2012 Planned Research Agenda

Our IDC Government Insights' analysts have planned dozens of research projects to help you get the most out of your business in the coming year. The information presented here represents some of our current plans.

Insights research can become the foundation or springboard for custom consulting projects, such as evaluating new business opportunities, understanding a market segment, exploring new technologies for your operations, improving knowledge of your customers, increasing customer satisfaction, developing a competitive strategy, etc.  

Because Research Agendas may change during the course of the year, regularly check this section for updates.  To learn more about the planned research agenda or to learn about regional or country plans, please contact us.

Asia/Pacific IT Opportunity: Government
This Asia/Pacific IT Opportunity: Government service focuses on one of the IT industry's most lucrative markets, which, at the same time, is also one of the most difficult in which to establish a strong foothold. Asia/Pacific's leading governments have set out bold e-government and modernization visions, but they face numerous challenges as they try to achieve this transformation. This service provides the IT community with an in-depth understanding of the IT spending trends occurring across federal and local governments, as well as by different IT categories. It delivers thought leadership, timely market sizing, and guidance for grasping current and emerging opportunities.
Top 10 Predictions	2012 Top 10 Predictions	Oct-Dec 2011
Pivot Table	Public Sector IT Spending Forecast	Jan-Mar 2012
ProveIT	Checkpoint Security Solutions	Jan-Mar 2012
Business Strategy	Intelligent X (Smart ICT Infrastructure)	Jan-Mar 2012
Perspective	Security: How Governments Should Act on the Changed Security Landscape	Apr-Jun 2012
Best Practice	The Importance of IP Governance	Apr-Jun 2012
Business Strategy	Maturity Model Update - Smart Government	Apr-Jun 2012
Business Strategy	Mature Government Services Investments	Jul-Sep 2012
Technology Selection	Considerations for Initial Cloud Investment	Jul-Sep 2012
Technology Selection	Business Process Management	Oct-Dec 2012
Perspective	Tellabs CxO Analyst Briefing	Oct-Dec 2012
Top 10 Predictions	2013 Top 10 Predictions	Oct-Dec 2012

Canadian Government Technology Decision Support
This IDC Government Insights service addresses the roles and responsibilities of government technology officials in the selection, management, and value determination of technology decisions. This research focuses on aligning technology to achieve business objectives, increasing the level of confidence for success, and realizing measurable business results from IT investments. It provides governments and vendors with research reports and provocative viewpoints on all aspects of government policy and guidance that must be considered for technology investment strategies, business case adjudication, and risk and portfolio management. Executive-level governance, organizational efficiency, oversight and enterprise reporting of technology results round out the key elements of this service.
Document Type	Document Title	Publish Date
Business Strategy	Use of Next Generation Wireless and Mobile Technologies in the Public Sector	Oct-Dec 2011
Business Strategy	Prove IT Case Study	Oct-Dec 2011
Perspective	Service Modernization in the Context of Infrastructure and Application Rust-out	Oct-Dec 2011
Business Strategy	Link - Hot Topic	Oct-Dec 2011
Top 10 Predictions	2012 Top Ten Government Predictions for Canada	Jan-Mar 2012
Perspective	Federal Government Strategic Priorities 2012	Jan-Mar 2012
Perspective	Provincial Government Strategic Priorities 2012	Jan-Mar 2012
Perspective	Municipal Government Strategic Priorities 2012	Jan-Mar 2012
Perspective	Services Central: What to Keep "In-House" in Order to Properly Leverage Cloud Services	Jan-Mar 2012
Business Strategy	Canadian Government Sector 2012-2016 IT Spending Forecast	Apr-Jun 2012
Perspective	What does the Consumerization of IT mean to the Public Sector CIO?	Apr-Jun 2012
Best Practice	Protecting Sensitive Information: The Western European Landscape	Apr-Jun 2012
Business Strategy	More with Less in Central Europe: To What Extent Can Governments Tackle the IT Challenges Facing Them?	Apr-Jun 2012
Perspective	More bricks than bits? The state and future of e-government in Central and Eastern Europe	Apr-Jun 2012
Perspective	Data Standardization: What's winning the standardization battle across shared services centers, fusion centers and security related data exchanges?	Apr-Jun 2012
Best Practice	Case Study: ROI Analysis for a Federal Shared Service Center (two perspectives - profitable for the provider? Cost savings for the subscriber?)	Jul-Sep 2012
Business Strategy	The Smart Government Maturity Model: Canadian Progress Report	Jul-Sep 2012
Business Strategy	Cloud Adoption in Canadian Government	Jul-Sep 2012
Perspective	Federal Government Cost Containment: Progress Report	Jul-Sep 2012
Best Practice	ProveIT Case Study	Oct-Dec 2012
Methods and Practices	Activity Based Management: BI and IT Performance	Oct-Dec 2012
Best Practice	Social Media Usage within the MEA Public Sector: Dissecting What Has Worked and What Hasn’t	Oct-Dec 2012
Best Practice	Innovative eGovernment Service Delivery within the MEA region	Oct-Dec 2012

