The 2013 Software
Development Trends
Survey Results
Copyright ©2013
ExecutiveBrief
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Table of Contents
Introduction... 4
Key Findings and Takeaways... 4
5
The Software Development Environment... 8
Third Party Interaction and Resources... 13
SaaS/Cloud Applications... 16
Mobile Applications...20
Business Intelligence... 23
Future Business Outlook...25
Introduction
The ExecutiveBrief 2013 Software Development Trends Survey was conducted from June 16 through July 16, 2013, with official results and analysis published in October issue of ExecutiveBrief (www.executivebrief.com).
As with previous annual surveys, this survey is intended to inform senior business leaders and industry professionals of common and prevailing trends, along with key priorities reported among their peers throughout the spectrum of the software development industry.
Over 200 software industry business leaders and software development professionals participated in this survey, consisting of a detailed series of key questions, the majority of which were multiple choice with options for alternate responses.
ExecutiveBrief conducts this survey annually. To participate in the 2014 survey, check the ExecutiveBrief website for details in the early months of 2014.
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Key Findings and Takeaways
Nearly 80% of respondents indicated their software development budgets will increase in 2013, with approximately 40% indicating their budget is likely to grow greater than 10%. While this is slightly lower than reported last year, the indication is that software development markets continue to add strength. A little over 10% of respondents believed their 2013 budget would decrease by 10% or more as compared to 2012. This is notably greater than reported in 2012, but still in support of a positive outlook for budget growth. While a bit less bullish than reported last year, forecast budgets and expenditures remain encouraging, especially given the majority of respondents are executive managers with fiscal responsibilities.
Hiring continues to be a priority with over half of all respondents indicating they plan to add permanent staff in the second half of 2013 and 2014. Something to note in this years survey is that more
respondents indicate they expect to add temporary headcount than reported in last years survey 8.9% in 2012 and 14.4% in 2013.
Interest in improving usability and user experience is something to note as approximately 55% of respondents indicate improvement in this is a top priority, while at the same time indicating elsewhere in the report its among the greatest area of needed improvement.
In mobile markets were seeing increased concern for the need to define tangible benefits and return on investment. This is a sign of more market activity and competition. As applications and services compete for buyers, there is an increasing need to articulate benefits and return on investment as purchase decisions are made.
Third-party business relationships continue to grow. Survey data shows a clear preference for single-source versus multi-source outsourcing relationships, with a move to a combination onshore and offshore partner strategy.
Before we present results from the 2013 survey, its important to understand the profile of people who responded to survey questions. With this understanding, we can better appreciate and analyze their response.
Seventy-three percent of all respondents identified themselves as being part of senior and executive management, with approximately 35% of all respondents identifying themselves as having strategic and fiduciary responsibilities. This is slightly lower than last year, but notably greater than previous years surveys. As noted in last years report, this is significant to consider as we look further into survey data and analyze responses to business challenges and industry outlook.
Nearly 21% of respondents themselves as being involved in technical aspects of software development technical management, engineering, and related consultative services. This is slightly
up from last years survey, where a little over 16% identified themselves as involved in more of a hands-on technical role in software development.
As with previous annual surveys, 2013 respondents are predominately professionals directly involved
What is your vantage point of viewing the current status
and trends within the Software Development Industry?
Advisory: Consultant, Business Analyst, Systems Architect, Industry Analyst Engineering: Software Developer, Quality Control, Research & Development Supporting: User Support, Technical Writing, Training
Supervisory: Technical Lead, Development Manager, Project Manager, Engagement Manager Sales & Marketing: Sales Representative, Sales or Marketing Manager/Director
Business Leader: Vice President/Director/Manager of Software Development, IT, Engineering, Operations, etc. Strategic/Fiduciary Responsibility: C-Level Executive, Board Member, Investor
2,7%
13,7%
38,4%
34,9%
2,1%
4,1%
4,1%
To gain a more complete perspective of the survey results, it is also important to understand the types of organizations these business leaders and software professionals represent.
The 2013 survey gives us a much clearer look at organizational representation than previous years surveys, as respondents were only allowed to choose one response to categorize their organization.
