Business aspects of the software industry
Introduction: about the course
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES: ARTEFACTS
-Artifacts are objects created by human interventions that, historically, had an enduring
character with clear authorship and a physical nature.
-Digital artifacts are editable, interactive, and open and can be easily distributed.
-They extend physical products or services to support and experiment innovation.
From physical with digital layer…
… to fully digitized
-Examples
Nike+ Sensor
The development of services and applications based on virtual reality or augmented
reality in cultural industries and tourism
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES: INFRASTRUCTURE
The access to and distribution of these digital artifacts is controlled by second- order
technologies; they are the enablers.
Examples
-MIT Fab Central and Stanford FabLearn Labs are further for digital prototyping and mock-
ups.
-Google TensorFlow: end-to-end digital infrastructure for machine learning, which offer a
comprehensive and flexible ecosystem of tools, libraries, and resources that allows
developers to build and deploy machine learning powered applications.
-Amazon Web Services IoT, Microsoft Azure IoT, or Google Cloud IoT, which connect
hardware, devices, and sensors into an integrated data network that provides insights using
backend applications, visualization tools, and device management suites.
,DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES: PLATFORMS
-Shared, digital architectures that enable many-to-many interactions between multiple
groups or devices and enable a greater variety of offerings by variably combining
standardized core modules.
-Built upon the digital infrastructure.
-Typically software-based platforms created by the extensible codebase of a software-
based system that provides the core functionality shared by the modules and interfaces with
which it interoperates
Examples
-Apple’s iOS and Mozilla’s Firefox browser
-App development marketplaces (e.g., App Store, Google Play Store, Microsoft Store),
-Opendesk is changing the way furniture is produced and moved, cutting out time-
consuming and expensive shipping, showrooms and storage.
,SOFTWARE/ICT INDUSTRY
ICT vs IT
Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for
information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the
integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) and
computers, as well as necessary enterprise software, middleware, storage and
audiovisual, that enable users to access, store, transmit, understand and manipulate
information.
We will focus on IT
Disregard some trends and technologies inherent to the telecom industry, like
mobility, (energy) consumption, and space technologies.
Include some trends and technologies inherent to the IT industry, like
immersive realtime, next-gen software development, Web3, and quantum
technologies.
Software within IT
Software companies create, change or maintain useful products/services.
IT companies ensure that all systems, devices and software work together to help
people get things done.
-Enterprise software’s impact has increased. It created an industry that is
evolving, interconnected, and complex.
-It is also well funded, with a current market capitalization of about $1.9 trillion for just the
top 20 value creators, as of the first quarter of 2019.
-An evolving industry …
-Sheer amount of funds raised for startup software vendors is contributing to
high valuations at a time of increasing economic and regulatory uncertainty.
-Software buyers are navigating the adoption of hybrid- and multi-cloud applications
and powering broad digital transformations through artificial intelligence (AI) and
related data initiatives.
-Software vendors are appealing to digitally savvy millennials, who constitute a large
portion of B2B decision makers, while analyzing the best options for platform
partnerships and addressing data privacy regulations and cybersecurity threats.
-Technology service providers are maturing from channel partners to
innovation partners.
-Technology employers of all stripes continue to be dogged by a talent shortage and
skills gap.
, -When Gartner asked business leaders about the software they adopted in response to the
pandemic, we saw a consistent, global movement to software best-suited for a sudden shift
to virtual business practices.
Instead of classic software categories such as HR and accounting, 2020 induced a spike in
video conferencing and live chat software adoption.
-Here are the six software categories most frequently adopted by businesses in response to
2020’s disruptions:
Collaboration software
E-commerce software
Live chat software
Video conferencing software
E-learning software
VPN software
1. Immediately following the COVID-19 outbreak, businesses around the world
prioritized employee and customer safety, relationships with existing customers,
maintaining cash flow and retaining employees.
2. In 2021 businesses will likely prioritize customer retention over new customer
acquisition.
3. Businesses plan to continue long- term investments in employee and customer
safety. This may look like holistic employee wellness initiatives and/or continued
remote work.
4. Software providers should continue to market the flexibility and agile features of
their offerings, highlighting applications that will streamline communications in a
hybrid workspace, and organize data and assets in a location-neutral way
5. When considering a software purchase in the near future, business buyers have a
strong preference for providers or brands they’ve worked with or know by
reputation. Software sellers should focus efforts on expanding services with existing
customers/accounts.
6. While planning sales and marketing strategies, software sellers should shape their
content and communication around the information sources their targeted industries
find valuable.
7. Software purchase decision factors are steady across industries, supporting
software sellers that build an industry-agnostic approach to addressing buyer
concerns as they move toward a purchase.