More than half of UK companies have abandoned
therip-and-replaceapproach to software
buying and are exploring alternative ways to modernise their
systems in the face of thecredit crunch, according to an
industry survey.
The survey of 150 IT directors by infrastructure software
company Software AG found that although 52% planned to modernise
systems in the next three years, only 22% were planning to buy
packaged applications.
This represents a drop of 17% since the last survey, which was
held three years ago. Spending on developing applications in-house
is also expected to drop by 17%.
Jim Close, UK country manager at Software AG, said, "Years of
buying packaged systems or developing applications in-house have
led to a disparate IT landscape, which is slowing businesses
down."
The survey found that now one in four UK companies plans to
invest in a service-oriented architecture (SOA) in the next six
months, and one in five will invest in business process management
(BPM) to increase performance of existing systems.
"As industries face more challenges in a slowing economy, the
most successful companies will not just compete on products or
ideas they have, but on how effectively they can run key
operations," Close said.