Canadian IT Opportunity: Government
This IDC Government Insights service helps governments leverage IT investments to maximize organizational performance. This service offers details on IT hardware, software, services, and telecom spending at the federal, provincial, and municipal levels. The service also guides companies that sell to federal, provincial, or municipal Canadian government sectors by providing critical information about these markets. IDC Government Insights' clients have access to intelligence on the IT market opportunity, IT investment priorities, purchase criteria and decision making, and vendor perceptions based on primary research.
Document Type	Document Title	Publish Date
Business Strategy	Use of Next Generation Wireless and Mobile Technologies in the Public Sector	Oct-Dec 2011
Business Strategy	ProveIT Case Study	Oct-Dec 2011
Perspective	Service Modernization in the Context of Infrastructure and Application Rust-out	Oct-Dec 2011
Business Strategy	Link - Hot Topic	Oct-Dec 2011
Top 10 Predictions	2012 Top Ten Government Predictions for Canada	Jan-Mar 2012
Perspective	Federal Government Strategic Priorities 2012	Jan-Mar 2012
Perspective	Provincial Government Strategic Priorities 2012	Jan-Mar 2012
Perspective	Municipal Government Strategic Priorities 2012	Jan-Mar 2012
Pivot Table	Canadian Government Sector 2012-2016 IT Spending Forecast	Apr-Jun 2012
Pivot Table	Canadian IT 2012-2016 Forecast by Vertical Market	Apr-Jun 2012
Perspective	What does the Consumerization of IT mean to the Public Sector CIO?	Apr-Jun 2012
Best Practices	Protecting Sensitive Information: The Western European Landscape	Apr-Jun 2012
Business Strategy	The Smart Government Maturity Model: Canadian Progress Report	Jul-Sep 2012
Business Strategy	Cloud Adoption in Canadian Government	Jul-Sep 2012
Perspective	Federal Government Cost Containment: Progress Report	Jul-Sep 2012
Best Practices	ProveIT Case Study	Oct-Dec 2012
Methods and Practices	Activity Based Management: BI and IT Performance	Oct-Dec 2012

Central and Eastern European IT Opportunity: Government
IDC Government Insights' Central and Eastern European IT Opportunity: Government provides detailed information about the government sector in Central and Eastern Europe, including the central government and local government markets. This service provides government entities and the IT community with an in-depth understanding of the IT spending trends occurring at both the national and the local government levels, as well as by different technology categories. Intended for government organizations of all levels as well as IT vendors targeting government organizations, the service delivers thought leadership, timely market sizing, and guidance for grasping current and emerging opportunities.
Document Type	Document Title	Publish Date
Pivot Table	Core Central Europe IT Spending in Government 2011-2015 Forecast: Update	Jan-Mar 2012
Top 10 Predictions	Central and Eastern Europe Government Sector Top 10 Predictions for 2012	Jan-Mar 2012
Business Strategy	More with less in Central Europe: To What Extent Can Governments Tackle the IT Challenges Facing Them?	Apr-Jun 2012
Perspective	More Bricks Than Bits? The State and Future of e-Government in Central and Eastern Europe	Apr-Jun 2012
Pivot Table	Core Central Europe IT Spending in Government 2011 and 2012-2016 Forecast	Jul-Sep 2012
Perspective	Beyond the Firewall in Central Europe: Government Planning and IT Security Strategies	Jul-Sep 2012
Best Practices	Vendor Assessment: Leading Central European Government Sector Vendors	Oct-Dec 2012
Business Strategy	eUsing the EU: Central and Eastern European Governemnt IT Priorities and Visions	Oct-Dec 2012
Methods and Practices	Still in School, but Learning Fast in Central Europe: Smart Cities Create Business Opportunities	Oct-Dec 2012

