IDC reports the global software market grows by 3.6% during 2012, less than half the growth rate seen in 2010 and 2011-- marking the beginning of a more conservative period of growth.
The analyst forecasts 2013 growth will total 5.7%, and the CAGR for the 2012-2017 period to reach 6.3%.
The collaborative applications category (including social software) should see the highest short term growth due to a higher amount of cloud deployments than other categories.
The structured data management will see a strong 9.3% CAGR over the 2012-2017 period, as it plays a "critical" role the Big Data and analytics driving an increasingly information-driven economy.
On a regional basis growth should be stronger in emerging economies-- the 2012-2017 CAGR for CEMA is 8.8%, while the average CAGR for mature regions (W. Europe, N. America, Japan) is forecast to reach 5.0%.
