This IDC study forecasts expenditures on online community software by businesses in the United States from 2009 to 2013. 2009 emerged as the year deploying online communities internally for employee productivity, not just externally for customers and partners, became a popular use case as information workers demanded more agile tools to help them accomplish more with less. IDC finds that the U.S. online community software market doubled in revenue from $135.3 million in 2007 to $278.4 million in 2008, and IDC expects relatively high growth to continue through the forecast period.

"While the economic situation forced some companies to delay investments in new technology, the recession accelerated adoption for other companies aggressively seeking new ways to connect the dots with customers, partners, and prospects," says Caroline Dangson, research analyst with IDC's Digital Marketplace team. "IDC finds that closed and controlling corporate culture and lack of trust for operating in more transparent ways leaves gaps in adoption more so than the economic downturn."