financing services, and a way to train your company in Oracle products with the help of Oracle University.
For retail business owners, the company has software called Oracle Retail Suite which helps with various domains of retail business such as merchandise management, invoice matching, warehouse management, price management, demand forecasting, and product financial planning.
Oracle has captured a considerable corporate market with its comprehensive database and enterprise solutions, making it a top contender in the list of the best IT companies in the world. The current market valuation of the Oracle Corporation is $174.00B, and the latest yearly revenue of $11.45B till August 2022, a 17.65% rise year-over-year.
Capgemini
- Founded By: Serge Kampf
- Year Founded: 1967
- Headquartered In: Paris, France
- CEO:Aiman Ezzat
Brief History
Capgemini was started solely as a data processing and enterprise management firm by Serge Kampf in 1967. With the passage of time and strategic acquisitions since 1974, the company grew steadily, amassing more and more financial success. Some recent key acquisitions include CAP, DASD Corporation in Wisconsin, Gemini Computers in New York, and Altran.
All these companies were significant IT players and acquiring them paved the way for Capgemini to grow quickly on their shoulders. In 2018, Capgemini acquired LiquidHub, a Philadelphia-based corporation, for $500M to achieve digital and cloud growth in the North American region.
Services and Financial Statistics
The corporation’s considerable success is not just due to some well-timed acquisitions. It is also a world leader in the IT industry and deals in IT consulting, engineering services, management services, and outsourcing. It also has an industry-leading environmental-friendly IT services program called “Green IT” that aims to devise IT strategies for clients that are safe for the environment.
“I have put acting on climate change at the heart of our group priorities.”
-AimanEzzat, CEO, Capgemini
Capgemini is currently valued at $26.60B, and the latest revenue figures are $5.1B (Jun 2022), a 22.70% rise year-over-year.
TCS
- Founded By: J. R. D. Tata and Tata Sons
- Year Founded: 1968
- Headquartered In: Mumbai, India
- CEO: Rajesh Gopinathan
Brief History
TCS is short for Tata Consultancy Service. In terms of revenue and capital, it is the largest IT Company in India and also one of the biggest in the world. It began as a division of Tata Sons in 1968. Initially, it provided management and technology consultancy services, but with time, it added more and more IT services to its catalog. It became international for the first time in 1973 when it partnered with Burroughs Corporation to export software to various Burroughs clients and units worldwide.
Services and Financial History
Two of TCS’s key IT products are the TCS Mastercraft and the TCS BaNCS.
TCS Mastercraft: It is a group of tools and software solutions that helps organizations optimize digital transformation, business data quality, privacy, software development, delivery, application creation, and more.
TCS BaNCS: It is a comprehensive list of integrated services mainly dealing with retail banks and helping process their financial services.
In addition to these industry-leading software solutions, TCS also offers various services in the areas of analytics and insights, IoT, automation and AI, consulting, enterprise applications, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, and engineering and industrial services. TCS became a $100B company in 2018, making it the largest IT Company in India.
Today, TCS Limited is valued at $134.40B, with the latest yearly revenue of $6.4B till June 2022. This is a 16.18% rise year-over-year.
Cognizant
- Founded By: Kumar Mahadeva and Francisco D’Souza
- Year Founded: 1994
- Headquartered In: New Jersey, United States
- CEO: Brian Humphries
Brief History
Cognizant is one of the major IT MNCs that helps bring technological innovation to businesses by helping their customers implement, integrate, and optimize modern technology. It was founded by Kumar Mahadeva and Francisco D’Souza in 1994 in Chennai, India.
Services and Financial History
Cognizant deals in four key areas: Digital Operations, Digital Business, Digital Technology, and Digital Systems. Their unique model of transforming traditional businesses to become better at accessing modern technology makes them an industry leader in IT. They offer services like customer relationship management, data warehousing, supply chain management, business intelligence, enterprise resource planning, testing, R&D, and outsourcing solutions.
In 2015, Cognizant acquired TriZetto Corp, a California-based healthcare IT firm, for $2.7B. The goal of this acquisition was to become a part of the healthcare sector and create innovative software solutions to help health institutions improve the member-patient experience, cost, administrative efficiency, quality of care, and revenues. The healthcare firm is now called Cognizant TriZetto Healthcare Products.
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp currently has a market cap of $30.47B and reported revenue of $4.91B by June 2022.
Infosys
- Founded By: N. R. Narayana Murthy and Nandan Nilekani
- Year Founded: 1981
- Headquartered In: Bengaluru, India
- CEO: Salil Parekh
Brief History
Infosys is yet another India-based IT corporation that is one of the most successful in the IT world. What’s surprising is that it started from an initial capital of only $250 by a group of seven engineers in Pune, Maharashtra, India. Currently, Infosys is the second largest IT company in India after TCS. Its founder N.R. Narayana Murthy is regarded as the “father of the Indian IT sector.”
Services and Financial History
The key IT services offered by Infosys are focused on software development and maintenance. It also provides independent validation services to financial, insurance, and manufacturing institutions.
One of its critical successes is how it influenced the corporate and retail banking industry with an indigenous IT product, Finacle. Finacle is a banking solution that helps bring innovation, engagement, and better operational performance to its banking clients.
Infosys has a significant presence in India, the USA, Australia, China, Japan, the Middle East, and Europe. The company is currently valued at $71.5B, with reported revenue of $54M by June 2022.
Final Thoughts
The IT industry will never be out of the equation. However, It will adapt and play a role in every innovation and technology we will likely see in the future. For entrepreneurs and startup founders, there’s a lesson there. Becoming a part of the IT industry in 2022 might set you up for tremendous success in the future, as is clear from the corporations discussed above.
