After a flat year in 2010, the global business software market will grow by more than 8% in 2011, according to a report from Ovum.

The research company predicts that the business software market will reach $267 billion in 2011, and will continue to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.7% until 2015, when Ovum forecasts revenues of $358 billion.

Ovum analyst Tim Jennings noted that IT investment is moving away from traditional back-office automation as economic recovery continues. “The volume of information within enterprises continues to grow at an astonishing rate, and investment is needed to both manage this information and turn it into actionable intelligence, through technologies such as business intelligence and analytics,” he said.

Information management software will be the fastest- growing sector in business software over the next four years, Ovum said, with a CAGR of 10%. The report also predicted growth in systems infrastructure software and applications software of 8.3% and 6.8% respectively during the same period.

Microsoft was once again the world’s top software vendor, with a market share of more than 20%. Oracle, IBM and SAP followed in that order.

“Microsoft is still a major player and market-maker, with revenues of $62 billion in 2010,” said Ovum analyst Richard Edwards. “However, its level of innovation is not keeping pace with the rest of the market – it is doing just enough to stay in the game, but it is not a star performer.”

The report suggested that emerging markets would make a strong contribution to growth in the business software market.