Between now and 2008, software product sales are forecast to rise by nearly 7% to EUR 125 bln in the US, by a good 5% to EUR 21 bln in Germany and by over 12% to EUR 4 bln in Eastern Europe. Global software sales during the same period are forecast to rise by 6% to EUR 270 bn, Deutsche Bank says.
The big, international software houses are currently expanding their offerings well beyond their original core activities. Strategies that span both the system software and application software segments are particularly attractive. Modularisation of the software enables a comprehensively integrated concept to be constructed. For manufacturing companies and modern service providers, the software houses are changing from being product vendors into providers of comprehensive solutions.