IDC Research Types
Analyst
Analyst Profile
Provides complete background information on an IDC analyst. Each profile provides a biography, a notable quotation, a frequently asked question relevant to the particular analyst's focus, and a list of research authored by that analyst.
Team Profile
Lists the analyst members of a topical team. Outlines general areas of coverage and any specialties.
Briefs
Flash
Provides rapid IDC insight and analysis about a significant industry event or conference, merger or acquisition, product announcement, or other fast-breaking news affecting the IT market.
Forecast Update
Provides a short, quick look at an updated forecast and the changed assumptions behind the update. It updates a market forecast published in the same calendar year, identifies changed and key forecast assumptions, and highlights actions for participants to consider in light of the changes.
IDC Insight
Provides coverage and analysis of an industry event, new product or service, or a company announcement or development.
Update
Provides brief overview coverage of what is happening in a market.
Vendor Profiles
Provides a concise, hard-hitting profile of an emerging vendor. A profile will highlight new players and technologies and the potential paradigm shifts or disruptions a vendor represents.
Daily Graphics
Daily Graphic
Illustrates IDC's keen analysis of major market trends in downloadable PowerPoints. Available as a free download the day it appears, an IDC Daily Graphic provides valuable material for speeches and strategic planning.
Event Proceedings
Event Proceeding
Provides published slides, audio, and other materials from IDC and Insights Web conferences, briefings, forums, or other events.
Events
Conference
Delivers dependable, relevant, and high-impact data and insight to help organizations make sound business and technology decisions. eBusiness executives, IT professionals, IT suppliers, and services suppliers benefit from the strategic insight and networking opportunities IDC conferences offer. Generally, all presentation slides are available online, and for most conferences, streaming audio of key discussions is available as well.
Web Conference
Focuses on significant trends and paradigm shifts. Each Web conference will provide attendees with leading-edge market information that will enable them to make smart business decisions. For those unable to attend in person or those wishing to review the content presented, these synchronized multimedia presentations are available online.
IDC DecisionScapes
IDC FutureScape
Serves as a framework for IT/tech professionals' IT strategy and planning for the next one to three years. It lists IDC's top 10 worldwide technology trends for the coming one to three years in a given research area and includes related drivers, projected IT/business strategy impact, and guidance.
IDC MarketScape
Helps IT/tech professionals develop a short list of suitable suppliers when selecting a vendor. Provides an unbiased assessment of tech suppliers in terms of offerings, strategy, capabilities, and other important factors in a given technology area.
IDC MaturityScape
Describes five stages of "maturity" or capability for a particular technology area, helps IT/tech professionals understand where their organizations fit within those stages, and provides guidance on key components for planning successful improvements to a tech initiative.
IDC MaturityScape Benchmark
Helps IT/tech professionals to benchmark their maturity against peers, develop a business case for a tech initiative, and build consensus about where critical IT investments should be made. Presents quantitative research results that show the market distribution for a given tech initiative across the five stages of maturity presented in the related IDC MaturityScape. Shows the results and components of particularly successful initiatives.
IDC PeerScape
Gives IT/tech professionals insight into best practices (and practices to avoid) by providing specific use case examples implemented by peers. Identifies practices that have the most impact on the success of a tech or business initiative, and provides actionable guidance for each practice.
IDC PlanScape
Helps IT/tech professionals to justify and plan a business and/or technology investment or opportunity by exploring why, what, who, and how (these are also the main section headings). Presents key players, critical success factors, risks, and actions to consider for a designated technology and/or business management area.
IDC TechScape
Helps IT/tech professionals with developing IT strategic plans and evaluating emerging technologies in terms of their risk to the business. Shows the adoption curve and risk levels over time for a specific emerging technology. Sorts technologies into three "adoption model" categories (transformational, incremental, opportunistic) to help tech leaders determine the potential impact for their organization.
IDC Links
IDC Link
Provides timely context and insight around important market trends and events in a short opinion piece. IDC Links provide IDC's point of view on:
- Financial announcements
- Product announcements
- Mergers and acquisitions or divestitures
- Events
- Response to news
Insights-only Research
Best Practices
Correlates the use of specific practices and superior performance as indicated by an analysis of the benchmarking database. Highlights any significant differences between industries. Conclusions provide a set of process priorities for improving a business case and advice on how to overcome change management issues.
