The software as a service (SaaS) market will increase by 25% to $59 billion in 2013.
This is according to Forrester Research's Global Tech Market Outlook 2013-2014 report, which also predicts that the market will balloon to $75 billion in 2014.
For Malcolm Rabson, MD at Dariel Solutions, this type of software is exactly what South African businesses need, but he stresses that embracing the trend is a little more complex than just following the global market. "SaaS allows developers to reduce cost-to-customer substantially, since a subscription fee normally replaces the higher initial cost of purchasing equivalent enterprise software licences," says Robson.
"In addition, there is further potential to reduce costs related to IT support, by outsourcing hardware and software maintenance and support to the SaaS provider."
According to Rabson, this growth trend indicates that smart computing will soon come to the fore. This kind of technology is defined by Forrester as applications that provide direct access to data for decision-making and includes things like data analytics and business intelligence.
On a cautionary note, he stresses that developers need to familiarise themselves with the advantages and disadvantages, and the cost-versus-benefit factors, otherwise little value will be derived.
"Familiarity with the technology around big data, or the process of storing, accessing and analysing vast amounts of unstructured data with immediacy, is an area on which developers need to concentrate," says Rabson. "Utilising business intelligence to mine usable data, centred on points of commonality or trends, is another focal point. The bottom line is that, in order to create benefit for clients, software developers need to be able to leverage the expanding technologies by selectively applying them in a given scenario."
He notes that software development teams need to invest time and energy into skills development to extrapolate the useful information and to drive cost and operational benefits for customers.
"By making use of new opportunities and technologies where appropriate, and implementing an effective data strategy, we can provide businesses with a competitive market advantage and long-term stability, and that is exactly what South African businesses need," concludes Rabson.
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