IDC Measures Significant Gains in Software

The International Data Corporation (IDC (News - Alert)) released research indicating huge growth in the enterprise software market, finding cases across multiple industries as it continues to become a critical decision support and worker productivity tool.

There are many companies that aspire to build and implement an overall social business strategy, and are looking to enterprise-grade social software as the linchpin of their collaborative workflow strategy.

"Companies are turning to social software in increasing numbers as they look for ways to increase collaboration, improve both business and individual worker productivity, and efficiently manage a growing deluge of content and information," said Michael Fauscette, group vice president of Software Business Solutions. "Compartmentalized and specific collaboration is still required by many organizations and traditional collaborative applications providing closed loop, and B2B communications will retain their existence in organizations alongside more open social solutions."

The fastest-growing vender measured by IDC was Yammer (News - Alert), with a year-over-year growth rate of 132.3 percent, though virtually all of the top suppliers measured double digit growth figures in their year-over-year measurements. The enterprise social software market is led by IBM (News - Alert) and Jive. Both companies measured growth factors near 70 percent.

"As organizations' workspaces become increasingly divested from traditional office environments, workers will ultimately choose the most appropriate combination of tools to perform daily tasks," Fauscette added. "It will be imperative for vendors to recognize that ad hoc collaboration will continue to complement social activity streams, particularly as enterprise social software becomes more embedded in business processes and the workspace."

This explosive growth will likely continue as office virtualization and cloud computing become the norm and organizations spread across local and regional barriers. The growth of technologies like enterprise social software make it possible for employees to collaborate despite any geographic barriers, and the emerging workplace demands social software solutions on an enterprising scale.

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