A new forecast from International Data Corporation (IDC) shows that the trend of strong market growth in digital strategy and agency services will continue through 2021.

The strong growth rates in spending are attributed to the degree of maturity in Digital Transformation (DX) strategies as executives carefully consider and plan for the impact of digital innovation on everything from enterprise business goals to products and service innovation, business processes, organizational structures, and the workforce, according to IDC (www.idc.com).

As DX becomes completely foundational to future business, the proportion of digital-related consulting engagements will increase from about half of all business and information technology (IT) consulting engagements in 2013–2015 to approximately 70% of all engagements in 2020 or 2021, driving the total market for digital strategy and agency services to well over $100 billion in services opportunities worldwide by 2021, notes the research group.

In IDC's most recent survey of digital enterprise leadership worldwide, the vast majority of executives say consulting partners in the professional services market are not just important, but critical to Digital Transformation success.

"Over a quarter of digital executives say budgets for digital consulting and agency services partners will increase by 25% over the next one to two years, and about 10% say budgets for these services will double by 2019. And, as more firms adopt enterprise-wide digital strategies, executives should expect their relationships with professional services providers to embody a larger portfolio of digital capabilities," said Michael Versace, research director, Digital S trategy and Agency Services at IDC.