Over the last two years the UK business software market has changed considerably - 2 years ago there were nearly 2,000 software authors - today there are less than 600. Some business software authors sell their products directly but a large number sell their products through resellers. 2 years ago there were 3,500 resellers, today there are less than 1,000.
These changes have brought about a significant problem for companies looking for business software - there are fewer products available from fewer suppliers. The knock on effects are even more worrying - what happens if you buy software from a software author that subsequently closes down - or from a reseller that goes out of business?
Of the 600 software products available in the UK many are in maintenance-mode - the company now owning the product is no longer investing in its development. That company will continue to support the product - add some important functionality as government requirements change, but it will not develop the product any further.
Over the last 20 years we have seen the computing technology change from server-based systems - to networks - to Windows client-server - and now to online (Cloud) computing. Few software developers have kept up with these changes - very often its only new entrants that can effectively implement the new technologies - old legacy code rarely converts to modern technology.
Well that's the good news - so what's the bad news? The bad news is that there are very few software developers providing a total enterprise-wide solution. Most of the software developers are selling specialist applications that bolt-on to legacy systems. Document management, expense management, human resources and payroll, customer relations management are all modern niche software applications. Some will integrate directly with existing systems - but in the most part they are stand-alone.
So how does a responsible company find a software solution that will meet its requirements as well as be around for at least the next 5 years to enhance and support the product? It's not easy - however there is a process of systematically reviewing the products that are available and undertaking due-diligence process to find the most suitable product that will hopefully survive the market changes currently in operation.
It is for this reason that we have developed the UK's first software comparison web-site to enable companies to review the vast array of software packages available and compare their functionality against your system requirements. The web-site is www.softcomparison.com - it has all of the leading packages plus a wide variety of the specialist packages that are available in the UK today. Unlike many of its competitors, no customer registration required - you will not be contacted the next morning by opportunistic software sales people.