New Worldwide Business Analytics Services Forecast Shows Estimated Spending Will Reach $89.6 Billion by 2018, According to IDC

In its newly published worldwide business analytics services forecast, International Data Corporation (IDC) forecasts business analytics services spending will reach $89.6 billion in 2018 and $51.6 billion in 2014, representing a 14.7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR).

"Talent shortage coupled with the high interest in adoption of new technologies will continue to drive growth in business analytics services spending at the worldwide level. In addition, the desire to consume the entire life cycle of business analytics services will drive spending growth across all business analytics services lines in the near future," said Ali Zaidi, Senior rResearch Analyst, IT Consulting and Systems Integration Strategies.

Additional findings from the report include the following:

• Business analytics services saw a dip in spending growth in 2013, although growth remained in double digits.
• The overall five-year CAGR for the project-based business analytics services will be 14.3%.
• The five-year CAGR for the business analytics outsourcing services will be 12.8%.
• Lack of internal analytics resources, including mathematicians, business analysts, and statisticians, is forcing businesses to seek external options to meet their business analytics needs.
• Business analytics services providers that continue to invest in hiring relevant talent will have a direct impact on adoption of these services.

"As more business data gets consolidated and is made available to executives, outsourced Big Data and analytics services will continue to get embedded and pervade deeper into the enterprise. As these services become a key component in ensuring the agility and effectiveness of an enterprise's business processes and vendors are able to provide a diverse range of industry-specific use cases and assist customers in preparing a business case, customer adoption will increase. Vendors will also focus on acquiring or partnering with technology firms that provide unique big data or analytics IP to create differentiated offerings and create additional capabilities including highly skilled talent that will enable them to offer services across the value chain," said Mukesh Dialani, Research Director, Worldwide BPO and Engineering Services.

The study, Worldwide Business Analytics Services 2014–2018 Forecast (IDC #251161), presents IDC's worldwide business analytics services market by key IT service categories. A forecast and historical sizing are provided, beginning in 2009 and extending through 2018. The total worldwide market is assessed.