Software is a strategic capability, transforming the way businesses design their products and services, function, compete, and provide value to their customers.
In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, every company must become a software company, regardless of its industry or sector. A significant 62 percent of organizations concur that software offers them a competitive advantage. Nearly 60 percent of organizations agree that software-driven transformation is now a board-level topic.
To stay competitive, organizations are accelerating their investments in software transformation:
Our research shows that, on average, nearly 18 percent of R&D budgets are spent on software-driven transformation. Moreover, 60 percent say their investment level is likely to increase by 2025 (by 9 percent from current levels, on average).
Generative AI will accelerate software transformation:
Our research shows that 72 percent of organizations will use Generative AI to augment software engineering in the next 12 months. Moreover, Generative AI will assist in writing 1 among every 5 lines of code in the coming 12 months.
Successful transformation has immense revenue potential – quadrupling by 2030:
Organizations expect software-based revenue as a share of total revenue to grow to nearly 30 percent (in FY 2030) from 7 percent (in FY 2022). Leading organizations are already enjoying benefits from software-driven transformation, from faster R&D to cost reduction and improved customer experience.
To realize a successful transformation, organizations should follow a comprehensive approach based on six pillars:
1.Strategize: Organizations need to align their software investment with their overall strategy to assess how the former can enhance their products and services; deliver value to their customers; and bolster their competitive positioning. Additionally, demonstrating a tangible ROI is crucial to securing management buy-in.
2. Design: Today, only one in three (34 percent) organizations uses customer insights to adapt their software product and services design. A focus
on adaptive, human-centric design, which can be adjusted in response to customer feedback, ensures relevance and competitiveness and promotes ongoing improvement. An architectural framework that focuses on standardization, modularity, and scalability is also essential. Organizations should integrate sustainability into software-design decisions to optimize data structures.
3.Collaborate: To transform into a true software organization, they must identify key software frontiers where partner support is required; assess existing suppliers and partners; and nurture long-term strategic partnerships with a range of ecosystem players. Collaborating with strategic partners can introduce the expertise and agility required to capitalize on the benefits of software-driven transformation. Internally, fostering a software-centric and collaborative culture is key.
4. Strengthen: Organizations also need to establish a comprehensive strategy to acquire critical skills related to software engineering, cloud and data, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence (AI). Organizations expect 39 percent of their workforce to be in software-based domains within the next three years. To merge the industry skills with the new software skills, they need to develop centers of excellence capable of supporting intensive training programs.
5.Organize: Organizations should focus on building a model around software products and services. This will involve a combination of strong autonomous teams;
the model should be split by production or service perimeter; driven by client satisfaction; and apply agile and lean management principles, such as transparency, empowerment, collaboration, iterative delivery, and experimentation.
6. Streamline: Integrating agility with standardized
software factories, which endorse continuous integration and the utilization of standardized application programming interfaces (APIs) and micro-services enhances efficiency and value realization. As organizations integrate Generative AI into their software journeys, it is imperative to develop a clear vision, strategy, and roadmap for prioritizing use cases. Additionally, there is a requirement to bolster testing capabilities and establish guardrails to ensure responsible and effective usage of Generative AI in software engineering.