IDC: Up to 2017 large data analysis and enterprise applications will continue to drive software spending growth

IDC today unveiled the latest forecasts for the global semiannual software tracking report. In 2013, the global software market growth rate was revised to 4.3% per cent (at the current dollar rate) compared with the whole year. This forecast is lower than the 5.7% initial figures released in March this year, as the yen has seen a severe exchange rate decline as one of the important international currencies. If the US exchange rate remains unchanged, the 2013 expected growth rate will remain at around 5.9%. Despite regular fluctuations in the currency exchange rate, IDC believes that the market will continue to grow at around 6% in the year from 2012 to 2017.

Collaborative applications, structured data management software and data access, and analysis and delivery programs will show strong growth momentum over the next five years, with an annual composite growth rate of more than 8% per cent between 2012 and 2017. "With the increasing influence of the Internet on social activities, collaborative solutions will take off, and the main manifestation is software as service." This trend will complement the broad focus of large data & analysis programs, helping business users understand and implement customer behavior forecasts, and look at product reliability and maintenance from a new perspective, "said Henry Morris, senior vice president of global software, services and executive consulting."

In the second echelon of growth rate, enterprise applications, represented by CRM, ERM, SCM, and operation and manufacturing applications, ushered in a 6% annual compound growth rate. "Enterprise users are starting to implement applications that were non-existent or non-existent, such as e-commerce applications, retailing, manufacturing, hotels, catering and even public affairs, which have been widely used in various industries." IDC also found applications that didn't exist in the past (that is, billing subscriptions, spending optimization, and revenue management) that meet the needs that were previously processed only through custom applications or manual processes, "Christine Dover, director of enterprise applications and digital business research.

In terms of geographical distribution, emerging economies continue to bring strong growth momentum far higher than in mature economies. Among them Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan), South America and Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia in the year between 2012 and 2017, the annual composite growth rate of 8.2%, compared to the developed regions (i.e., North America, Western Europe and Japan) annual composite growth rate of only 5.4%.

IDC's Global semiannual software tracking report divides the global software market into 79 specific blocks designed to provide analysis of overall market planning and vendor share. The tracking report covers a total of over 800 software vendors from 49 countries, with a six-year cycle of past market size, vendor share and forecasts for future trends.

(Responsible editor: The good of the Legacy)