The software industry is seeing a gradual shift away from discrete applications to socially-connected, cloud-based platforms that simplify life for IT administrators and business users.
This is according to Philip Meyer, central research and development director at Sage Africa Australia, Middle East and Asia, who notes the consumerisation of IT and the rise of social media and mobile apps are changing employees' expectations of the software that they must use to do their jobs.
Today's employees are used to the ease and convenience of mobile apps and they instinctively look for these apps to duplicate or access the functionality of their desktop software, says Meyer.
Therefore, many enterprises have embraced mobility and the cloud to give employees access to company applications and data wherever they are - and this has brought its own challenges, he adds.
Most companies have seen the number of mobile apps they must support multiply at a frightening rate. From the end-user's perspective, it has become aggravating to have dozens of apps on smartphone or tablet, he adds.
As a result, there is a big drive to connect traditional desktop software to the cloud and make it cloud-aware.
This allows software companies to extend the functionality of traditional software to the cloud and extends access to mobile devices, says Meyer. "This hybrid model is effective if you get the balance right between cloud, mobile and relevant functionality."
In SA, there is a big drive to true cloud solutions, but many businesses have traditional software solutions and their associated data and feature sets so entrenched in their business that they cannot ditch them and move purely to the cloud, says Meyer. He notes this would require them to retrain staff, throw out software, and start from scratch.
However, with a hybrid solution, companies can gradually migrate users over to true cloud and off traditional desktop software as it starts to reach the end of its lifecycle, he adds.
James McKerrell, CEO of CRS Technologies, says one of the best advantages of cloud is the way it enables communication within the whole organisation.
"There's a single line of communication, a single version of the truth, as people are getting real-time information and updates on their devices."
McKerrell points out it is important to know what trends are emerging within the HR industry fuelled by technology, and why these are significant.
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