Continuing the trend noted in last years report, the largest group of 2013 survey respondents identified themselves as Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), whose core business is software development. This group represents 41.1% of all respondents.
Approximately 31% of respondents identified themselves as Small to Medium Enterprise organizations (SME) with less than 500 employees and a little over 20% identified themselves as an SME with greater than 500 employees. This too is similar to previous years surveys however, given respondents were allowed only one response, this now becomes more meaningful data to watch over time and weigh later in this report.
Similar to surveys dating back to 2010, the smallest representative segment of responses came from third party organizations, such as analysts and consultants.
7,5% 20,6% 30,8% 41,1%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
A Software Development Consulting Firm An Enterprise Organization of greater than 500 employees that develops in-house software applications/systems A Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) organization of less
than 500 employees
An Independent Software Vendor (ISV) (of any size)
% of respondents
As the chart above indicates, there are no clear majority of markets or industries surveyed. While healthcare and life sciences were again selected by more respondents than any other available choice, respondents continue to serve a broad range of industries. Respondents were given the choice of selecting all addressable markets they serve.
Similar to previous years surveys, approximately 27% chose to categorize their business as serving all markets, possibly indicating interest in repurposing technology and porting applications from one market to another as hypothesized in the 2011 report.
This data closely compares to the 2010 and 2011 surveys, with one notable change: public sector industries, government and education, earned twice the response than previous years surveys, from 23% last year to roughly 43% this year. This may be an indication of increased government spending, coupled with less private sector growth than previously forecast.
What vertical markets or industries does your company serve?
26.7% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% Other Agriculture Construction Packaged Goods Automotive Travel, Transportation & Hospitality
Media & Information Services Insurance Energy, Resources & Utilities
Manufacturing Telecom Education
Retail & Consumer Government
High Tech Banking & Financial Services Healthcare & Life Sciences Any Target Market
% of respondents 33.6% 23.3% 20.5% 17.1% 15.8% 12.3% 11.0% 11.0% 11.0% 9.6% 9.6% 7.5% 6.8% 4.8% 2.7% 2.1% 0.1%
The Software Development Environment
The survey asked a series of questions to understand the context of software development in 2013, from the perspective of priorities to most common and popular processes and tools.
Almost 83% of respondents cited improving infrastructure operations efficiency is among their top software development priorities. Looking ahead in this report, its important to note that only . % of respondents noted this is an area they need to improve the indication being this is an area that needs greater attention and importance within a given organization, but its not an area requiring greater domain knowledge or additional support.
Usability and user experience is something to note as approximately % of respondents indicated improvement in this is a top priority, while at the same time indicating elsewhere in this report its among the greatest area of needed improvement.
Big Data continues to rise as a priority within many organizations. Approximately 22% of respondents indicated Big Data was a top priority last year, increasing to 34.9% of respondents this year.
Its important to note that creating new technologies and products dropped from roughly 89% response last year to 63% response this year. Combining that with the emphasis placed on improving operational
What are your organization’s current
Top Software Development Priorities?
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Improving infrastructure operations efficiency
% of respondents 82.9% 63.0% 61.0% 48.6% 44.5% 43.8% 43.8% 34.9% 34.9% 34.2% 3.4% 30.8% 27.4% 26.7% 13.7% 11.6% Creating and/or Integrating New Technologies
Improving Usability / User Experience
Software Maintenance and Support
Dashboards, Analytics, Business Intelligence
Migrating to Mobile Platforms
Improving Application / System Performance
Big Data
Reducing Operational Costs / Expenses
Information Security and Compliance
Moving to the Cloud
Security
Improving infrastructure operations efficiency
Operational Intelligence
Assuring data integrity and availability using public clouds
The Software Development Environment
When asked which software development area a respondents organization most needed to improve, survey results were consistent dating back to 2010. Priorities remain improving quality and user
experience. As noted in previous year reports, this is often a sign of a rapidly growing and competitive marketplace.
Similar to previous years surveys, need for improvement in software architecture remained low, as did maintenance and support, security, and compliance.
In what Software Developmental Area(s) does your
organization need the greatest improvement?
