This IDC study presents the five-year forecast for the U.S. IT consulting services market within 16 vertical markets. The purpose of this study is to identify recent trends that are influencing the IT consulting opportunities within vertical industries thus far in 2004 and discuss their impact on the five-year forecast.
"During the five-year forecast period, U.S. IT consulting services spending is expected to increase from roughly $8.7 billion in 2003 to over $9 billion in 2008, for a relatively modest compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 0.8%. IDC is anticipating above-average increases in spend on IT consulting services from the government, financial markets, banking, healthcare, discrete manufacturing, and, to a lesser extent, retail industries," says Meredith Whalen, vice president, U.S. Vertical Industry Research. "Key drivers that are resulting in increased spend on consulting services include systems optimization, aligning strategic business issues with IT, and compliance."