IDC's Enterprise Client Computing Platforms research program focuses on the platforms used to create the digital workspaces that employees use every day to interact with one another and the enterprise. These platforms include virtual clients that offer full desktop experiences, secured access to SaaS applications, individual applications, and a spectrum of access in between. Enterprise architects use these technologies to support hybrid workforces, to provide access to older applications where there is no return for upgrading the software, to provide disaster recovery, or to offer software as a service to partners.
The combination of automation, governance, management, and observability provided by these platforms enables the emerging fields of AI agents, digital employee experience, and endpoint as code.
The program provides guidance to endpoint device manufacturers, end users, software providers, public cloud providers, and financial analysts regarding the drivers of upcoming market disruptions, their long-term impacts, and related changes in IT operations, finance, end-user devices, and hybrid work initiatives. The submarket of desktop as a service and the emerging cloud PC category are also addressed.