IDC Custom Solutions is a dedicated team of experts within IDC, the world's premier global provider of technology market intelligence and advisory services. Through a proven data and content-driven approach, IDC Custom Solutions delivers personalized guidance to help clients make faster and better decisions, drive more effective sales and marketing programs, accurately measure their market performance, and be more successful in the marketplace.

IDC and its global analysts have developed focused expertise in listening to clients, identifying areas of need and customizing the right solutions. This includes project management, assembling a qualified project team of analysts, and ensuring complete client satisfaction and quantifiable business value.

Every client engagement drives its own set of solutions. Common solution targets include maximizing internal investment decisions, assessing future technology needs, benchmarking against competitors, targeting global growth opportunities, developing strategies for emerging markets and technologies, assessing and measuring custom market segments, driving global partner strategies, and creating integrated marketing programs for key products and services.

Yes. The Custom Solutions group creates individualized solutions for clients while accessing and leveraging the unique strengths of IDC global and local analysts, unparalleled technology research, international reach, and brand credibility.

IDC Custom Solutions is organized into Practices that are based upon well-established methodologies and approaches. Practice areas address a client's business lifecycle in three primary phases – planning and budgeting; sales and marketing; and managing and measuring. Custom offerings are created to optimize a client's success at every stage.

There are six Practice Areas including:

• The Custom Analytics Practice helps your organization make smarter, faster business decisions by measuring your market performance to make necessary adjustments.
• The Partnering Practice establishes frameworks to help you focus on maximizing the returns of your partner investments.
• The Buyer Behavior Practice enables you to increase market share through insights and analysis on the needs of your technology buyers.
• The Integrated Marketing Practice delivers marketing programs that speed your customers through the buying cycle.
• The Business Value Practice shortens the sales cycle with ROI metrics that demonstrate the value of your IT solutions.
• The Thought Leadership Practice elevates your global brand awareness and global media coverage.

Yes. Clients can work with IDC Custom Solutions on virtually any project or need. Certain solutions are multi-disciplinary and extremely customized and therefore sit outside of the core practice disciplines. That's why every custom engagement is flexible, scalable and unique. Based upon market dynamics, the current practice areas will evolve over time, and additional practices may be launched.

Specific offerings are prescribed on a case-by-case basis and tailored to a client's specific needs. Examples of Custom Solutions offerings include IDC dynamic white papers and other case-specific content, custom research, B2B and B2C customer surveys, IDC Readiness Tools that create peer comparison benchmarks, and a host of interactive tools for market modeling, forecasting, segmentation, and more.

Yes. In fact, custom solutions can be even more effective and readily implemented when integrated with IDC data and taxonomies already in place in a client's organization.

Yes. Many clients new to IDC start off working with the Custom Solutions group to address one area of need, and expand the relationship into other areas where IDC can help them be more successful.

To find out how IDC Custom Solutions can address your current and future market challenges and opportunities, call Steve Fontaine at 650-350-6486 or email sfontaine@idc.com.