Best-of-Breed Applications Dominate Suites In User Spending
New Report Lists Over 100 Business Application Industry Leaders by Application Function and Market Categories
The business application industry is well on the way to being the first packaged software market to exceed $100 billion in worldwide license revenues according to a recent International Data Corporation report, "Leading Suite and `Best-of-Breed` Suppliers As Competitors and Partners." The report forecasts the market will reach that level in 2002, growing from $50 billion in 1997.
The research also finds revenue for best-of-breed applications software was almost three times that for business-application suites in 1997, despite the fact suites receive so much publicity. IDC defines suites as solutions that include at least accounting, materials-management, and industry-specific modules, and that could -- in theory -- automate an entire enterprise. Furthermore, suites often automate human resources/payroll and other functions.
"Suites are clearly a rapidly growing category of business application marketing," said Dennis Byron, research manager in IDC`s Applications and Information Access group. "But the largest demand as measured by license and maintenance revenue continues to be for standalone applications that do one thing and do it well. The dominance of so-called best-of-breed applications over suites in terms of worldwide license revenues is the impetus behind the many research and marketing partnerships of suite suppliers. The suite-versus-standalone view in this report helps make sense of what looks like a $50 billion monolithic market in 1997 but that is actually multiple market categories, driven by many different marketing tactics and techniques."
IDC`s "Leading Suite and `Best-of-Breed` Suppliers As Competitors and Partners" report is based on exclusive results from IDC`s global software database of over 1,000 software companies worldwide.
Key Observations
According to the report, the growth in the business applications market is based on:
- Heavy demand for key cross-industry packaged applications, such as general accounting, materials management, and human resources management.
- Continued demand for long-popular industry-specific applications for manufacturing requirements planning and execution and similar functions in retail/wholesale distribution and the services industries.
- A strong year of demand for sales and support applications interoperating with cross-industry and industry-specific applications.
The "Leading Suite and `Best-of-Breed` Suppliers As Competitors and Partners" (IDC #B16720) report lists over 100 application suppliers by category (suite vs. best of breed) by function (i.e., accounting, manufacturing, healthcare, and other subcategories). The list of leaders provides all types of software suppliers -- including suppliers of infrastructure software and tools -- a must-consider lineup of potential marketing and integration partners. The report also provides IDC market-share generators and function-by-category classifications that can help market leaders and market-participants-to-be understand the pace of market maturity.
Share
Editorial contacts