European Government Strategies for Modernizing Public Administration
The European Government Strategies for Modernizing Public Administration advisory service informs and supports government executives about effective information management and deployment of technology in the context of political and economic shifts and related policy and organizational changes. The emphasis is on delivering tools and techniques that can be used to act on the advice provided — self-assessment tools, checklists, models, and other practical applications.
Document Type	Document Title	Publish Date
Business Strategy	Mobilizing the Enterprise -- Advice for the CIO	Oct-Dec 2011
Business Strategy	IT and the CIO: Pathways to Innovation	Oct-Dec 2011
Perspective	Business Intelligence and Spatial Technologies: Capitalizing on the Knowledge of Place	Oct-Dec 2011
Top 10 Predictions	2012 Top Ten Government Predictions for Western Europe	Jan-Mar 2012
Perspectives	Shared Infrastructure and its Impact on Cross-agency Collaboration	Jan-Mar 2012
Methods and Practices	Service Level Agreements: Minimizing the Risk of Friction Between Suppliers and Buyers	Jan-Mar 2012
Perspectives	What does the Consumerization of IT mean to the Public Sector CIO?	Apr-Jun 2012
Business Strategy	The Role of the Internet of Things in Public Sector Modernization	Apr-Jun 2012
Business Strategy	Prioritizing Public Sector IT Cost Containment Initiatives	Apr-Jun 2012
Business Strategy	The IT/Business Savvy Professional: The New Public Sector Imperative	Jul-Sep 2012
Business Strategy	Strategic IT Management: Transforming IT Governance	Jul-Sep 2012
Perspectives	IT-Related Responsibilities and Accountabilities that Contribute to IT's Value	Jul-Sep 2012
Best Practices	ProveIT Case Study: eProcurement	Oct-Dec 2012
Methods and Practices	Activity Based Management: BI and IT Performance	Oct-Dec 2012
Perspectives	Mitigating Risk in Large, Complex Initiatives	Oct-Dec 2012

European IT Opportunity: Government
This IDC Government Insights' European IT Opportunity: Government service provides detailed information about the European government sector, including the central government and local government markets. It offers a detailed focus on certain solution areas, such as electronic service delivery, electronic procurement, and case and record management. IDC Government Insights provides estimates on information and communication technology (ICT) spending in the sector, primary end-user research, analysis of vendors' go-to-market strategies, and continuous monitoring of the market to reveal the most recent initiatives and identify success stories. It leverages the consolidated tools and methodologies developed by IDC's Vertical Market Center for this sector.
Document Type	Document Title	Publish Date
Business Strategy	Use of Next Generation Wireless and Mobile Technologies in the Public Sector	Oct-Dec 2011
Business Strategy	The Network of "Things" and Public Sector IT Strategy	Oct-Dec 2011
Perspective	Biannual Deals and Initiatives in the Government Market	Oct-Dec 2011
Business Strategy	What IT Investments are Local Governments Planning for 2012?	Jan-Mar 2012
Top 10 Predictions	2012 Top Ten Government Predictions for Western Europe	Jan-Mar 2012
Perspective	IT Procurement in the Western Europe Post-Bureaucratic Government	Apr-Jun 2012
Perspective	The Pulse of IT in the Western Europe Government Sector: Major Deals Signed Jan-April 2012	Apr-Jun 2012
Best Practices	eRuleMaking: Where is it Being Used to Best Effect?	Apr-Jun 2012
Best Practices	Protecting Sensitive Information: The Western European Landscape	Apr-Jun 2012
Perspective	The Pulse of IT in the Western Europe Government Sector: Major Deals Signed May-August 2012	Jul-Sep 2012
Pivot Table	Western Europe Government IT Spending Forecast 2011-2017	Jul-Sep 2012
Business Strategy	Western Europe Government IT Spending Forecast 2011-2017	Jul-Sep 2012
Pivot Table	Western Europe Education IT Spending Forecast 2011-2017	Jul-Sep 2012
Perspective	Citizen Centric or Document Centric Case Management, What's the Difference?	Jul-Sep 2012
Perspective	The Pulse of IT in the Western Europe Government Sector: Major Deals Signed September - December 2012	Oct-Dec 2012
Business Strategy	Western Europe's First Responders and Their Use of IT	Oct-Dec 2012
MarketScape	Electronic Content Management Solution Providers in Western Europe	Oct-Dec 2012
Business Strategy	Understanding the Tendering Options Covered by European Commission Rules	Oct-Dec 2012

