A handful of industries will help worldwide tech spending hit $2.7 trillion by 2020, according to a new report from research firm IDC. Those industries include healthcare, financial services, and manufacturing, all of which will need to leverage cutting-edge mobile and Big Data platforms in order to grow their respective markets. Current revenues from IT products and services stand at $2.4 trillion. "Enterprise investment in new project-based initiatives, including data analytics and collaborative applications, remains strong,” Stephen Minton, vice president of Customer Insights and Analysis at IDC, wrote in a statement accompanying the data, “and mid-sized companies have been especially nimble when it comes to rapidly adopting 3rd Platform technologies and solutions.” Should the economy remain stable next year, he added, “Smaller businesses will also begin to climb about the 3rd Platform in greater numbers.” IDC defines the aforementioned “3rd platform” as cloud, mobility, and Big Data applications. Business-technology revenues could make up for growing weaknesses in the consumer market, where purchases of PC and mobile devices have plateaued in recent quarters. For those developers debating whether to build apps and services for the consumer or enterprise markets, the IDC report may come as good news, as it posits that business spending will remain high for the next few years. A study last year by Vision Mobile suggested that 43 percent of enterprise app developers make over $10,000 per month, as opposed to 19 percent of consumer app developers. Despite that potential revenue bump, though, a mere 20 percent of app developers pursue the enterprise market. Increasingly crowded consumer-app stores may also persuade developers to gravitate more toward the business market, where the chances of app discovery (and the effectiveness of marketing) are potentially much greater. Studies have shown that consumer apps generally have only a few weeks to generate substantial downloads; but apps for the business market may demonstrate significantly more longevity. Healthcare, Financial IT Will Drive Tech Growth
A handful of industries will help worldwide tech spending hit $2.7 trillion by 2020, according to a new report from research firm IDC. Those industries include healthcare, financial services, and manufacturing, all of which will need to leverage cutting-edge mobile and Big Data platforms in order to grow their respective markets. Current revenues from IT products and services stand at $2.4 trillion. "Enterprise investment in new project-based initiatives, including data analytics and collaborative applications, remains strong,” Stephen Minton, vice president of Customer Insights and Analysis at IDC, wrote in a statement accompanying the data, “and mid-sized companies have been especially nimble when it comes to rapidly adopting 3rd Platform technologies and solutions.” Should the economy remain stable next year, he added, “Smaller businesses will also begin to climb about the 3rd Platform in greater numbers.” IDC defines the aforementioned “3rd platform” as cloud, mobility, and Big Data applications. Business-technology revenues could make up for growing weaknesses in the consumer market, where purchases of PC and mobile devices have plateaued in recent quarters. For those developers debating whether to build apps and services for the consumer or enterprise markets, the IDC report may come as good news, as it posits that business spending will remain high for the next few years. A study last year by Vision Mobile suggested that 43 percent of enterprise app developers make over $10,000 per month, as opposed to 19 percent of consumer app developers. Despite that potential revenue bump, though, a mere 20 percent of app developers pursue the enterprise market. Increasingly crowded consumer-app stores may also persuade developers to gravitate more toward the business market, where the chances of app discovery (and the effectiveness of marketing) are potentially much greater. Studies have shown that consumer apps generally have only a few weeks to generate substantial downloads; but apps for the business market may demonstrate significantly more longevity. 
