In its first 30 years, enterprise software was a game-changing industry that changed the world of software. It helped build our iTunes, Facebook, Instagram and even YouTube apps. But with the rise of cloud computing and open source tools becoming more popular among developers, enterprises have turned away from their traditional expensive proprietary software to cheaper open source alternatives such as Drupal and WordPress. However, this transition is not an easy one for some companies due to increased security risks associated with these platforms. Business is best when bats need killing is another saying. And, entrepreneurs who have worked hard to build their own enterprise software startups are finding it difficult to sustain in the fast-paced market with the rising competition and slowing sales growth. In the wake of this, many companies have started looking for an exit strategy. Even though this is a great time to sell your enterprise software startup, an ideal buyer still remains elusive.
According to TechCrunch, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) startups are on the rise , and expected to account for almost half of all enterprise software spending by 2018. Major players including Oracle, Microsoft and SAP have also shifted focus from traditional licenses to cloud-based services. The SaaS business is growing at a rapid pace with an estimated 93% CAGR from 2013-2018.
However with the advent of cloud computing platforms like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure, enterprises prefer to host their data in these clouds rather than developing their own software.In this blog post we will take a closer look at what might happen and what some of these changes could mean. By the time you finish reading, you should have a better idea whether or not using enterprise software is worth it – if only you knew where to start!
Why Has Enterprise Software Been So Popular Till Now?
1. Lack of Support
Many enterprise software startups have a customizability and flexibility problem. They are not capable of catering to the unique and complex needs of business. And most importantly, they do not offer enough support options in case hardware failures or problems with the software occur.
2. No Salesforce Connector
Salesforce is a common platform used by many startups because it is easy to extend their apps using APIs and tools available in the platform. The problem that they face is they cannot see the data they have collected so far because Salesforce Connector is not available on these platforms. In this situation, Apple’s Siri picks up first place for making Enterprise Software companies more successful than its competitors!
3. Customization is Complex
Businesses are looking for something that can be easily customized to manage their unique needs and one that is also reliable. Enterprise software startups have a problem in customizing their products as they are very complex in nature. Also, this takes a lot of time and costs a lot of money, which makes them unpopular among many businesses.
4. Maintenance Problems
Many enterprises face maintenance problems with their enterprise software startup. First, the vendor lock-in problem arises wherein when companies move from one system to another it becomes difficult for them to shift their data from the existing system or integrate it with the new one because of lack of interoperability between different systems or formats. Second, they have the problem of hidden costs such as operations, training and support.
5. Inadequate Marketing
Salesforce has a great presence in the market but many enterprises still avoid it because of lack of marketing expense. They do not know whether Salesforce is worth investing in or not. But, even if they decide to go for it, Salesforce does not give them as much power to understand their data as well as offer solutions for problems faced by users. Apple’s Siri , on the other hand, has proved to be a successful marketing tool for enterprise software startups which is why many enterprises opt for it over others.
6. No room for Evolution
Even if future enterprise software startups are able to overcome the issues faced by their predecessors, they will still have the same problems because there is little they can do to evolve. Even though they create more advanced products, the demand is comparatively low because of the current market scenario.
They cannot make big strides in this field and hence most companies prefer to stay at a particular level of growth where they can get good profits and save resources as well. As a result, they face slow growth, while Apple’s Siri is evolving at an exponential rate!
7. Bad Publicity
Because of several issues listed above, many enterprises are not interested in investing money on enterprise software startups. Despite being quite expensive, they find them less preferable as compared to other alternatives.