Government Solutions Market Share Guide
IDC Government Insights' Government Solutions Market Share Guide examines solution-specific vendor revenue for the top government IT vendors in the U.S. market. Solutions covered are public safety and emergency response, education learning management systems, advance public transportation systems, tax and revenue solutions, and licensing and permitting solutions.
Document Type	Document Title	Publish Date
Pivot Table	Government Solutions Market Share Guide - Annual	Apr-Jun 2012

Middle East and Africa IT Opportunity: Government
IDC Government Insights' Middle East and Africa IT Opportunity: Government service provides detailed information about the region's central and local government markets. It analyzes and forecasts IT spending by technology and assesses the effectiveness of IT strategies aimed at government. It examines how new trends impact decision making and pain points that drive government policy and spending.
Perspective	Leveraging ICT to Enhance Transparency in MEA Governments	Jan-Mar 2012
Top 10 Predictions	MEA Government Sector 2012 Top 10 Predictions	Jan-Mar 2012
Business Strategy	Profiling the Leading IT Services Vendors within the MEA Public Sector	Jan-Mar 2012
Business Strategy	MEA Government IT Investment and Spending Trends (based on end-user survey)	Apr-Jun 2012
Business Strategy	The Smart Government Maturity Model: Evolving towards Transparent and Open Governments in MEA	Apr-Jun 2012
Business Strategy	Cloud Computing in the MEA Government Sector	Jul-Sep 2012
Pivot Table	MEA IT Spending in Government 2011 and 2012-2016 Forecast	Jul-Sep 2012
Best Practices	Social Media Usage within the MEA Public Sector: Dissecting What Has Worked and What Hasn’t	Oct-Dec 2012
Best Practices	Innovative eGovernment Service Delivery within the MEA region	Oct-Dec 2012

Smart Cities Strategies
Cities and regions are rationalizing infrastructure, deploying "smart" technologies, and integrating them to create integrated smart communities that intuitively manage infrastructure and resources across a range of government operations and services including transportation, public safety, utilities, infrastructure, health, and human services. The Smart Cities Strategies research advisory service includes an analysis of government entities that are leveraging technology to implement mission-critical initiatives to improve operations and better serve citizens and profiles the vendors that are partnering with government to deliver this service.
Business Strategy	Intelligent Transportation Systems Technology Landscape	Oct-Dec 2011
Top 10 Predictions	Government 2012 Predictions	Oct-Dec 2011
Business Strategy	Intelligent Public Safety Technology Landscape	Oct-Dec 2011
Methods and Practices	Worldwide Smarter Cities Maturity Model - Assessing a City for Smart Readiness: Is Your City Ready?	Jan-Mar 2012
Best Practices	ProveIT: Smart City	Jan-Mar 2012
Technology Selection	Intelligent Transportation Systems Forecast	Jan-Mar 2012
Business Strategy	Cityscape: The Smart City Landscape in the U.S. - Who's Ready?	Apr-Jun 2012
Best Practices	ProveIT: Intelligent Transportation Systems	Apr-Jun 2012
Best Practices	A How To Guide for Policy Makers: Getting Smart City Investment	Apr-Jun 2012
Technology Selection	Sensors and Other End Points Devices	Apr-Jun 2012
Business Strategy	Cityscape: A Worldwide Assessment of Megacities - Who's Ready?	Jul-Sep 2012
Technology Selection	Intelligent Public Safety Forecast, 2012-2017	Jul-Sep 2012
Best Practices	ProveIT: Intelligent Public Safety	Oct-Dec 2012
Top 10 Predictions	Government 2013 Predictions	Oct-Dec 2012

