EUROPEAN ENTERPRISE DECISION SUPPORT AND INFORMATION ACCESS TOOLS MARKET AT $2.14 BILLION IN 1997

A new International Data Corporation (IDC) report valued the European Enterprise Decision Support and Information Access Tools market at $2.14 billion in 1997. This was mostly due to relatively high growth in the supposedly maturing spreadsheets market, although significant growth in OLAP and query & reporting tools as well as data mining IDC found also contributing to some extent.

"Given that customer companies have similar analysis requirements, trends in enterprise decision support and information access tools tend to be homogenous across Europe," said David Schou, Research Analyst for IDC's European Application Development Tools Software Programme. "However, speed of adoption does vary, for example Germany and the Nordic countries have been quicker in adopting web-based tools." The growing enterprise decision support and information access tools market is also characterised by an increasing number of mergers and acquisitions as well as increased competition.

Market Growth Forecasts

• Although it is the largest information access tools market, the spreadsheet market is relatively mature and annual growth of less than 5% is forecast.
• The executive information systems tools market is expected to undergo only 4% growth.
• Query and reporting and OLAP tools markets, however, are expected to experience annual growth rates of more than 30%.
• The statistics and data mining tools market is anticipated to grow at 16% on average over the next five years.

"After a difficult 1996, the European IT market looks set to benefit from improving conditions in 1997," added Schou. "However, the spectres of Year 2000 and European Monetary Union are looming on the horizon and many small and medium sized businesses could lack the ability to handle both."

IDC's report, Enterprise Decision Support & Information Access Tools: 1998 Markets & Trends in Western Europe ( L02EB), includes market and vendor performance, forecasts and trends, is available from local IDC offices.

Headquartered in Framingham, Mass., International Data Corporation provides IT market research and consulting to more than 3,900 high-technology customers around the world. With a global network of 375 analysts in more than 40 countries, IDC is a comprehensive resource on worldwide IT markets, products, vendors, and geographies. IDC's World Wide Web site is http://www.idc.com