The app story: information anywhere
You can hear the catch cry: "What do we want?", "More info!" "Where do we want it?", "Anywhere! Now!"
There's no doubt that the role and style of software used by Aussie businesses is changing, just like it is around the world. And the sharing of information is key to it all.
In the ZDNet IT Priorities 2011 Survey, 39 per cent of respondents from larger businesses (500+ seats) said that a program of integrated enterprise-wide information access was on the cards for the next year. A third of those already had a project in place. This goes hand-in-hand with web applications and mobile apps, both priorities for the next year (31 per cent and 34 per cent, respectively).
(Credit: Phil Dobbie/ZDNet Australia)
The picture is mirrored by medium-sized businesses (101-499 seats), although this group seems to have been quicker to move into the development of web applications — 43 per cent said they already had what they wanted in place. Only 15 per cent said they didn't have web apps (and have no plans for developing or buying them). Twice as many (30 per cent) bigger companies have "no plans", although curiously far fewer (19 per cent) have no plans for mobile apps — something to do with security concerns perhaps?
Integrated enterprise-wide access to information seems less critical when the enterprise is small (up to 100 seats). It's probably easier to share data by other means and, we can assume, much of the software (such as the CRM) can be made available to more people, more easily. They're still madly keen to see more mobile and web apps used in the business, though, and 23 per cent have plans to implement web 2.0 business apps over the next year.
So, if info sharing and web and mobile apps are exciting software buyers this year, what's out of fashion? For medium-sized and big businesses, it's middleware and service-oriented architecture. For bigger business, about 30 per cent have completed work in this area, for the rest it's not a high priority. They're clearly too busy working on all the new sexy stuff.
To download a copy of the IT Priorities report for 2011, please click here.