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
Other Compliance Privacy and Security Process Modeling
Maintenance and Support Coding / Construction / Integration
Customer / User Relationship Management User Training Project Management Implementation / Deployment Business Analysis System Architecture Requirements Definition
Project Scope and Estimation Quality Assurance / Quality Control
User Interface Design
% of respondents
efficiency, as well as an increase in response to cost reduction as a top priority from 23% in 2012 to 35% in 2013, there are indications of an emerging level of product and application maturity. This is an area to watch closely in future surveys.
Infrastructure Operations
40.2%
36.2%
33.1%
29.9%
29.9%
28.3%
23.6%
22.0%
21.3%
18.1%
15.0%
15.0%
14.2%
13.4%
9.4%
6.3%
2.9%
Combing the response to this question with others in the survey, a reasonable conclusion is there continues to be emphasis placed on customers and users of applications, supporting conclusions elsewhere in this report of a continued bullish outlook for software development and the growth of new marketing initiatives.
As noted earlier in this report, an item to watch is the relationship between the need for user experience improvements and 55% of respondents citing improvement of user experience among their top priorities. This too may be a sign of market maturity as applications move from early-adopter to mass market.
When asked about the software product and application development platform used at a respondents company, nearly 70% responded Internet/Web, slightly up from last years response of 63%.
SaaS/Cloud and Enterprise Applications continued to rank high as well. This is little changed when compared to 2010 and 2011 data.
Mobile/Handheld significantly increased in response from 42% in last years survey to 56.2% this year. This continues the trend noted last year of strong and growing support for mobile/handheld devices.
What is your company's software product/application
development platform?
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% Other Embedded Desktop Applications Mobile / Handheld Enterprise Applications SaaS / Cloud Internet / Web % of respondents69.9%
56.8%
56.2%
50.7%
37.0%
10.3%
3.4%
The Software Development Environment
Desktop Applications remained notably lower previous years, from 49% response in 2011 to 37% in 2012, and 37% in 2013.
Once again, Embedded ranked lowest.
Clearly, the trend toward Internet applications and services used in mobile and handheld environments is continuing to grow.
Looking further into the software development environment, we surveyed which specific development methodologies or models are most popular and in use.
Agile continued its dominance as the software development methodology of choice, increasing its use from 57% in 2011 to nearly 67% in 2013. While thats slightly down from 70% reported use in the 2012 survey, its clear Agile is the favored methodology.
Iterative fell in support from second to third in this years survey, narrowly behind Waterfall with a little over 9% support, slightly up from its 7% third place ranking last year.
There are no significant differences when compared to previous year data, suggesting further stability in software development methodologies and models.
What is your preferred Software Development
Agile
Waterfall Process Test Driven Development Iterative RAD RUP V-Model Other
methodology/model?
4.8%
4.1%
9.6%
0.7%
1.4%
1.4%
2.7%
8.2%
67.1%
In terms of which programming languages, programming environments, and frameworks were most preferred, respondents again showed strong support for SQL and HTML.
The C-family surveyed the same as in 2012, establishing a level of support well below the top response it earned in the 2011 survey of 61%.
For great portions of the survey in this area, results from 2012 and 2013 remained consistent, with two notable exceptions, Microsoft.NET and JAVA.
Microsoft.NET support fell from last years top spot, lowering its support from 56% to 45.5% of respondents. Conversely, JAVA leapt to the top spot, from 45% response in 2012 to 55.9% response in 2013. This is likely due to an associated increase in support of mobile and applications and services.
What are your organization’s preferred development
languages/environments/frameworks?
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% % of respondents 55.9% 53.1% 50.3% 46.9% 45.5% 43.4% 36.6% 32.4% 18.6% 13.8% 11.0% 8.3% 3.4% 3.4% 2.1% 1.4% 1.4% 1.4% 1.4% 1.4% 1.4% 1.4% 6.2% Java Script Ruby/Ruby Rails Perl PaaS Bash PL/SQL node.js Apex Magic XPA PowerBuilder Objective C R Scala Other JAVA SQL HTML C, C++, C# Microsoft .NET XML AJAX PHP PythonThird Party Interaction and Resources
Third Party Interaction and Resources
Respondents were surveyed on how much of their software development is performed in-house versus external personnel and resources, ranging from consulting services to formal outsourcing.
