According to Forester’s Global Software Industry Forecast 2022, the enterprise software market will grow by 12 per cent by the end of 2023. The report indicates that spending on commercial infrastructure and application software, the two categories that make up enterprise software, will exceed $400 billion by 2023.
The report found that software vendors are raising prices and enjoying robust margins, with average gross margins of 70 per cent. Robust margins allow software vendors to protect margins in difficult economic times and increase them when things turn around.
Front-office apps such as CRM and custom industry-specific applications are forecast to grow fastest. Cloud-based back-office software such as financial management applications and HCM for human resources management are also experiencing robust growth as companies replace legacy apps.
While infrastructure revenue is expected to grow by 12.6 per cent in 2022 and 2023, security software is expected to grow fastest in this segment at 15.4 per cent, followed by technology management software at 13.1 per cent. Database management software comes in third place at 12.8 per cent CAGR, as real-time analytics “are revolutionizing database management software,” according to the report.