Analyst Profile

Shawn P. McCarthy

Shawn P. McCarthy

Research Director

Shawn P. McCarthy is an IDC Government Insights research director. He launched and manages the U.S. Government IT Infrastructure Strategies research advisory service, which includes technology recommendations and key cost control proposals for government IT systems. He also issues IDC’s semi-annual U.S. Government IT Spending Guides (federal, state and local) and he created the annual U.S. Federal Line of Business Budget Guide, which tracks detailed spending buy federal department, program and more.

Mr. McCarthy is responsible for analyzing primary end-user data and budget data collected both from officially published sources and through surveys of IT managers in government and university offices. Mr. McCarthy determines IT investment priorities for the public sector and identifies and forecasts emerging technologies and opportunities for both government offices and technology vendors who work with the government.

Mr. McCarthy regularly contributes in the Government IT Infrastructure blog in the IDC Government Insights Community (http://idc-insights-community.com/government). His Twitter handle is Shawn_McCarthy.

He has given presentations in multiple countries and chaired many panel discussions at FOSE, MacWorld and other large IT conferences. As a government employee, he helped build databases and curriculum libraries at The Smithsonian Institution.

Prior to joining IDC Government Insights, Mr. McCarthy served as program manager for Government & Education within IDC's Vertical Industry Research Group. Before that he headed his own IT consulting firm, and served as a group product manager for four years at Lycos, the Internet search engine. He also was a senior editor at Government Computer News and he still writes the monthly Internaut column for GCN.

He graduated magna cum laude from The George Washington University with a Masters degree in educational technology leadership. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism/mass communication from St. Bonaventure University and has a certificate in project management for IT programs. He occasionally teaches graduate-level project management classes.

Mr. McCarthy is frequently quoted by trade publications that are read by government IT mangers, and is the author of two books: Engineering Your Way to Success written for the National Society of Professional Engineers, and The Art of .COMbat: Ancient Wisdom for the Competitive Economy, published by John Wiley & Sons.

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Research Authored by Shawn P. McCarthy

locked Methods and Practices: Updating and Leveraging SharePoint in the Government Enterprise
Shawn P. McCarthyVanessa Thompson
Mar 2013 - Doc # GI240315    Methods and Practices
This IDC Government Insights report looks at current government SharePoint challenges, with an eye toward helping agencies solve those challenges. Microsoft's SharePoint is the dominant collaboration platform within government agencies toda...
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locked SAS Visual Analytics: Bringing Math to the Masses 1 Terabyte at a Time
Shawn P. McCarthyAlison Brooks, Ph.D.
Mar 2013 - Doc # lcUS23999113    IDC Link
A climate of fiscal constraint continues to permeate government service delivery in North America:In Canada, IT cost containment, consolidation, and rationalization initiatives are sweeping the federal, provincial, and municipal jurisdictio...
locked Does Latitude 10 Change the Government Landscape?
Shawn P. McCarthyThom Rubel
Feb 2013 - Doc # lcUS23970213    IDC Link
Today Dell announced the release of its Latitude 10 Enhanced Security tablet, a Windows 8–based device that may find a niche user base in government agencies, thanks to its dual-authentication capability — with an HSPD-12 compliant integrat...
locked Government Warms to Authentication as a Service (AaaS)
Shawn P. McCarthy
Feb 2013 - Doc # lcUS23957513    IDC Link
Today, federal government agencies spend about $6.5 billion on IT security solutions. About a quarter of that spending is targeted at some type of identity management solution. This month, the Government Accountability Office issued its bie...
locked Perspective: A Federal Budget Primer — Discretionary Versus Mandatory Budgets, Plus Debt Versus Deficits, Sequestration, and Agency IT Spending
Shawn P. McCarthy
Feb 2013 - Doc # GI239138    Perspective
This IDC Government Insights Perspective is designed to provide readers with content and context for how current budget stalemates relate to and potentially impact U.S. federal information technology spending by giving them a foundational u...
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locked IDC Predictions 2013: Chief Risk Officers — A New Dialogue with IT and the CIO
Michael VersaceJill FeblowitzShawn P. McCarthyScott LundstromGreg GirardSimon EllisDavid Potterton
Feb 2013 - Doc # 239293    IDC Presentation
This IDC Presentation highlights trends in the business environment and how 3rd platform innovations are driving this maturing relationship between risk managers and the technology environments they operate within. This Presentation also sp...
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locked U.S. Government 2013 Top 10 Predictions
Ruthbea Yesner ClarkeShawn P. McCarthyAdelaide O'BrienThom Rubel
Dec 2012 - Doc # GI238535    Top 10 Predictions
This IDC Government Insights report discusses the top 10 predictions for 2013 that will heavily influence the direction and magnitude of IT investment, management, and evaluation. It also presents four key market drivers affecting these asp...
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locked Pivot Table: U.S. Federal Government IT Spending Guide, Version 1, 2011–2016
Shawn P. McCarthyTed Dangson
Dec 2012 - Doc # GI238025    Pivot Table
This IDC Government Insights Pivot Table presents our best estimates and forecasts for the U.S. federal government IT opportunity for 2011–2016.
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locked Pivot Table: U.S. State and Local Government IT Spending Guide, Version 1, 2011–2016
Shawn P. McCarthyTed Dangson
Dec 2012 - Doc # GI238038    Pivot Table
This IDC Government Insights Pivot Table presents our best estimates and forecasts for the U.S. state and local government IT opportunity for 2011–2016.
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locked DoD Mobility Changes Course as DISA Seeks Bids for Secure Mobile Devices
Shawn P. McCarthy
Oct 2012 - Doc # lcUS23753312    IDC Link
It's no secret that mobile applications and associated mobile IT solutions need to be made more secure. This week, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) took a proactive step to make that happen — by issuing the latest in a recent s...
locked Technology Selection: The Government Datacenter of the Future
Shawn P. McCarthyRichard L. Villars
Oct 2012 - Doc # GI237095    Technology Selection
This IDC Government Insights report discusses government datacenters that are undergoing a once-in-a-generation shift, triggered by the rapid emergence of several key IT disrupters, ranging from growth of mobile devices to the rise of quali...
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More Research authored by Shawn P. McCarthy