Responding to the question of the use of outsourcing, only 38.3% indicated they handle all of their software development in-house. This is significantly less than the 47% of respondents who surveyed in 2012, reversing the trend noted in 2011. This means nearly two-thirds of all organizations now engage in outsourcing at one level or another, notably up from approximately one-half in 2012.
We noted last year this is an area to watch as organizations forecast growth and the economy improves. Our 2012 outlook appears to have been correct in forecasting an increase in outsourcing as businesses seek ways to move faster and more cost effectively in given markets.
This continues to be an area of software development to watch. Assuming the global economy continues to improve, business outlook remains bullish, and interest in reducing costs rise as
application and technology cycles mature, we may see more interest and participation in outsourcing as part of a strategic business model.
Approximately what percentage of your organization’s
software development is done in-house versus Outsourced
to a third party software development organization?
100% in-house > 90% in-house, < 10% Outsourced > 75% in-house, < 25% Outsourced 50% in-house, 50% Outsourced < 25% in-house, > 75% Outsourced 100% Outsourced
27,7%
10,6%
38,3%
16,3%
2,8%
4,3%
Respondents who answered positively to outsourcing were further asked about their outsourcing model whether their third-party partners were onshore or offshore, whether they used one vendor or multiple vendors, or any of the combinations thereof.
Results from this years survey indicate a swing back to a more balanced approach to outsourcing, similar to data collected in the 2010 and 2011 surveys. Thirty-five percent of 2013 survey respondents who engage in outsourcing indicate they do so with a combination of onshore and offshore partners. This is a notable increase from approximately 24% who answered the same in 2012, whereby
respondents then signaled a move to a less balanced approach to outsourcing with fewer companies engaged with a combination of onshore and offshore relationships.
This years survey move to a more balanced approach to outsourcing, a combination of onshore and offshore relationships, is led by a move to increase onshore partnerships. Respondents indicate they increased onshore outsourcing, from 29% in 2012 to 34% in 2013, while decreasing their level of offshore support from 38% in 2011 to 30% in 2013. The result is a near balanced response between organizations that either exclusively leverage onshore, offshore, or a combination of onshore and offshore solutions.
Respondents continued the trend noted in 2011 of favoring single-source relationships, however, the move to both onshore and offshore outsourcing reduced single source partnerships from 51% in 2012 to 39% in 2013.
As noted in previous years surveys, a bias toward single-source may indicate a trend valuing fewer, more deeply involved business relationships.
If you currently use Outsourced software development services,
or have used them in the past, or are considering using them in the future,
your outsourcing model is:
Both onshore and offshore Offshore, Multi-Source Offshore, Single-Source Onshore, Multi-Source Onshore, Single-Source
35.4%
20.7%
18.3%
13.4%
12.2%
Third Party Interaction and Resources
Continuing with those organizations that utilize offshore outsourcing vendors, India remains the top destination by a wide margin, with 74.1% of respondents who offshore doing so with India vendors. This data is effectively the same as surveyed in 2012, 2011, and 2010.
As in previous survey reports, Ukraine, Eastern Europe, and Russia remain strongly supported as offshore partners. Its worth noting however, Other Eastern Europe lost support, down from 21% response in 2012 to 9.3% in 2013.
Mexico, Brazil and Latin America remained steady in their support, as compared to last years survey, slightly down from a peak of 17% reported in 2011.
Something to note in this years survey is Southeast Asia offshoring returned to its 2011 level of support, considerably up from 5.3% surveyed in 2012.
If you use Outsourced and Offshore software development services,
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
% of respondents
where are their development centers located?
74.1% 13.0% 11.1% 11.1% 11.1% 9.3% 5.6% 5.6% 3.7% 3.7% 3.7% 3.7% India
Other Southeast Asia / Pacific
Latin America / Mexico / Brazil
Russia
Ukraine
Other Eastern Europe
Romania Australia South Africa Ireland Canada Other
SaaS/Cloud Applications
With increasing consumer interest in SaaS/Cloud applications, we asked respondents a number of questions regarding their current SaaS/Cloud activities.
