Technology & Innovation

What's next for the software-as-a-service marketplace?

August 21, 2013

Global

August 21, 2013

Global
Monica Woodley

Editorial director, EMEA

Monica is editorial director for The Economist Intelligence Unit's thought leadership division in EMEA. As such, she manages a team of editors across the region who produce bespoke research programmes for a range of clients. In her five years with the Economist Group, she personally has managed research programmes for companies such as Barclays, BlackRock, State Street, BNY Mellon, Goldman Sachs, Mastercard, EY, Deloitte and PwC, on topics ranging from the impact of financial regulation, to the development of innovation ecosystems, to how consumer demand is driving retail innovation.

Monica regularly chairs and presents at Economist conferences, such as Bellwether Europe, the Insurance Summit and the Future of Banking, as well as third-party events such as the Globes Israel Business Conference, the UN Annual Forum on Business and Human Rights and the Geneva Association General Assembly. Prior to joining The Economist Group, Monica was a financial journalist specialising in wealth and asset management at the Financial Times, Euromoney and Incisive Media. She has a master’s degree in politics from Georgetown University and holds the Certificate of Financial Planning.

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"What’s next for the software-as-a-service marketplace?" is an Economist Intelligence Unit report, sponsored by Juniper Networks.

The software-as-a-service industry, buoyed by heady growth, is highly confident about its future. But achieving the marketplace dominance predicted by industry players will require discipline, increased attention to customer concerns about security, and the savvy exploitation of mobility and other emerging technologies. A global EIU survey of 279 executives at companies that provide software as a service suggests that, while SaaS growth is swift and impact transformational, the industry is failing to tackle a deficit of trust that has long been a thorn in its side.

The key findings include:

  • The SaaS industry is confident its vision for software delivery will win the future. A solid majority (60%) of respondents say sales growth at their companies will exceed 25% this year, with nearly one-quarter (24%) putting growth above 50% and only 1% forecasting a sales decline. More than half (56%) expect overall SaaS sales to exceed those of traditional software, and most of this group (72%) think this will happen within five years.
  • Though a trust deficit is hurting sales, few SaaS providers tout security prowess. Asked to select the top three obstacles to sales, 68% of respondents cite customer concerns about data security, 32% a lack of trust in SaaS providers and 26% inadequate service level agreements. Yet while many providers offer a baseline of standard data security measures, few (13%) use security expertise as marketing weapon.
  • The digital home and “Internet of things” megatrends will emerge as key growth areas in the coming years. Executives expect product development strategy two years from now to continue to focus on consumer use of the cloud (32%) and the “bring your own device” phenomenon (27%), in which employees use their own mobile devices at work. But they see two other megatrends rising in importance: the convergence of television and computing (24%) and the “Internet of things” (23%), in which electricity meters, refrigerators and all manner of devices are Internet-connected and ripe for digital services.

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