Keep software simple and flexible--at least that is what some users want.
According to the latest study by IDC, simplicity and flexibility are the two key factors that businesses in the Asia-Pacific region consider when investing in software.
In its study released Wednesday, the research house revealed that respondents looked out for "greater simplification and higher flexibility" in licensing and pricing models that meet their companies' specific requirements.The study, titled IDC Software Usage and Experiences Survey 2007, surveyed about 1,000 companies in four countries: Australia, China, India and Korea.
The study polled respondents who were familiar with the overall management of an organization's software, such as IT managers or directors, and reviewed enterprises' experience and expectations in software deployment across the four countries.
According to the study, respondents from Australia and Korea also highlighted the need for greater centralized control of software license relationships.
Ullrich Loeffler, a market analyst at IDC's Asia-Pacific Software Research, said in a statement that although most software vendors have adopted simplicity and flexibility in their products, "they have yet to extend the same themes to their pricing and delivery options".
This, he added, has therefore "resulted in complex costing models, ambiguity about the true costs of AD&D (Application Development and Deployment) investments, and a mismatch in actual versus potential customer values gained from investing in these technologies".
When asked about their purchasing strategy, respondents on the whole indicated a strong preference for integrated product solutions rather than "best-of-breed" point products or custom-developed software, said the IDC report.
Integrated solution packages, consisting of hardware, software and IT services components, were the preferred purchasing option by respondents from all four countries, while buying AD&D software as part of a software suite with multiple functionalities was the second most frequently cited purchasing strategy by those surveyed in Australia, China and India.
China and India will continue to lead in AD&D software investments, the research house projected.
Survey results revealed that Indian businesses had the highest investment intentions across all AD&D software categories, and middleware software, for instance, was on the shopping list of more than 60 percent of the IT decision makers in India.
In contrast, organizations in Australia and Korea, where IT development is more mature, indicated significantly lower investment intentions.
"We expect vendors to dip into these 'high growth' pockets more aggressively while strengthening their position in the mature markets," Ullrich said.
"The main challenge is to accurately understand their customers' demands and pain points in order to communicate the right value propositions of their products and services," the analyst added.
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5 comments:
Its a nice extension of your last post and my question asked you on your last post dear.
I have some doubts about
1.centralized control of software license relationships.
2.Simplicity in pricing & delivery points?
If we from marketing perspective its more toward servitision (delivering service for your product)from product.
I would like to ask How a software in banking and finance area can be made simpler?
Banking and Finance is a industry which is present in each country irrespective of the economical position or growth.
If a bank or some financial institution employs a new software which itself a cumbersome process.
They have to leave their legacy system and to switch over a new system. The system should be flexible enough to allow the records/data of the legacy system. But when it comes to transaction mode which may happen in any of transaction forms which most of the banks generally allow i.e. IVRS, Net Channel, ATM, Direct Transaction. If any of these transaction modes are different( which is pretty obvious) from the new system, it leads to more complexities. Like if somewhere REUTERS provide Net Channel Transactions(Online Transaction), then GUI or Front End is REUTERS Screen while data coming/going from Bank's present system. This interface leads to deployment of more tachnology which leads to more complexity.
We have 24 timezones and our FX markets run globally 24Hrs at some place atleast ( Not on weekends generally). How the system will cope up with the rapid changes of the FX market.
When it comes to Trade Finance and Securities in Financial Institutions which itself is a complex module. In Finance area the definition of a Simple Software is uncomplete.
@banker. i think u have a solution in open source...do correct me mike if i'm wrong. all that incompatibility has a motive...and tht is money. when ever u buy a software the vendor wants to make sure that next time u buy it from him only. so i u wanna add on..then u hav to depend on him. thts the idea. but wit open source all code is for free, thts wht google is workin towards. but i guess tht days is far away. n i am sure tht when software becomes open n free it will surely become simple. n it will n pure plug n play!
@icecool:
Dude, u cant be serious...
opensource banking software... what a concept hahahaha.
that's worse than charity man. charity comes with a facade of kindness and other (probably worse) concepts, but this... only show's a genuine lack of intelligence about itself.
Would anybody want to bank at a place whose code out for all the world to see?
it's like saying "oh that lock's breakable? let's leave the key in the slot then...save on the lock, screw security"
and honestly, if a company claims to not want to work for money, i wouldnt want to work for that company.
and it's banks we're talking about, what's with being charitable towards banks? arent they supposed to have cash anyway?
more to say, but then the time's gone and the song's over
@icecool
I am not sure about how can a Banking & Finance Software be made as open source?
How relevant and appropriate it will be on the terms of Security?
Banks and financial institutions spend a lot of money on their security systems. One of the first and major criteria to pass a system is to secured at all levels.
If a software/tool is available as freeware/open source then security breach is as common as downloading and installing some media player.
For any bank the software needs some requirements i.e. Server, databases where millions of financial records are saved. Can you imagine a simple software available as open source can do the most important EOD (end of day) operations with simplicity and accuracy? here the value of currency is measured upto 8 decimal points. A small discrepancy in the data at the EOD may give them nightmares.
Open source softwares are relevant upto some extent but what about the companies who are putting much emphasis on the development and enhancemnets of their tools. Their tools cost in multi millions. It has a hundreds of man hours of efforts. It may play a spoils sport in the healthy competition.
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