Continuing a shift noted in last years report, a clear majority of respondents report they are in a
post-definition stage of their SaaS/Cloud developments, indicating maturity in SaaS/Cloud applications as compared to 2011 data. Similar to 2012 survey data, only 17% of 2013 respondents reported
their current efforts are centered on defining their SaaS/Cloud strategy, as opposed to 26% reported in 2011.
The 2013 survey response is very similar to 2012 in that its clear the greater number of respondents have moved beyond defining their strategy to implementing and supporting their strategy. This continues a shift noted last year when compared to 2011 respondents, who were fairly balanced between defining, developing, and supporting their respective SaaS/Cloud applications.
At what stage is your company in developing
SaaS/Cloud applications?
Defining SaaS/Cloud strategy
Developing and implementing SaaS/Cloud applications
Maintaining and supporting SaaS/Cloud applications
Selecting application development platform and approach
Evaluating alternatives for IaaS
41.5%
34.9%
17.0%
SaaS/Cloud Applications
We noted in last years report an area to watch is the move from SaaS/Cloud strategy to implementation and associated support. This is something that appears to be an emerging trend as this years
respondents indicate the SaaS/Cloud market is maturing.
User Experience increased to the top response, up from 26% in 2011 to 34.3% in 2013, while reports of architecture challenges fell from 30% in 2012 to 23.8% in 2013. Combining these survey responses with an increased interest in QA/QC (16% in 2012 and 23.8% in 2013) it appears challenges are shifting to supporting users and their experience as opposed to developing applications and services.
Security remains among the top responses with 33.3% of respondents claiming challenges in this area. Thats consistent with 2012 data, where 33% of respondents made the same claim.
Overall, responses remain fairly balanced with a shift toward user experience and quality. This is an area to watch in future surveys.
What elements within a SaaS/Cloud project or application
does your company find most challenging?
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% % of respondents 34.3% 33.3% 27.6% 27.6% 23.8% 23.8% 2.9% User Experience Security Defining tangible benefits and Return on Investment Operation and Support Architecture QA/QC Other
Looking deeper into the concern for security, repondents showed a broad and fairly balanced concern. This isnt surprising.
As mobility and SaaS/Cloud applications proliferate, as well as changes in user habits and behaviors, security grows as a concern at all levels of development: strategy, implementation, and support.
SaaS/Cloud and .
In what security area(s) does your organization
need the greatest improvement?
46.9%
37.0%
33.3%
33.3%
1.2%
Application Security Information SecurityBusiness Infrastructure Security Defining Security strategy Other
SaaS/Cloud Applications
Adding software development resources was again identified as the greatest need of assistance to respondent organizations involved in SaaS/Cloud application development there were no significant changes in response between the 2011, 2012, and 2013 surveys.
With 40% response, assistance for developing strategies reversed course from last years response of 33% to now better compare to 2011s response of 37%.
Assessing, recommending, and finding the right solutions for customers increased slightly from 2012 response of 33% to 38.6% in 2013. Something to note is the 2013 response indicates a growing trend in this area as 2011 response was only 27%. As we noted in last years report, this is another piece of supporting data the mass market continues to exit the strategy stage, entering the active
implementation stage of development.
A reasonable conclusion is that greater expertise is desired to help organizations make strategic decisions regarding development strategies an area where outsourcing is commonly sought. This is a trend to watch in future surveys.
Of the following stages of SaaS/Cloud software development,
where do you feel your company could use the most assistance?
51.4%
40.0%
38.6%
4.3%
Adding software development SaaS/Cloud resources Developing SaaS/Cloud strategies Assessing, recommending and finding the right solutions for your customers Other
Mobile Applications
As with increasing consumer interest in SaaS/Cloud applications, we asked respondents a number of questions regarding their mobility plans and activities.
