Manufacturers Dominant Force in Apps Spending, Study Finds

IDC reports applications demand strongest in manufacturing, financial services sectors

IDC reports applications demand strongest in manufacturing, financial services sectors

Framingham, MA — October 7, 2003 — The applications software market in North America is dominated by manufacturing companies investing in applications that enhance product design, marketing processes, collaborative manufacturing and customer and partnership relationships, according to a new report from technology research firm IDC.

In its study, "North America Applications Software Forecast, 2002-2007: Vertical Industry and Company Size Perspective for Software Vendors," IDC reports that more than 23 percent of 2002 applications software revenue originated from companies in the manufacturing sector.

"The most positive response to applications software offerings in the next five years will continue to come from the manufacturing and the financial services sectors in the North American economy," said Anna Toncheva, program manager of IDC's Software and Services Vertical Views research. "However, vendors will find growth potential scattered across a number of sectors as companies continue to invest in industry-specific applications."

The applications software absorbs disproportionately larger portions of the software budgets of companies in consumer services, process manufacturing, retail and other financial services industries. These organizations tend to be more applications intensive either because of the nature of their business processes or due to their customer-facing focus.

IDC is projecting that the enterprise applications market, which consists of back office applications, customer relationship management (CRM), collaborative and content management and vertical-industry specific software, will increase to more than $54 billion by 2007, representing a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.5 percent.

Spending in 2007 will be largest in the manufacturing sector at $12 billion and the services industry at $9.9 billion, followed closely by the financial services market at $8.9 billion.

The IDC study addresses the adoption trends and investment developments expected to define the vertical profile of applications software revenues for 2003-2007.
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