Business Strategy
Helps buyers to assess their business strategies and/or associated business processes, especially as they relate to the use of technology.
Methods and Practices
Provides a step-by-step description of a method or methods that can be applied. As appropriate, the report may compare the benefits and drawbacks of several methods.
Perspective
Presents an article written by an Insights analyst on a topic of special interest to a target audience. This information has generally already appeared in an industry publication and is repackaged for display on the Insights Web site.
Vendor Assessment
Helps buyers select the right IT supplier. The report helps buyers understand the various providers of a technology by providing analysis on market landscape, vendor profiles, vendor market share, and vendor assessments.
Pivot Tables
Pivot Table
Presents an interactive spreadsheet tool for analyzing trends and activities in a specific market segment. These tables are available only through an annual subscription service.
Predictions
Top 10 Predictions
Provides bold, well-conceived market predictions grounded in solid methodologies, primary research, and analyst experience. Lays out a clear road map to understanding major market opportunities and trends.
Presentations
IDC Presentation
Provides the latest, select CIS forecast data, primary research survey findings, and critical IDC analyst opinion in a succinct, easy-to-digest PowerPoint format.
IDC Survey
Presents a hypothesis about what is happening in the market backed by the results of a demand-side or supply-side survey. The focus is on interpreting and analyzing the survey results and providing a strong point of view along with actionable advice.
IDC Survey Spotlight
Answers a timely question and provides a strong opinion backed by IDC survey data. This is a quick nugget of information that is presented in two concise PowerPoint slides.
Insights Presentation
Provides an easy-to-use format to post on the Web presentations that were previously delivered at public forums (such as conferences and events) or for internal client meetings and client presentations. It may not come as part of a consulting/custom engagement.
Market Analysis Perspective
Delivers a concise current state view of a market and insight into the impact of future trends. Business executives, product managers, and MI/AR professionals can use this information when looking to understand buyers' perspectives and market impacts.
Press Releases
Press Release
Announces significant corporate news, such as key hirings or promotions, performance milestones, event highlights, or speaking engagements.
Product Information
Fact Sheet
Describes a research product. Usually details the major areas of coverage and deliverables, and outlines key questions and competitive market conditions that the research will address. Includes links to all published research for a research product.
Studies
Competitive Analysis
Provides a detailed accounting and review of a vendor's programs, processes, products, service, satisfaction, and/or strategy in a target market. This knowledge helps clients reduce their risk of losing market share or enhance their position over the competition.
Customer Needs and Strategies
Focuses on the important decisions that business and IT professionals make every day.
Industry Developments and Models
Provides a detailed assessment of a specific target market's expansion pattern. This analysis helps clients develop and deploy the right mix of value-add products, programs, or services to support their sales and/or partnering efforts.
Market Analysis
Provides an in-depth examination of the dynamics and future of a single market or a group of related markets. The Market Analysis is where we will typically present our forecasts and assumptions, using a key forecast assumptions table.
Market Forecast
Provides the future of a single market or a group of related markets. It presents a new or updated market forecast, including key drivers and assumptions used in the forecast.
Market Share
Provides data on market size, regional allocations, and platform splits as well as a summary of vendor shares for the most recently completed period (year, quarter).
Special Study
Provides a onetime study produced by a research group that is not published as a deliverable under a subscription service.
Survey
Provides a study and interpretation of the results of a demand- or supply-side survey.
Taxonomy
Highlights and emphasizes how IDC tracks the market while also making it easier for customers to find and identify IDC Taxonomy documents.
Technology Assessment
Provides an analysis of the intricacies of an emerging or established technology or the technologies contained within a specific product.
Vendor Needs and Strategies
Provides an in-depth analysis of a company, a small group of companies, a division of a company focused on a particular market, or a best practice that the company exemplifies.
This IDC study provides an assessment of the leading SaaS and cloud-enabled SRM software solutions and discusses what criteria are most important for companies to consider when selecting technology.
"Technologies such as advanced analytics, ...
This IDC Perspective looks at new consumption-based offerings from three vendors: HPE, Dell EMC, and Oracle. As customers become more comfortable with new IT consumption models, IDC expects the demand for as-a-service or utility-based computing ...
