Spanish
A good 2014 is augured for the European software industry which is increasing revenue and investments for next year. This is a growth sector and one of the trump cards for economic upturn in the continent, according to the 8th edition of the Truffle 100 Europe report. This prestigious annual index of the most important European companies is based on indicators like revenue, reinvestment or capital allocated to R&D.
“Software has become a key enabling technology underlying all economic sectors and activities. (…) Software services and applications are a major contributor to competitiveness: it greatly improves operations and services, and it also allows for the creation of new businesses and activities that would not exist without it,” said Neeli Kroes, European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda.
Some 93% of European companies in the report have more budgeted for 2014 than for the previous year, and half of them plan to increase R&D investment in the next period along the lines of 2013 where 20% of capital was invested in this area. They also increased the R&D headcount by 6%.
For Carlos Pardo, CEO of Meta4 listed among the top 100 by Truffle, “The data on growth in the software industry in Europe extracted from the report are an excellent indicator for all companies in the sector and highlights the importance of technology as the key to driving global economic growth. As a Spanish technology company, it is an honor to contribute to this recovery and of course to be part of this international index.”
In this context, cloud computing is the key technology. All investments point to the cloud for a change that isn’t just technical but also conceptual: the cloud is radically modifying technology engagement and uptake among people within organizations through a highly accessible and flexible internet-based technology.
“These new paradigms for the software user experience (cloud, big data and social applications) are not only changing the look and feel of enterprise software, but are enabling new business models and business processes inside and between organizations,” said Bo Lykkegaard, Research Director, European Enterprise Applications at IDC,. He also affirmed “Organizations are starting to embrace the idea of subscription-based business solutions delivered over the Internet.”
The last European Council meeting established that cloud computing was an “important enabler for productivity and better services” and that the 2020 Digital Agenda for the European Union should consider a plan for cloud uptake across all sectors of the economy (European Cloud Computing Strategy).
