IDC's Worldwide Software Taxonomy, 2025

IDC's Worldwide Software Taxonomy

Software Taxonomy Changes for 2025

• Renames
• Additions
• Recategorizations

Taxonomy Overview

• Hierarchy of Software Markets

Definitions

• Applications Market Definitions
  • Collaborative Applications
    • Conferencing and Virtual Event Applications
      • Web Conferencing Applications
      • Virtual Event Applications
    • Email Applications
    • Enterprise Community Applications
    • Team Collaboration Applications
  • Content Workflow and Management Applications
    • Content Services Applications
      • Enterprise Content Management Applications
      • Content Sharing and Collaboration Applications
    • Capture Applications
    • Document Applications
    • Persuasive Content Management Applications
      • Website Software
      • Digital Asset Management Applications
      • Product Content Management Applications
      • Content Marketing Applications
      • Video Platforms
      • Digital Adoption Platform
    • Creative Applications
    • eDiscovery and Forensics Applications
    • Enterprise Portals and Digital Workspaces
      • Multi-Audience Portals
      • Integrated Employee Workspaces
  • Enterprise Resource Management Applications
    • Financial Applications
      • Financial and Accounting Applications
      • Accounts Payable Applications
      • Accounts Receivable Applications
      • Treasury and Risk Management Applications
      • Travel and Expense Management Applications
      • Corporate Tax Management Applications
    • Human Capital Management Applications
      • Core Human Resources Applications
      • Talent Management Applications
      • Workforce Management Applications
    • Payroll Management Applications
    • Procurement Applications
    • Order Management and Orchestration Applications
    • Enterprise Performance Management Applications
    • Project and Portfolio Management Applications
    • Asset Life-Cycle Management Applications
  • Supply Chain Management Applications
    • Logistics and Transportation Management Applications
    • Supply Chain Planning Applications
    • Warehousing and Inventory Management Applications
  • Production and Operations Applications
    • Production and Grid Management Applications
    • Service Industry and Public Sector Operations Applications
    • Other Operations Applications
  • Engineering Applications
    • Computer-Aided Design Applications
    • Computer-Aided Engineering Applications
    • Computer-Aided Manufacturing Applications
    • Collaborative Product Data Management Applications
    • Other Engineering Applications
      • Building Information Modeling Applications
      • Electronic Design Automation Applications
      • Engineering Support Applications
  • Customer Relationship Management Applications
    • Advertising Applications
      • Advertising Placement
      • Advertising Measurement
    • Marketing Campaign Management Applications
    • Digital Commerce Applications
    • Sales Force Productivity and Management Applications
      • Sales Intelligence Applications
      • Sales Enablement Applications
      • Revenue Intelligence and Operations Applications
      • Configure, Price, Quote Applications
      • Sales Performance Management Applications
      • Partner Relationship Management Applications
      • Sales Engagement Applications
    • Customer Service Applications
    • Contact Center Applications
• Application Development and Deployment Market Definitions
  • Analytics and Business Intelligence Software
    • Business Intelligence Software
    • Advanced and Predictive Analytics Software
    • Location and Geospatial Data Management and Analytics Software
  • Artificial Intelligence Platforms
    • AI Life-Cycle Software
      • Data Labeling Software
      • AI Build Software
      • MLOps and Foundation Model Ops Software
      • Trustworthy AI Software
    • AI Software Services
      • Conversational AI Software Services
      • Computer Vision AI Software Services
      • Generative AI Software Services
      • Document AI Software Services
      • Anomaly Detection AI Software Services
      • Personalize AI Software Services
      • Forecast AI Software Services
    • Search and Knowledge Discovery Software
  • Data Management Software
    • Database Management Systems
      • Relational Database Management Systems
      • Low-Code Database Management Systems
      • Navigational Database Management Systems
    • Fixed Record Database Management Systems
    • Object-Oriented Database Management Systems
    • Multivalue Database Management Systems
      • Non-Schematic Database Management Systems
    • Document-Oriented Database Systems
    • Key-Accessible Database Systems
    • Graph Database Management Systems
      • In-Memory Shared Data Managers
      • Data Lake Management Systems
    • Database Administration and Development Tools
      • Database Administration
      • Database Replication
      • Data Modeling
      • Database Development and Optimization
