International Data Corporation (IDC) announced the launch of the industry’s first global tracker on the business analytics software market named The Worldwide Semiannual Business Analytics Tracker.

It will track 12 segments within the BA (Business Analytics) market, providing half yearly information on vendor share and market size forecast across a total of 49 countries.

According to the research firm, five out of the 12 BA markets contributed revenues of more than $1bn globally on a semiannual basis. The five segments are End-User Query, Reporting, and Analysis (Standalone and Embedded); Data Warehouse Management; Financial Performance and Strategy Management Applications; CRM Analytics Applications; and Data Warehouse Generation.

They together accounted for 73% of total BA market in the first half of 2011, with a year-over-year growth of 13.8%.

The individual topper was Data Warehouse Management, followed by CRM Analytics and Data Warehouse Generation.
IDC Worldwide Software Trackers associate vice president Wilvin Chee said this cycle, IDC expanded its global software tracker portfolio with the introduction of Business Analytics market coverage.

"These markets are considered to be among the fastest growing opportunities within the software industry. IDC believes its in-depth coverage will deliver great value to companies planning their investment opportunities or exploring acquisition growth strategies," said Chee.

The United States, which was the top market with a 44% share during 2011, is expected to retain its performance with an expected growth of 8.6% in 2012.

APEJ, CEMA and Latin America are expected to drive the highest growth opportunities in 2012, with a total of 15 countries in these three regions expected to register 10% growth and above.

Five markets, which the research firm expects to perform above the market average in 2012, are Advanced Analytics (Standalone and Embedded), Data Warehouse Management, Data Warehouse Generation, End-User Query, Reporting, and Analysis (Standalone and Embedded) and Workforce Analytics Applications.

IDC, mentioning that it was tracking more than 300 vendors across all 12 BA markets, said Oracle was at the number one position during first half of 2011 with 20% global market share and 17.9% semiannual year-over-year growth.

SAP, IBM, SAS Institute, and Microsoft, its closest competitors, also registered double-digit growth during the same period.

During the first half of 2011, 14 vendors managed to exceed $100m in global BA revenues, with Informatica, MicroStrategy, Infor, and QlikTech at the top.