This IDC study provides an insight to the 2004 Japan IT services market's performance and forecasts for the 2005–2009 period as well as major industry trends that impact the IT services spending behaviors of the entire market based on assumptions made as of March 2005. With the continuous recovery of corporate profits, stable growth is expected for the Japan IT services market that remained in low gear until 2003. IDC forecasts that the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the 2005–2009 period will be 4%.
"An increasing number of customers are looking for advice on how to maintain enterprise systems and design/implement IT strategies to achieve their business goals as well as to respond to fast-changing market conditions. To address these issues, corporate management and IT strategies have to be closely aligned with one another. Not only technology skills but also strong consulting capabilities with in-depth industry knowledge are gaining importance as vendor selection criteria," says Masami Kashiwagi, senior market analyst, IT Services, IDC Japan.