    • Data Integration and Intelligence Software
      • Data Ingestion and Transformation Software
      • Dynamic Data Movement Software
      • Data Quality Software
      • Data Access Infrastructure Software
      • Composite Data Framework Software
      • Master Data Intelligence Software
      • Metadata Management Software
      • Data Archiving and Information Life-Cycle Management
  • Integration and Orchestration Software
    • Business-to-Business Middleware
      • B2B Gateway Middleware
      • B2B Collaboration Networks and B2B Managed Services
      • Managed File Transfer
    • Integration Software
      • API Management Software
      • API Gateway Software
      • Integration Platforms
      • Connectivity Adapters and Plug-In Software
    • Event Stream Processing Software
      • Messaging Middleware
      • Stream Processing Software
      • Functions Software
      • IoT Application Platforms
  • Application Development Software
    • Development Languages, Environments, and Tools
    • Software Construction Components
    • Business Rules Management Systems
      • Object Modeling Tools
      • Business Process Modeling Tools
      • Enterprise Architecture Tools
      • Process Mining and Insights Software
  • Software Quality and Life-Cycle Tools
    • Automated Software Quality Tools
    • Software Change, Configuration, and Process Management Software
  • Application Platforms
    • Deployment-Centric Application Platforms
      • Application Server Software Platforms
      • Cloud Deployment-Centric Application Platforms
      • Transaction Processing Monitors
    • Model-Driven Application Platforms
    • Robotic Process Automation Software
• Systems Infrastructure Software Market Definitions
  • System and Service Management Software
    • IT Operations Management
    • IT Automation and Configuration Management
      • Workload Management
      • Datacenter System and Application Control
    • IT Service Management
  • Network Software
    • Network Infrastructure Software
      • Application Delivery Controller Software
      • Software-Defined Networking Software
    • Network Management Software
      • Network Performance Management
      • Network Operations Management
  • Security Software
    • Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform
    • Identity and Access Management Software
    • Endpoint Security Software
    • Network Security Software
    • Security Analytics Software
    • Information and Data Security Software
      • Information Protection
      • Digital Trust
    • Governance, Risk, and Compliance Software
  • Storage Software
    • Data Protection Software
      • The submarkets that are part of the data protection functional market are discussed in the sections that follow.
      • Backup and Recovery Software
      • Backup and Recovery Reporting Software
      • Storage Replication Software
      • Host or Hypervisor-Based Replication Software
      • Systems and Data Migration Software
      • Fabric and Appliance-Based Replication Software
      • Array-Based Replication Software
      • Replication Management Software
    • Archiving Software
      • Email Archiving Software
      • File and Other Archiving Software
    • Storage Infrastructure and Device Management Software
      • Storage Resource Management and Heterogeneous SAN Management Software
      • Storage Resource Management and Homogeneous SAN Management Software
      • Storage Device Management Software
      • Virtualization and Federation Software
      • Host-Based File Systems and Volume Management Software
      • Storage Access and Path Management Software
      • Automated Storage Tiering Software
      • Storage Acceleration Software
      • Other Storage Management and Infrastructure Software
    • Software-Defined Storage Controller Software
      • Block-Based Software-Defined Storage Controller Software
      • File-Based Software-Defined Storage Controller Software
      • Object-Based Software-Defined Storage Controller Software
      • Hyperconverged Software-Defined Storage Controller Software
  • Endpoint Management Software
    • Output Management Tools
      • Device Management
      • Print Management
      • Digital Fax Management
      • Enterprise Output Management
      • Production Printing Management
    • Client Endpoint Management Software
      • Unified Endpoint Management
      • IoT Device Management Software
      • PC Life-Cycle Management
  • Physical and Virtual Computing Software
    • Operating System Environments
      • Core Operating Systems
      • Client Operating Systems
      • Embedded/Industrial Operating Systems
    • Software-Defined Compute
      • Virtual Machine Software
      • Container Infrastructure Software
      • Cloud System Software
    • Virtual Client Computing
    • Other Computing and Storage Software
      • Remote Desktop Control Software
      • Container Data and Infrastructure Management Software

Related Markets

• Competitive Markets

Learn More

• Related Research
• Synopsis