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“Middle market firms are leading business growth in the
United States, outpacing both small and large-sized firms,”
said Jeff Stibel, vice chairman of Dun & Bradstreet. “More
specifically, the service industry continues to lead middle
market growth in terms of revenue, employment and number
of firms, reflecting the larger trend in the U.S. moving from
a manufacturing-based to a service-driven economy.”
Business Software
Spending Slowdown?
The latest findings from 451
Research suggest overall business
software spending remains “bogged
down,” and the firm expects a decline
in purchasing going forward. The
October 2016 survey of executives
involved in software spending shows
a decrease in spending cuts across
all categories, with CRM and busi-
ness intelligence among the most
negatively impacted.
A total of 13 percent of corporate
respondents say their company will
spend more on software during the
next 90 days, down 2 points from
the previous survey in July. Another
16 percent predict less spending,
unchanged from the previous survey.
Overall corporate capital budgets are
registering a decrease as well. Only
9 percent of respondents said their
company’s cap budget has increased
during the past 90 days, and 18 per-
cent said it has adjusted lower – 3
points worse than previously and 1
point weaker than a year ago.
The number one reason is that
companies “currently do not need to
purchase any new software” (28 per-
cent) – up 5 points from July to the
highest level since October 2011. At
the same time, 20 percent say “exist-
ing software is getting outdated and
must be replaced” but that’s 1 point
lower than previously. Another 10
percent say they are “making better
use of existing resources,” down 3
points from July.
After registering one of the big-
gest increases in the second quarter
of 2016, CRM is now the category
taking the biggest hit, say 451 ana-
lysts. Just 10 percent of respondents
in the October survey said their com-
pany is increasing customer relation-
ship management software spend-
ing during the next 90 days, with 9
percent decreasing spending – a net
8 point drop from July. Spending for
business intelligence (BI), meanwhile,
has fallen 6 points to its lowest read-
ing in two years – with 11 percent
increasing spending during the next
90 days and 7 percent decreasing.
Security software remains a bright
spot in terms of overall projected
spending, but it is down 4 points from
the prior quarter. Spending for data
storage and virtualization also remains
in positive territory, though lower than
the previous three-month period.
Buyers Side
Global Service Provi
Source: IHS Markit
Growth in Global Broadb
Source: Point Topic
Corporate Software Spending Plans for Next Quarter
Source: 451 Research
Outsourcing Profile: Data Center Operations
Source: Computer Economics
0%
20%
40%
15% 13%
62% 64%
16% 16%
60%
80%
Previous Survey
(Jul ‘16)
Current Survey
(Oct ‘16)
More Spending
How would you characterize your company’s spending plans for
software over the next 90 days compared to the previous 90 days?
No Change
Less Spending
Frequency
Level
Net Growth
Trend
Volatility
Cost
Success
Service
Success
Low
Moderate
High
$360
$350
$340
$330
$320
$310
$300
$290
$280
$270
$260
2014 2015
US $Billions
100.00%
80.00%
60.00%
40.00%
20.00%
0.00%
-20.00%
-40.00%
6.5%
Cable
-16.4%
Coppe
20
Channel
Vision
|
January - February, 2017
Source: Deloitte
How does your
organization handle
adoption of new
technology trends?
Source: Cloudian
0% 20% 4
Large
(2,500 or more employees)
Small
(1 to 499 employees)
Medium
(500 to 2,499 employees)
Large
(2,500 or more employees)
We have no plans to
adopt hybrid cloud
storage
Consi
adoption
1 yea
14%
19%
3%
5%
Driven by IT leadership
We have processes in place
for exploring emerging technologies
Driven largely by
business leadership direction
Specialized business units
are focused on innovation
Reactionary (driven by customer/
supplier need or demand)*
Other
53.0%
48.6%
39.4%
24.6%
28.2%
24.8%
15.0%
19.4%
29.4%
4.2%
2.4%
5.0%
3.2%
1.4%
1.4%
0.0%
1.4%
1.4%
The Global Off-Premises Cloud Ser
$150
$200
$250
2016
2015
2014
(US$ Billions)
Out of the Shadows
IT departments may be gaining back control
of IT deployment, at least in terms of
emerging technologies. An increasing number
of mid-market firms say IT leadership is in
the driver seat when it comes to handling the
adoption of new technology trends, according
to a survey by Deloitte.