IDC Finds Demand For Business Analytics Software/Solutions Growing

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.(BUSINESS WIRE) A new report published by International Data Corporation (IDC) reveals how the market for business analytics software and solutions will grow as end users become more familiar with how the technology and related business practices can be used to improve competitiveness. As a result, IDC forecasts the business analytics market to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.0 percent over the 2009-2014 forecast period with even greater growth expected over the next ten years.

"After three decades of existence, the business analytics market is finally reaching the mainstream market and gaining status as a formal management discipline," said Dan Vesset, program vice president for IDC's Business Analytics Solutions research. "As the benefits of business analytics become better known, especially among executives, the demand for a wider range of solutions and services will create new opportunities and drive the market to new heights."

IDC's research shows that end users are hearing more about the benefits of business analytics from widely publicized cases about large retailers, social networking sites, search engines, intelligence agencies, and other organizations that generate and analyze vast amounts of data. Previous cases of advanced uses of business analytics were either poorly publicized or they were from "boring" industries that didn't catch the attention of the press.

As business analytics becomes better understood, IDC believes both vendors and end users should shift away from the discussion of data (or content) and toward discussions about decision making. The lessons learned from the past two decades are that end users will never be able to fully predict their data needs nor will the technologies be able to pre-build data models that will satisfy end users. Understanding decision processes will, however, enable a closer collaborative relationship between IT and business and enable the development of more flexible systems that take into account ways in which end users make decisions.

The IDC study, Worldwide Business Analytics Software 2010-2014 Forecast and 2009 Vendor Shares (Doc #225038), examines vendor revenue performance in the business analytics software market for 2007-2009 and presents a forecast of the market, including its 11 segments, for 2010-2014. The study further presents short profiles of the leading business analytics software vendors and IDC's Competitive Market Map of this market as well as of the analytic applications segment of the market.To learn more about the latest developments, best practices, and emerging trends in the business analytics market, join the discussion on the IDC Business Analytics Blog. This user-focused blog serves as a cross-industry interactive dialogue to share valuable information and ideas, promote discussion, and bring together business analytics thought leaders and practitioners. IDC analysts contributing to the Business Analytics Blog include:
    * Henry Morris - Decision Management
    * Dan Vesset - Business Intelligence, Advanced Analytics, Data Warehousing, Pervasive BI, Spatial Analytics, Intelligent Economy
    * Brian McDonough - Performance Management and Analytic Applications, Business Analytics SaaS
    * Alys Woodward - European Performance Management and Business Analytics Services
    * Carl Olofson - Data Integration, Data Quality, Master Data Management
    * Susan Feldman - Content analytics, Unified Access and Analysis
    * Mary Wardley - CRM Analytics, Web Analytics, Pricing Analytics

The IDC Business Analytics Blog is part of the IDC Insights Community, the leading global, interactive, online community for business and IT professionals to network, share and engage around technology issues within the context of their business. Visit the IDC Insights Community at http://idc-insights-community.com.