Asked about their stage of development relative mobile applications, there is a shift from the near balance between the three major stages reported from last years survey. This years survey shows less work in the defining mobility strategy, as compared to last year (38% in 2012 and 31.3% in 2013), while more companies are engaged in developing and implementing mobile applications (38% in 2012 and 47.8% in 2013). This shift is closely aligned with 2011 survey data which reported an identical percentage of respondents engaged in the developing and implementation stage of mobile applications.
We hypothesized last years survey may indicate a growing number of new entrants, hence the stable number of respondents in the strategy stage, while early adopters are releasing solutions into the marketplace and entering the support stage. Continuing on that line of thought, were seeing last years new entrants entering implementation, reducing the level around strategy.
Something to watch in future surveys is if the level of response to defining strategy further lessens, while response to maintaining and supporting increase. Both would be a sign of market maturity. As with SaaS/Cloud computing, this continues to be an area of software development exciting to watch in subsequent surveys as the number of new entrants increases, business models evolve, and applications are released in consumer markets.
At what stage is your company in developing
Mobile applications?
Defining Mobility strategy
Developing and implementing Mobile applications
Maintaining and supporting Mobile applications
47.8%
31.3%
40.2%
Mobile Applications
On the surface, response to the question of the most challenging issue facing mobile application development changed little in comparison to 2011 and 2012 data. The priority and relative relationship of response did not significantly change between the 2011, 2012, and 2013 surveys.
Concern for connecting to legacy enterprise systems remains stable at 30.1% of respondents, effectively equal to 2011 and 2012 response. The same tracks on all response areas for 2011, 2012, and 2013 surveys.
With one exception hen you look deeper into the survey, you see defining tangible benefits and return on investment is a growing concern, up from 30% of respondents in 2012 to 37.2% in 2013. This is a sign of more market activity and competition. As more applications and services compete in markets of buyers, there is an increasing need to articulate benefits and return on investment as purchase decisions are made.
What elements within a mobile project does your company
find most challenging?
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Other Mobile UX Mobile Security Connecting to Legacy Enterprise Systems Solution Architecture Defining Tangible Benefits and Return on
Investment % of respondents
37.2%
31.9%
30.1%
25.7%
23.0%
3.5%
Mobile application implementation was again the top response to the question of the greatest need for mobility strategy assistance. This response is similar to last years 59%, again notably higher than reported in near 50% response reported in 2011.
Roadmap design assistance is interesting in that it surveyed an increased response from approximately 40% in 2012 to 45.9% in 2013. This is similar to the 2012 response of 45%.
The number of respondents identifying business process strategy increased markedly from
approximately 16% in 2012 to 32.4% in 2013. This is a substantial increase when compared to data dating back to the 2011 survey. This may indicate changing user habits and application uses, requiring more thought on how to best support business processes in mobility environments.
Respondents were given the opportunity to choose more than one answer.
Of the following stages of Mobility Strategy, where do you feel
your company could use the most assistance?
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% Mobility Roadmap Design Biz Process Mobilization Mobile Applications Implementation Other % o f re sp o n d e n ts 45.9% 32.4% 54.1% 2.7%
Business Intelligence
Business Intelligence
The 2013 survey again questioned information regarding a respondents position on Business Intelligence, Analytics, and Big Data applications.
When asked at what stage their company is in regarding the development of Business Intelligence (BI) solutions, the greatest number of respondents (41.7%) reported their company is developing and implementing BI, Analytics, and Big Data solutions. This is quite different from last years survey when the top response was maintaining and supporting said solutions. Likewise, there is an increase in response to defining BI, Analytics, and Big Data, from 22.7% in 2011 to 30.2% in 2013.
What this data may suggest is more new entrants are engaged in developing BI, Analytics, and Big Data applications. If this suggestion holds true we should see future increases in maintaining and supporting such applications.
This in another item to watch in future surveys.
At what stage is your company in developing Business Intelligence (BI),
Analytics and Big Data applications?
Defining BI, Analytics and Big Data strategy
Developing and implementing BI, Analytics and Big Data applications
Maintaining and supporting BI, Analytics and Big Data applications
41.7%
30.2%
28.1%
Continuing with the same line of question regarding the respondent companys stage in BI application development, we asked which area of development was most in need of assistance roadmap design, implementation or another area of support.
