IDC's Vertical Market Strategies service assists IT vendors in improving the performance of their industry go-to-market strategies. Through a series of best-practice documents that spotlight successful industry go-to-market strategies, annual industry strategy guides that arm industry-based sales and marketing organizations with pertinent information about each industry, and findings from IDC's vertical leadership study, this service provides a continuous stream of advice, best practices, and benchmarks that assist IT vendors in better identifying opportunities, assessing industry dynamics, and crafting more effective strategies. Subscribers to this service receive direct access to IDC's top industry experts, who can supply competitive analysis and positioning advice, identify strategic partnering opportunities, assist with speaking to the investment community, provide press quotes, and more. The following is a comprehensive overview of the research elements addressed by this service.

This service covers the following industry segments:

• Discrete manufacturing
• Chemicals
• Consumer products
• Federal, state, and local government
• Financial services
• Healthcare
• High tech
• Life sciences
• Oil and gas
• Retail
• Utilities

Throughout the year, this service will address the following topics:

• Best practices in vertical market strategies
• Industry predictions for 2009
• IT budget and buying trends
• Impact of governmental and industry regulations on IT spending
• Key industry performance indicators
• Major industry IT signings

Our research addresses the following issues that are critical to your success:

1. What types of best practices are IT vendors deploying for industry go-to-market strategies?
2. Which IT vendors are excelling in vertical market strategies?
3. Which industry events will open up the greatest IT opportunities?
4. Which IT deals are representative of upcoming purchasing trends?
5. To what extent will governmental regulations impact IT spending?

IDC's Vertical Market Strategies assists IT vendors in improving the performance of their vertical market strategies. Through the service's analysis of industry events, industry predictions, IT budgets, IT contract signings, vendors' performance and vendors' industry go-to-market strategies, IT vendors are able to fine-tune their vertical market strategies to be more effective.

This service focuses on the following core research. In addition to the insight provided in this service, IDC may conduct additional research on specific topics, or emerging market segments, via research offerings that require additional IDC funding and client investment.

This series of guides addresses everything an IT vendor needs to know about an industry in 2009, before going to market. The guides cover the following 11 industries: discrete manufacturing, financial services, chemicals, consumer products, government, healthcare, high tech, retail, oil and gas, life sciences, and utilities.

Key information provided within each industry guide includes:

• Top 5 predictions for 2009
• IT budgets and key industry metrics
• 2009-2013 forecast by hardware, software, and services
• Top 5 IT vendors
• Top 5 buyers in 2009 for hardware, software, and services
• Contracts that will shape how deals are done in 2009
• Top 5 fastest-growing states for IT spending

This document presents IDC's viewpoint on 18 industries for 2009. Additionally, it details industry events of 2008 as well as key predictions for 2009 and their impact on spending and IT priorities.

This series of case studies spotlights how IT vendors are going to market by industry. Topics to be explored include industry sales training programs, localization of vertical strategy, and partner engagement models for industry.

The study looks at how IT vendors are structuring their industry go-to-market programs, what works, what does not work, and ways to improve upon what is being done.

IDC offers a complete market intelligence solution customized to meet your business requirements. The array of products and services available to you includes:

• The opportunity to have your specific questions answered through personal interaction with industry experts who cover the topics and markets in your service
• Around-the-clock access to our market intelligence on idc.com, IDC's personalized Web experience
• A view of the market's future with 12 months of continuous intelligence about its direction and the reasons behind it, along with actionable advice for taking advantage of existing and emerging opportunities
• Special client discount pricing on purchases of research from other services
• Complimentary admission to IDC's annual Directions conference, where you'll hear our latest forecasts and network with IDC analysts and other industry professionals
• Complimentary invitations to monthly executive telebriefings, interactive forums designed to provide you with insights about research and strategies directly from IDC analysts

To find out how our flexible packaging options can meet your specific business needs, please contact your IDC sales executive.

As a privately held company, IDC believes that our customers are our primary constituency. A large percentage of every revenue dollar is reinvested back into our products, including more analysts, more geographic coverage, and extensive primary research.

Our steady growth over the past 10-plus years reflects our commitment to investing in our customers.