Smart Government Strategies
Government organizations are utilizing technology to make information about their decisions and operations available to the general public, increasing public participation in government, and leveraging innovative tools, software, and services to cooperate across government entities to provide services and information the way the public desires. The Smart Government Strategies research advisory service includes an analysis of government entities that are leveraging technology to implement mission-critical initiatives to serve citizens and profiles the vendors that are partnering with government to deliver this service.
Document Type	Document Title	Publish Date
Business Strategy	How is Government Managing Information	Oct-Dec 2011
Top 10 Predictions	Government 2012 Predictions	Oct-Dec 2011
Perspective	The New Role of the Government CFO	Oct-Dec 2011
Best Practices	The Use of Business Analytics in Addressing Improper Payments	Jan-Mar 2012
Best Practices	Smart Government Maturity Model Update	Jan-Mar 2012
Best Practices	ProveIT Case Study on Business Analytics	Jan-Mar 2012
Vendor Assessment	IDC MarketScape: Content Management Solution Providers	Apr-Jun 2012
Perspective	Challenges and Success in Moving to Electronic Records	Apr-Jun 2012
Business Strategy	Survey Results: Transcending to Smart Government	Apr-Jun 2012
Best Practices	Financial Management and Reform	Jul-Sep 2012
Perspective	Citizen Engagement and Satisfaction	Jul-Sep 2012
Best Practices	ProveIT Case Study Emphasizing Smart Government	Jul-Sep 2012
Perspective	Brief on Smart Devices	Oct-Dec 2012
Business Strategy	New Directions and Expectations of Technology Solutions	Oct-Dec 2012
Top 10 Predictions	Government 2013 Predictions	Oct-Dec 2012

United States Federal Government IT Spending Guide
The United States Federal Government IT Spending Guide service is designed to help IT vendors understand the national government procurement process and leverage potential IT opportunities. This service offers details on IT hardware, software, and services spending at the federal civilian and federal defense department levels, as well as among large agencies and in key technology categories. This research service provides IT vendors with deep domain analysis of U.S. government with specific market sizing, forecasts, and segmentations. Details are delivered in a pivot table with thousands of lines of spending data.
Document Type	Document Title	Publish Date
Pivot Table	United States Federal Government IT Spending Guide Pivot Table with Background Description and Methodology	Oct-Dec 2011
Pivot Table	United States Federal Government IT Spending Guide - Annual	Apr-Jun 2012
Pivot Table	United States Federal Government IT Spending Guide - Mid-year Update	Oct-Dec 2012

United States Government IT Infrastructure Strategies
Governments are optimizing their technology budgets by pursuing standardization and consolidation and engaging in cloud computing solutions, two trends that continue to be driven largely by the movement to reduce operational costs and increase government value through improved service delivery. Government organizations continue to pursue system consolidation and cloud-base solutions because they recognize that integrating applications, systems, and processes will improve interoperability, operational effectiveness, and utilization of the technology infrastructure that serves as the foundation for measurable government outcomes. To maximize value from these efforts, government organizations will need to maintain a business view of the technology infrastructure.
Document Type	Document Title	Publish Date
Best Practices	Enterprise Software Savings at the US Army SSC Lab - NJ	Oct-Dec 2011
Perspective	Services Central: What to Keep "In-House" in Order to Properly Leverage Cloud Services	Oct-Dec 2011
Best Practices	Cloud Trickle-Down: How Michigan and Other States are Profitably Offering Cloud Services to Counties and Cities	Oct-Dec 2011
Perspective	Survey Results: How is Enterprise Architecture Changing at Federal Agencies as Data Centers Shut Down and Cloud Services Grow?	Jan-Mar 2012
Best Practices	City of Orlando: Significant Cost Savings by Switching to Virtual Desktops and Integrating Open Source Google Chromebooks for Most Workers	Jan-Mar 2012
Vendor Assessment	IDC MarketScape: Comparison of the Top Cloud Providers Working with the Federal Government	Jan-Mar 2012
Perspective	Data Standardization: What's Winning the Standardization Battle Across Shared Services Centers, Fusion Centers and Security Related Data Exchanges?	Jan-Mar 2012
Best Practices	Case Study: ROI Analysis for a Federal Shared Service Center (Two Perspectives - Profitable for the Provider? Cost Savings for the Subscriber?)	Apr-Jun 2012
Perspective	Top IT Vendors by Agency: The Big List	Apr-Jun 2012
Best Practices	Data Center Benchmarking - Where Does the Money Go? Average Costs	Apr-Jun 2012
Perspective	Keeping Government IT Projects on Track	Jul-Sep 2012
Perspective	Case Study of a Successful Cost-Cutting Project at a Major Agency (to be named)	Jul-Sep 2012
Best Practices	Case Study of Improved Citizen Services at a Major Government Agency - Boosting Performance Without Raising Costs	Oct-Dec 2012
Perspective	VoIP, Video, and Other High-Bandwidth Applications: Making Sure Your Agency Can Run with the Big Dogs and Provide all of these High-Bandwidth Services	Oct-Dec 2012
Best Practices	Service Level Agreement Benchmarking - What are the Government Standards for Different Types of IT Services Benchmarking?	Oct-Dec 2012

