The Worldwide IT Spending Guide: Line of Business examines the line-of-business functional opportunity from a technology, industry, and geography perspective. This comprehensive database delivered via IDC's Customer Insights query tool allows the user to easily extract meaningful information about line-of-business technology investments by viewing data trends and relationships and making data comparisons.

Markets and Technologies Covered


  • 11 technology markets: Across hardware (IaaS, other infrastructure, and devices), software (applications, application development and deployment, and system infrastructure software), and services (business consulting, key horizontal BPO, managed services, project oriented, and support services)
  • 6 sectors segmented into 15 Sector details and 27 industries: Banking, insurance, capital markets, healthcare payer, life sciences, telecommunications, oil and gas, utilities, high tech and electronics, aerospace and defense, automotive, industrial and other manufacturing, chemicals, consumer goods, agriculture and fishing, mining, retail, software and information services, travel and transportation, hospitality and leisure, media and entertainment, engineering, construction and real estate, professional and personal services, federal/central government, state/local government, education
  • 12 functions: Accounting/finance/billing, customer service, engineering, architecture and research, human resources, operations, Enterprise IT, legal, marketing, sales, security and risk, and supply chain management
  • 2 funding types: Business funded and IT funded

Geographic Coverage


  • 9 regions: The United States, Canada, Latin America, Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Japan, PRC, and Asia/Pacific
  • 52 countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, PRC, the rest of Asia/Pacific, the rest of CEE, the rest of Latin America, the rest of the Middle East and Africa, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Vietnam

Data Deliverables


This spending guide is delivered on a semiannual basis via a web-based interface for online querying and downloads. The following are the deliverables for this spending guide. For a complete delivery schedule, please contact an IDC sales representative:

  • Annual five-year forecasts by country, technology, industry, and company size, delivered twice a year
  • IDC's standard industry, company size, and technology taxonomy and methodology
  • Subscription including inquiry time and Query Tool access

Key Questions Answered


Our research addresses the following issues that are critical to your success:

  1. How big is the total worldwide IT opportunity across hardware, software, and services? How does it vary by country?
  2. What share of IT spending is funded by line-of-business functions?
  3. Which business functions, and in which industries, offer the largest opportunities for each technology?
  4. Which functions are driving incremental IT spending? Which technologies are they investing in?
  5. Which industries are growing the fastest? How does growth vary by company size?
  6. Where should resources be focused to take advantage of the maximum market opportunity?
  • Eileen Smith

    Program Vice President, Customer Insights & Analysis

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  • Neli Vacheva

    Research Manager, Data and Analytics, Europe

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  • Mario Allen Clement

    Associate Research Manager

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  • Eman Elshewy

    Research Manager, Customer Insights and Analysis (META), IDC

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  • Jing Qian

    Market Analyst

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  • Kritika Ghildiyal

    Research Analyst, Market Analytics & Insights

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  • Heriberto Roman

    Associate Analyst, ROC, LATAM

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  • Tetsuya Maruyama

    Research Manager, IT Spending Guide, Data & Analytics, IDC Japan

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