Bob Parker is a Senior Vice President responsible for several areas of research at IDC.  Bob leads the global industry research teams which includes coverage of healthcare, government, retail, energy, manufacturing, and financial services as well as a cross industry group looking at emerging topics such as blockchain and robotics.  Additionally, Bob leads our teams in the enterprise applications space, services, and the IDC coverage of data intelligence which includes coverage of artificial intelligence.

Bob has been conducting industry research for over twenty years including five years at AMR Research before joining IDC.  Prior to entering the research field, Bob spent over fifteen years in various Information Technology and Operational management roles in the manufacturing industry including serving as the Chief Information Officer at Eastern Technologies, a defense contractor.

In his role as associate research director for IT services and software across the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (META), Melih drives IDC’s regional research and consulting engagements in the areas of IT services, Cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), and intelligent automation.

He first joined IDC in 2012 as a senior research analyst located out of IDC’s Istanbul office, with various responsibilities for the firm’s IT services, cloud computing, software, and telecom domains — both in Turkey and across the wider META region. Between 2016 and 2021, Melih headed the international marketing and investor relations practice at P.I. Works, a global automation and AI software vendor that serves telecom operators.

Now back at IDC, Melih is leveraging his vast experience in the IT services, cloud, software, and telecommunications domains to advise clients on go-to-market strategies, technology marketing and promotion activities, and market trends analysis. He is also driving a wide variety of research and consulting projects across the META region.

Melih has also previously served as enterprise channel and marketing manager at Nortel Turkey and as business development and strategy manager at Netaş, one of the leading systems integrators in Turkey and a former Nortel subsidiary. He possesses a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and received his MBA from Esslingen University of Applied Sciences in Germany. He has worked as a business development specialist at HP and wrote his MBA thesis for the company, covering European retail channel trends and winning strategies for channel businesses.

A dual British/German national with deep insight into European buyer behaviour, Justin has lived in the Heidelberg area since 2006 and brings over 25 years of experience in taking enterprise tech to market for global players like Cisco, AppDynamics, Software AG, Microsoft, and now Camunda. A seasoned speaker and panellist, including appearances at multiple PMA events in 2025 (London, Berlin and Amsterdam), Justin has led as CMO, Global Digital Transformation Lead, and VP of Product Marketing. Across every role, his focus remains consistent: tackling real customer challenges with substance, strategy, and proven results.