ITCandor Methodology
We study and document the ITC market in a number of different ways. In particular:
- We have created the ITCandor Market Model, which is built on detailed analysis of major vendor revenues by quarter from the beginning of 2003 onwards.
- We study the announcements of key vendors and analyse them by category, looking for how suppliers promote themselves and pursue the major themes of the current industry
- We interview users and vendors to provide alternative voices and ideas. As our name suggests, we are keen to provide coverage of strong opinions, whether positive of negative.
- We attend ITC industry events, whether single vendor briefings or independent ITC industry conferences.
From these sources we build a realistic, up-to-date picture of our complex industry.
ITCandor Market Model Data Coverage
We collect the following data elements when tracking vendors, which enables us to make good estimates of market spending and forms the basis of our forecasts:
Geography – we cover 51 countries/sub-regions, which are: USA, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Other Americas, Japan, China, Australia, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Other Asia Pacific, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Ireland, the Rest of Western Europe, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, the Rest of Eastern Europe, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Rest of Africa, Iran, Israel, Turkey, UAE and the Rest of Middle East. We also regularly look at the sizing and growth of specialist country groupings such as BRIC and PIIGS.
Vertical Market – we cover 11 vertical markets, which are Agriculture/ Construction/ Mining, Manufacturing, Transport/Communications/ Utilities, Retail/Wholesale, Finance, Business Services, Central Government, Local Government, Health, Education and Other Vertical Markets.
Customer Size – we cover user organisations by type and size, splitting values into Large (>1,000 Employees), Medium (100-1,000 Employees) and Small (1-99 Employees) company (as well as consumer) categories. In our research we look at strategies for each type of business, as well as consumers, prosumers and the SOHO sector.
Offering – we cover the following 4 categories and 32 offerings: Hardware – Server, Storage System, PC, Peripheral, Networking, Converged Device, Gaming Console, Disk Drive, Solid State Drive, Processor, Other Hardware; IT Service – Implementation, Outsourcing, Hardware Maintenance, Software Maintenance, Internet Service, Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, Managed Service, Other IT Service; Software – Application Software, Database Software, Analytics Software, Operating System, Custom Software, Infrastructure Software, Software as a Service, Other Software; Telecom Service – Fixed Line, Wireless, Broadband, Enterprise.
Channel – in order to bridge between vendor revenues and user spending we build an analysis of channel margins, breaking each vendor’s revenues into 5 classes. In particular OEM, Direct Outbound, Direct Internet, Indirect Two Tier and Indirect Single Tier.
Period – everything we do is by quarter, including vendor sizing and forecasts and starting at the beginning of 2003. Unlike other market research companies our forecasts and analysis are always based on calendar quarters. For suppliers (like HP and Dell) whose financial periods do not end in December, March, June and September, we take 66% of their reported data from one quarter and 33% from the other. Our forecasts cover a five-year period beginning at the end of the current year. All of our current forecasts cover the period to the end of 2023.
Vendors – we build the ITCandor Market Model on a top-down basis, analysing the revenues of the larges vendors. Currently we have over 190 suppliers in our data, of which the largest were Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, Deutsche Telekon, Verizon and NTT in the year to Q3 2020. We are constantly adding vendors to address new markets or vendor M&A activities.
We also collect user and channel demographic information, as well country GDP, unemployment and natural resources data to provide a consistent basis for generating good forecasts.
ITCandor Market Model Taxonomy
We will publish a full methodology in each of our ITC Market Reports for those who enjoy studying these at length. For the complex naming and terminology of the ITC industry we update an Acronym Buster for easier interpretation. Also see our note on how to size markets accurately.