Enterprise software in 2016: make or break?

2016 is shaping up to be an interesting year for the enterprise software industry, with major changes across the board. Given that software is the backbone of much of our digital age, any changes will touch almost every area of our lives. Here we outline some of the expected changes and what they might mean for the larger enterprise software picture.

Enterprise software in 2016

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1) The end of software-centric security

Security systems that are software-defined deliver two massive vulnerabilities: many are not able to solve modern security problems and the individual products often do not work together well. Recent high-risk reliance on potentially thousands of different applications and products for security will see a move towards solutions capable of securing individual applications and associated hardware.

2) Agile development will finally scale

Despite more than 75% of companies adopting agile development methodologies, this has yet to make any significant impact at enterprise level. 2016 could mark the turning point, driven by the improved availability of development tool integrations focused on the enterprise space.

3) Software failures will become a wider problem

No longer the responsibility of CIOs and above, it is expected that accountability will be extended through the C-suite to include CEOs, CMOs and CFOs. This will inevitably have educational impacts as these role-holders rush to educate themselves appropriately and potentially the requirement for software testing services such as bug finders to ensure the errors do not arise in the first place.

4) A continuing skills shortage

While headline tech firms such as Google and Uber continue to attract talent, it is likely that a knock-on skills shortage will continue in more traditional industries such as hospitality, finance and retail. In turn, these industries will have to make extra efforts to recruit and be seen as good places to work.

5) The cloud continues apace

The need to drive costs from CAPEX to OPEX will assist in the movement of much software development to the cloud. Whether this is web-based apps or software maintenance and patching, it can all be moved away from legacy hosting systems. With cloud security ever-increasing, the reasons to say ‘no’ are ever-decreasing.

In short, nothing is as certain as change. There is an interesting year ahead, with much change likely and massive impacts across many industries. Watch this space!

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