Similar to responses collected in 2012, 2013 respondents indicate a near even split in the need for design and implementation assistance. There is no significant change in response from 2012 to 2013 surveys.
Of the following stages of BI, Analytics and Big Data Strategy,
where do you feel your company could use the most assistance?
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
BI, Analytics and Big Data Roadmap Design
BI, Analytics and Big Data Applications Implementation % o f re sp o nd e nt s
59.1%
60.6%
Future Business Outlook
Future Business Outlook
The last part of our survey asked respondents a number of questions about the outlook on their business in terms of organizational evolution and financial investments in software development.
Over half (54%) of all respondents indicated they plan to add permanent staff in the second half of 2013 and 2014. This matches the same bullish outlook surveyed in 2010, 2011, and 2012.
Only 2.2% of respondents believe they will reduce headcount in the coming months and year.
Something to note in this years survey is more respondents indicate they expect to add temporary headcount than reported in last years survey 8.9% in 2012 and 14.4% in 2013.
Combined with other survey data indicating increased budgets and software development activities, there continues to be a bullish outlook on the software development business.
This is the third year in a row we have been able to report the expectation of a favorable business outlook.
For the remainder of 2013 and during 2014,
do you anticipate your software development organization will be:
0% 20% 40% 60%
Reducing headcount Adding temporary headcount (part-time or fixed
project work)
Headcount remaining roughly the same Adding permanent headcount (hiring )
% of respondents
54.0%
29.5%
14.4%
Looking at 2013 software development budgets, all categories of spending remained consistent when compared to 2010, 2011, and 2012 survey responses.
There are no notable changes projected in 2013. This may suggest the expectation of continued market stability and a predictable economy.
What is your approximate software development budget for 2013?
Less than $500,000 Between $500,000 and $1,000,000 Between $1,000,000 and $5,000,000 Between $5,000,000 and $10,000,000 Between $10,000,000 and $50,000,000 Greater than $50,000,000
28,0%
10,2%
32,2%
18,6%
5,1%
5,9%
Future Business Outlook
Considering projected budgets, we asked respondents to characterize their 2013 budget as compared to 2012. Results from this years survey remain bullish, but a bit less so than reported in previous years.
Last year a staggering 90% of respondents indicated their software development budgets would increase in 2012. This year 78.5% indicated the same.
While a clear majority of respondents signaled growing 2013 budgets, its important to note this drop in support and watch budget forecasts in subsequent surveys.
Of the budget growth response, its evenly split between those forecasting less than 10% budget growth (39.7%) and those forecasting greater than 10% growth (38.8%).
Something to note this year and consider in future years surveys is the statistically significant increase in respondents forecasting shrinking budgets 9.4% in 2012 and 21.5% in 2013. While the
overwhelming majority of respondents forecast budget growth, this increase in forecast shrinking budgets cant be ignored and results in a less bullish outlook for future spending that indicated in previous reports.
Given the greatest represented persona among survey respondents is executive management with fiscal responsibilities, this data and associated conclusions are highly significant.
Is your 2013 software development budget…
Greater than it was for 2012 by less than 10% Greater than it was for 2012 by more than 10% Less than it was for 2012 by less than 10% Less than it was for 2012 by more than 10% 39.7%
38.8% 11.2% 10.3%
Last, we surveyed respondents on their plans to outsource IT functions in the remainder of 2013 and 2014. Nearly half of the respondents (4 . %) indicated they had no plans to do so, but 4 . % indicated they will outsource and 7.7% were undecided either way.
Given expected growth in budgets, forecasted workforce stability, heightened interest in cost reduction, and defined areas of desired support cited earlier in this report, there should be a robust technology outsourcing market throughout 2014.
There is no previous year survey data to compare on this subject, but its one of the top areas to watch in future reports as this question serves as a concluding statement to many other areas of the survey.
For the remainder of 2013 and during 2014, do
you expect your company to outsource any IT functions?
Yes No Dont know
48.9%
43.4%
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