Cloud Computing to Drive Industry Growth in 2011
Cloud computing and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) will drive the largest amount of spending in the software industry over the next 12 months, according to a new Sand Hill Group survey.
The survey findings from the Software CEO/CFO Outlook 2011 study are based on the interviews of more than 100 software company CEOs and CFOs who expect their company’s business will grow by at least 20 percent in 2011. Hiring is also expected to increase significantly due to this growth in the business.
Although recession hit the world in 2008 and 2009, the software industry is still continuing to pull itself out of the economic meltdown.
However, the survey respondents are very optimistic about the industry as a whole and more than three-quarters of the respondents said that their company had already returned to pre-recession growth levels or would reach those levels in 2011.
About two-thirds of the respondents said their company is set to grow by at least 20 percent over the next 12 months.
Sand Hill Group provides strategic management, investment and marketing services to emerging market leaders.
Elaborating further on the report the company says that over 50 percent of the respondents believe that one of the biggest reasons to increase spending on software will be to increase efficiencies and reduce costs.
The new Sand Hill Group survey also shows that software vendors have increased their use of cloud deployment options over the past year. These vendors have decreased their use of on-premises options during the same period.
More than 70 percent of those surveyed said that multi-tenant SaaS solutions via a subscription license will be most sought after offering for new customers during the next 12 months.
By Anuradha Shukla
[...] A recent Forrester report points to significant disaffection with IT, with 69 per cent of respondents admit to budget items for IT products or services without involving IT. Some IT professionals, whether for job security or data security, have resisted this trend, but have failed to stop it, with cloud computing set to dramatically expand the overall software industry in 2011. [...]