Johannesburg, 22 Oct 2014
CA Southern Africa has announced the results of a global study commissioned by CA Technologies, which reveals that "leaders" which are investing in new innovation and development capabilities are growing revenue at more than twice the rate of "laggards", creating an application divide in the marketplace.
The study: How to Survive and Thrive in the Application Economy, analyses results from a survey of 1 425 senior business leaders across 13 countries.
These "leaders" overwhelmingly realise that software and application development is core to their future success. In fact, the study found that over 50% of companies surveyed either have made, or will make in the next year, an acquisition specifically to add talent and strengthen their development capabilities.
In addition to revenue growth, "leaders", as identified in the study, are experiencing 68% higher profit growth and are seeing more than 50% new business growth from new products and services.
Among the specific investments being made by "leaders", the study uncovered the following, as represented in this infographic:
* Innovation is at the core of their success: almost half (49%) of the "leaders" have adopted DevOps methodologies and technologies to speed application delivery, versus only 6% of the "laggards".
* Security is seen as a business enabler - not as a roadblock to growth: 47% of "leaders" are experiencing increased revenue from new services enabled by security. In fact, the study predicts that one-quarter of all IT spending will be devoted to security over the next three years.
* "Leaders" are embracing technology as a business enabler, deploying software to manage their IT investments more strategically and aligned with business goals.
* A key driver of success for "leaders" is the adoption of mobility as an enterprise-wide strategy, with clear evidence of increased customer satisfaction and faster time-to-market.
"There is clear evidence that enterprises of all sizes, in all markets, have to embrace the application economy and place software development and delivery at the centre of their business strategy," says Gary Lawrence, MD, CA Southern Africa. "Business success is tied to application performance, and the ability of a business to drive growth is no longer just about the product or service they deliver, but increasingly about a complete software-driven experience."
Additional findings of the study include:
* Enterprises responding to the rapid changes brought about by the accelerating application economy are bringing more software development back in-house (from 33% to 44%).
* Ninety-four percent of line of business (LOB) executives are facing increased pressure to release applications more quickly to satisfy consumer demand, with 51% of businesses surveyed having released at least four customer-facing applications in the last year alone.
* Despite this rate of application delivery, only 15% of LOB executives are completely satisfied with IT's speed in delivering new applications or services.
* As a result, 88% of enterprises surveyed are planning to adopt DevOps to increase application delivery.
* Businesses face internal obstacles in addressing the application economy.
* Twenty-five percent of the senior IT leaders surveyed said there was a lack of understanding of the impact and benefits of the application economy at the senior level.
* Twenty-six percent said there was a lack of knowledge and skills.
* Twenty-four percent said there were cultural issues.
Survey methodology
Vanson Bourne conducted the CA Technologies-sponsored study of 1 450 senior IT leaders, more than half of which include C-level executives, EVPs, GMs, presidents, managing partners and CSOs, from financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, telecommunications and media/entertainment across 13 countries. Click here to download the white paper and learn more about the research.
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