This IDC Perspective explores the proliferation of robots across industries and business processes, which requires organizations to think about how to create alignment between robotics in the process and the more general business applications ...
This IDC Perspective offers customer experience professionals six roles of specific sets of insights from the Oracle Modern Customer Experience 2018 event. The theme of the event was about modern customer experience, and IDC analysts presented ...
This IDC Manufacturing Insights report uses the IDC MarketScape model to provide an assessment of a number of providers participating in the worldwide trade planning management market. The IDC MarketScape is an evaluation based on a comprehensive ...
This IDC TechBrief describes asset performance management (APM) and its impact on how operational companies manage their assets. The objective of an APM system is to collect data from operations, maintenance, vendors, markets, and other ...
This IDC study evaluates point-of-sale (POS) software vendors in the department store retail sector. The document examines how point-of-sale software vendors are developing their solutions to respond to the increasing omni-channel commerce ...
This IDC study provides an assessment of the leading SaaS and cloud-enabled sourcing software solutions and discusses what criteria are most important for companies to consider when selecting a system.
"Sourcing solutions are a necessary ...
This IDC study provides an assessment of the leading SaaS and cloud-enabled procure-to-pay software solutions and discusses what criteria are most important for companies to consider when selecting a system.
"Technologies such as advanced ...
This IDC study provides an assessment of the leading SaaS and cloud-enabled travel and expense software solutions and discusses the criteria that are most important for companies to consider when selecting a system.
"The SaaS and cloud-enabled ...
This IDC Perspective discusses data integration on the digital transformation (DX) platform.
"Digital transformation is changing data integration — batch data integration is being replaced by real-time streaming and federation with ...
This IDC study provides an assessment of the prominent SaaS and cloud-enabled procurement software solutions and discusses what criteria are most important for companies to consider when selecting a system. Procurement applications support ...
This IDC study evaluates point-of-sale (POS) software vendors offering their solutions to large enterprise retail apparel and softlines retailers. The research examines how point-of-sale vendors are developing their solutions to respond ...
This IDC Financial Insights study uses the IDC MarketScape model to provide an assessment of service providers participating in the digital strategy consulting and agency services market with specific offers and capabilities in risk and ...
This IDC TechBrief discusses account-based marketing.
"The goal for all marketers today is to deliver more value than competitors can as early in the relationship as possible," stated Gerry Murray, research director of IDC's Sales ...
This IDC study represents a vendor assessment of PaaS and developer services through the IDC MarketScape model. The ramp-up of public cloud adoption by enterprises in building applications, accompanied by steady investment in expansion of ...
This IDC study assesses the market for Big Data and Analytics (BDA) solutions among 11 top global vendors with a presence in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) and identifies their strengths and challenges. This assessment discusses both quantitative ...
This IDC study uses the IDC MarketScape model to provide an assessment of vendors participating in the subscription relationship management market.
"For many companies, the shift from physical products to digital services is 'make ...
This IDC study provides an assessment of the leading SaaS and cloud-enabled ERP software solutions for large enterprises and discusses what criteria are most important for companies to consider when selecting a SaaS and cloud-enabled ERP ...
This IDC study evaluates the major players in the cloud security platform market and identifies their strengths and challenges.
"Every organization that uses cloud applications needs a cloud security platform to protect its data," ...
This IDC TechBrief discusses i-ERP and intelligent systems.
"Intelligent systems are impacting the way we think about our traditional ERP systems and enterprise applications," said Mickey North Rizza, program VP, Enterprise Applications ...
This IDC study provides an assessment of the leading SaaS and cloud-enabled finance and accounting software solutions and discusses what criteria are most important for companies to consider when selecting a system.
"As financial operations ...
This IDC study provides an assessment of the leading SaaS and cloud-enabled ERP software solutions for midmarket enterprises and discusses what criteria are most important for companies to consider when selecting a system.
Mickey North ...
This IDC study provides an assessment of the leading SaaS and cloud-enabled PSA ERP software solutions and discusses what criteria are most important for companies to consider when selecting a PSA ERP system.
Mickey North Rizza, program ...
This IDC study provides IDC's datacenter server hardware support services provider assessment of the worldwide server support services market using the IDC MarketScape model. This assessment discusses both quantitative and qualitative characteristics ...