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 discusses creating professional development programs for cybersecurity.
"The world of cybersecurity is becoming increasingly siloed," says Mike Chapple, adjunct analyst, IDC's IT Executive Programs (IEP). "Leaders should ...
This IDC study examines the importance of building regulatory compliance in the cloud. In today's environment, it is not only possible but often preferable to run regulated workloads in a public cloud environment, and IT leaders around the ...
This IDC TechScape examines the technologies that are essential for safely reopening and managing government office spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic, recognizing that many have the potential to evolve in the years to come. It provides ...
This IDC PeerScape describes four best practices of how manufacturers from the automotive, aerospace, industrial machinery, and chemicals industries leverage data sharing and exchange with their ecosystem of partners, suppliers, and customers ...
This IDC study represents a vendor assessment of service providers offering unified communications as a service (UCaaS) for enterprise using the IDC MarketScape model. The assessment reviews both quantitative and qualitative characteristics ...
This IDC study represents a vendor assessment of service providers offering unified communications as a service (UCaaS) for SMBs using the IDC MarketScape model. The assessment reviews both quantitative and qualitative characteristics that ...
This IDC study represents a vendor assessment of providers offering eDiscovery services through the IDC MarketScape model. The assessment reviews both quantitative and qualitative characteristics that define current market demands and expected ...
This IDC study presents a vendor assessment of digital finance and accounting business process services (BPS) focusing on the use of digital levers to deliver these services and drive greater cost and process efficiencies, reduce total cost ...
This IDC TechScape discusses technologies that are essential to enable innovation through a retail commerce platform and to execute commerce everywhere business models efficiently and effectively. The study aims to help senior executives ...
This IDC study on artificial intelligence maturity is intended to offer a systematic and rigorous approach for organizations to assess their competency and maturity. To help financial institutions evaluate current artificial intelligence ...
This IDC study provides an assessment of SaaS and cloud-enabled contract life-cycle management software solutions and discusses what criteria are most important for companies to consider when selecting a system.
"Contract life-cycle ...
This IDC study provides an assessment of SaaS and cloud-enabled spend analysis software solutions and discusses what criteria are most important for companies to consider when selecting a system.
"Spend analysis solutions are moving ...
This IDC study provides an assessment of 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 becoming more cognitive ...
This IDC study provides an assessment of SaaS and cloud-enabled supplier relationship management software solutions and discusses what criteria are most important for companies to consider when selecting a system.
"Supplier relationship ...
This IDC study provides an assessment of SaaS and cloud-enabled procure-to-pay software solutions and discusses what criteria are most important for companies to consider when selecting a system.
"Procure-to-pay solutions have become ...
This IDC study provides an assessment of SaaS and cloud-enabled procurement software solutions and discusses what criteria are most important for companies to consider when selecting a system.
"Procurement solutions are evolving rapidly ...
This IDC study focuses on three IT leaders and how they imbued and institutionalized agile and resilient behavioral characteristics directly into their IT organizations: how they absorbed the first disruptive blow of the pandemic, made quick ...
This IDC PlanScape is a follow-on to the IDC MaturityScape and IDC MaturityScape Benchmark documents for print and document management that outlined the stages and dimensions of print and document management maturity and assessed where organizations ...
This IDC PlanScape identifies the main drivers (why), foundational elements (what), key actors (who), and business outcomes (how) involved in enhancing customer experience that helps retail organizations better respond in real time to unpredictable ...
This IDC study describes the practices that CIOs should adopt with their business partners to successfully overhaul their development approaches. An Agile methodology describes the culture of transparency and trust within which Agile practices ...
This IDC TechScape examines technologies that are essential for safely reopening and managing office spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic and have the potential to evolve in the coming years. It provides a visual representation of the process ...
This IDC study reinforces the aspects of culture that must surround agile practices. The Agile Manifesto is brief and the message of people over process is reinforced in many ways. The most popular development framework that builds on the ...
This IDC FutureScape details the top 10 predictions and their Asia/Pacific implications for the future of digital innovation in 2021 and beyond.
Fueled by meteoric market changes and accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, leading Asia/Pacific ...
This IDC Presentation discusses the Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) (APEJ) regionalization of the 2021 Worldwide Future of Connectedness Predictions. Each prediction is presented based on timeline projection, cost/complexity assessment, and ...
This IDC study looks at how companies can deploy wearables that monitor social distancing and contact tracing, as well as wearables that monitor wearer health for potential signs of illness. This includes looking at how these devices work, ...