The International Data Corporation (IDC) recently released a study showing that the Software as a Service (SaaS) market hit worldwide revenue of $13.1 billion in 2009, and predicts that total to reach $40.5 billion by 2014. This represents a compound annual growth rate of 25.3% - clearly a rapidly expanding market.
What’s more, IDC expects that fewer than 15% of net-new software firms will come to market with packaged products (CDs). This marks a clear shift in the way of distributing business software. After all, it’s just not fashionable (or convenient) to distribute software via physical media.
“Enterprise IT plans are rapidly shifting to accommodate the growing choices for sourcing most or all IT software functions, from business applications to software development and testing, to service and desktop management, as SaaS services become available from established vendors and new models for accessing functionality in the cloud creates lower-cost options and more tailored models for consuming IT services,” IDC Vice President of SaaS and Cloud Services Research Robert Mahowald said.
While this expansion is currently located in IT software, similar performance gains can be reached across the board from cloud-based software. For instance, a Microsoft Dynamics CRM implementation can be much easier to use and maintain thanks to several cloud distributed online services. Given that this trend is now visible in Microsoft business software, it’s safe to say that cloud distribution is here to say.
By CRM Software Blog Editors, Directory of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Experts
