New Software and Services Vertical Research Offerings

IDC Expects Worldwide Software Revenue Growth of 6.9% Annually Through 2008

Worldwide and U.S. Recruiting and Staffing Services Rebound - IDC Forecasts Spending to Exceed $94 Billion by 2008

The Fight for Dominance of the Desktop Has Moved Into the Search Market, According to IDC

Worldwide Services Bookings Continue Positive Trend in First Half of 2004 Achieving $65 Billion in Contract Awards, IDC Says

Two New Analysts Join the IDeAS and Services Groups

Welcome Lisa and Evan!

We are very excited to announce two new analysts to IDC: Lisa Rowan, Program Manager, HR Management and Staffing Services and Evan Quinn, Group Vice President, Applications.

Lisa Rowan has joined IDC's HR Management and Staffing Services program as its new Program Manager. Lisa is a seasoned marketing, business development and analyst relations professional coming to IDC with 10 years of experience in the HR software market and strong understanding of both HR issues and vendor perspectives. In her last position, Lisa worked with major HR BPO (business process outsourcing) providers to develop partnerships and channel relationships, as well as launch her company's own BPO strategy for the mid-market. These responsibilities allowed her to develop a strong appreciation of the HR Services competitive landscape and leading market players.

For more information, contact Lisa Rowan at lrowan@idc.com

Evan Quinn

Evan Quinn has returned to IDC as the Group Vice President for Applications in the IDeAS (Integration, Development, and Application Strategies) group covering enterprise applications, customer relationship management, collaborative computing and enterprise portals. Evan comes to IDC from Oracle where he was the Director of Analyst Relations and contributed to Oracle product strategy for initiatives such as the Customer Data Hub and Oracle Information Architecture.

Evan brings a wealth of experience to his new position. IDC clients may remember Evan as a the popular IDC analyst whose Java research and Application Development CIS were highly innovative and successful. Evan also led applications research at Gartner-Dataquest and served as research lead at the Hurwitz Group before joining Oracle's analyst relations team. Prior to entering the market research field, Evan earned extensive experience in IT managing and developing financial applications at Chase Access Services and the Bank of Boston.

For more information, contact Evan quinn at equinn@idc.com

New Software and Services Vertical Research Offerings

We have heard your feedback regarding your need for more research on vertical market opportunities and are pleased to inform you about new subscription services now available.

These services are part of IDC's cross-industry product line of vertical research which provides deeper collaboration between IDC¹s research and vertical market teams. The result of this collaboration is the creation of new vertical-specific products for 2005 that provide a cross-industry look at a specific IT market opportunity. These products are as follows:

Please feel free to contact Virginia Lehr at vlehr@idc.com or your IDC sales representative if should you have any questions. We look forward to assisting you with your current and future research needs.

IDC Expects Worldwide Software Revenue Growth of 6.9% Annually Through 2008

According to IDC, worldwide software revenue increased 5.1% to $178 billion in 2003 and is projected to rise to $189 billion in 2004. Over one-third of 2003 worldwide revenue was attributable to the five leading vendors: Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, SAP, and Computer Associates.

"Even though the software industry is recovering from its first-ever decline, the double-digit growth rates experienced in the last decade will not return in the foreseeable future," said Dr. Anthony Picardi, senior vice president of Global Software at IDC. "Issues of complexity, security, and software quality, as well as a myriad of changing macroeconomic factors all pose continuing challenges to industry growth."

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2003 showed signs of a rebound in many areas of recruiting and staffing, with growth shown in both the United States and worldwide. Early 2004 quarterly results are demonstrating that this growth will continue, a new report from IDC reveals. IDC forecasts worldwide recruiting and staffing service spending will increase to $94 billion by 2008, with a compound five-year annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.7%. The U.S. market will continue to lead in this area and will increase to $40 billion in 2008.

"The worldwide and U.S. market for recruiting and staffing services has turned the corner and is once again gaining momentum," said Lisa Rowan, program manager for HR Management and Staffing Services at IDC. "Recruiting services suppliers are beginning to offer capabilities that go beyond just the external hiring process to encompass other facets of the talent management continuum. By further extending their offerings through development or alliances with suppliers of other transformational HR services and core HR services, vendors will effectively distinguish themselves in a crowded field."

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Interest in a better and integrated desktop search product is swelling, and it may add a new dimension to the features that end-users demand. According to IDC, software vendors must decide whether desktop search should be a standalone product or a necessary feature.

"Information finding clearly has become one of the central activities of the online life," said Susan Feldman, research VP for Content Management and Retrieval Solutions. "With major software vendors beginning to pay attention to the expanded role that search has assumed, this market is only beginning to see the changes that the next five years will bring."

MSN's recent acquisition of Lookout Software, Google's much-heralded new desktop search, Apple's announcement of search in Tiger, and Microsoft's intention to eventually embed search in all its desktop and operating system software all point to this market heating up. IDC believes that email search in particular not only generates a new source of advertising revenue, but can also position vendors for the next fight to dominate the desktop.

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According to IDC, the bookings trend in the services industry continues to be positive, indicating an acceleration of signings in the second half of 2004 and reflecting solid market conditions for many service providers in the coming months.

The first half of this year was the best-performing, first-half period over the last four years, with an aggregate of $65.1 billion in bookings for the 11 services vendors that IDC tracks. Vendors included in this analysis are Accenture, ACS, CGI Group, Capgemini, CSC, EDS, IBM Global Services (IGS), Keane, Northrop Grumman, Perot Systems, and Siemens Business Services (SBS).

"Bookings represent an important barometer for purchasing behavior of services in the global marketplace. In particular, bookings provide valuable information about what will happen in the coming months," said Marianne Hedin, program manager for IDC's worldwide services research.

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