United States Government Line of Business Budget Guide
The Federal Office of Management and Budget has set strict guidelines for how federal agencies must request and gain approval for IT projects as part of the federal budgeting process. IDC Government Insights gathers the budget request and reporting detail from all federal agencies and includes line-item detail in the United States Government Line of Business Budget Guide research advisory service. For each spending line, this Guide includes details on agency, department, individual project, and type of funding requested. With the data in place, this Guide also offers IT vendors details for tracking new development requests versus legacy spending, identifying multiple buyers for line-of-business (LOB) spending across sectors, targeting organizations requesting funding for cross-government and agency-specific projects, and analyzing the allocation of LOB initiatives across hardware, software, and IT services. The Guide is updated bi-annually and delivered as a pivot table.
Document Type	Document Title	Publish Date
Pivot Table	United States Government Line of Business Budget Guide Pivot Table - Annual	Jan-Mar 2012
Pivot Table	United States Government Line of Business Budget Guide Pivot Table - Mid-year Update	Jul-Sep 2012

United States IT Opportunity: Government
The United States IT Opportunity: Government advisory service equips IT vendors with the market insight, competitive analysis, and demand-side adoption trend information they need to better serve the government sector. The service provides IT product and service firms with the latest insights into government and IT. It includes both hard spending data and breaking events in government that affect the outlook for IT opportunities.
Document Type	Document Title	Publish Date
Business Strategy	How is Government Managing Information	Oct-Dec 2011
Perspective	The New Normal: Government IT Spending Shifts in Flat Budget Cycles	Oct-Dec 2011
Top 10 Predictions	Government 2012 Predictions	Oct-Dec 2011
Pivot Table	Intelligent Transportation Systems Forecast	Jan-Mar 2012
Perspective	State of the States 2012 IT Outlook	Jan-Mar 2012
Perspective	Local Government Priorities 2012	Jan-Mar 2012
Business Strategy	The Top 25 Federal Priorities - Update and Analysis	Apr-Jun 2012
Perspective	Government Technology Trend Update: What's Hot, What's Not	Apr-Jun 2012
Perspective	U.S. Federal 2013 Budget Assessment	Apr-Jun 2012
Perspective	Citizen Engagement and Satisfaction	Jul-Sep 2012
Pivot Table	Intelligent Public Safety Forecast	Jul-Sep 2012
Perspective	Keeping Government IT Projects on Track	Jul-Sep 2012
Business Strategy	Synopsis US Federal, State and Local Spending Forecasts: 2012-2017	Oct-Dec 2012
Perspective	Government Technology Trend Update: What's Hot, What's Not	Oct-Dec 2012
Top 10 Predictions	Government 2013 Predictions	Oct-Dec 2012

United States State and Local Government IT Spending Guide
The United States State and Local Government IT Spending Guide advisory service is designed to help IT vendors make sense of the government procurement process and leverage potential IT opportunities. This service offers details on IT hardware, software, and services spending at the state and local government levels, including details on state functional areas such as transportation of social services, and details key technologies. This research service provides IT vendors with deep domain analysis of state and local government market sizing, forecasts, and segmentations. Details are delivered in a pivot table with thousands of lines of spending data.
Document Type	Document Title	Publish Date
Pivot Table	US State and Local IT Spending 2011-2016 Forecast - Annual	Oct-Dec 2011
Pivot Table	United States State & Local Government IT Spending Guide - Mid-year Update	Apr-Jun 2012
Pivot Table	US State and Local IT Spending 2011-2016 Forecast - Annual	Oct-Dec 2012