Definitely, enterprise software has been very popular. It’s been one of the best-selling software on the market. In fact, your company would probably use a lot of it, if they were still around.
But when IT departments are competing with startups, competitors and new technologies is it really worth it? The answer is “no”. Because as enterprise software becomes more expensive due to obsolescence and lack of innovation, enterprises will want to explore other options for their IT needs. Economists assume that the typical person who starts her own business does so with the intention of making quick money, which is why it’s not surprising that small businesses don’t typically invest in expensive enterprise software. That’s a good indication for the future of enterprise software, as more people start their own businesses.
Enterprise software does have its place. There are some large companies out there that really need it to run. But small business owners aren’t going to tolerate high license fees forever. They’re going to look for alternatives if they’re not offered better deals on monthly subscriptions or pay-per-use models with discounts for bulk purchases of licenses. And we can already see the trend happening among startups who have no IT budget at all and rely on open source solutions for core elements of their applications.
Reasons Why This Year Will Be The Year Of Enterprise Softwares :
1. More Startups, More Companies
IT departments all across the globe are becoming more cost sensitive than ever before. As a result, more companies are choosing to use open source software to run their core business functions and applications. This trend is only going to intensify in the coming years with the number of startups increasing. There is no doubt that IT departments will be looking for better ways of controlling costs and still getting functionality that they need when they rent or purchase software.
2. Cloud Computing Means More Cloud Workarounds
Cloud computing is already an emerging trend in technology today, especially among startups and SME owners as well as some big corporations like Microsoft and Amazon. The cloud gives companies more flexibility and reduces the need to manage in-house infrastructure. I believe it will continue to gain popularity as new technologies and services make it even easier for smaller businesses to take advantage of it.
3. IT Departments Will Reduce The Number Of Offshore Staff
When the recession hit, lots of IT departments decided that it was cheaper to hire offshore talent on a contract basis than it was to buy expensive enterprise software. But that was then, and today many IT departments are struggling with the same challenges they had before, namely finding skilled workers who can manage their core applications or building an in-house team that can do so at a reasonable cost. Either they’ll have to find a workable solution in the near future, or they’ll turn to offshore outsourcing of their core applications and IT infrastructure.
4. Big Companies Will Turn To Software As A Service
As technology advances, more and more companies are relying on SaaS to run their core business operations. And as more enterprises and startups turn to SaaS providers, it’s going to get even harder for them to justify purchasing expensive enterprise software licenses when they can get the functionality they need in an affordable way from cloud computing.
5. Small Businesses Will Use Free Online Tools
Free online tools are already being used by small businesses today. But it’s only a matter of time before some enterprising entrepreneur or IT specialist will come up with an open source replacement for expensive enterprise software packages. Take a look at the various whitepapers on the internet and you’ll find out that there are alternatives available to most enterprise software solutions, so it’s not just startups that can reap the benefits from these “open source” solutions.
6. No One Wants To Pay For Software Licenses Again
It’s no secret that software licenses have become more and more expensive in recent years. When IT departments can no longer afford to pay for expensive enterprise software packages, they might be forced to turn to outsourcing. But that’s not the case with cloud-based solutions because companies aren’t paying for it every month or every year. They’re only paying when they rent the service and use it.
So enterprises will find a way of making enterprise software just as affordable as public cloud-based SaaS solutions. And startups and SME owners will be able to open up their own business on a limited budget and the IT department will be able to offer them better service based on an SaaS model than through renting expensive software licenses from IT departments.
7. More Of The Internet Will Be Built By Open Source
But there’s another way that enterprise software will take a back seat to SaaS and cloud computing, and it’s in the area of the Internet itself. The web is being built by open source components now. And because of that there are different scenarios where companies could use open source vs enterprise software. One example would be if companies run their web servers on Linux, instead of Windows or Mac OS X. Or they could build their websites using some sort of CMS (content management system).
