[London – 1 November 2016] Against a background of a stagnant IT market and declining hardware sales, software and solution sales remain buoyant and are currently keeping the European IT industry afloat. New research by IT Europa reveals that in the last year, Europe’s top 500 Solution VARs have increased revenues by 7%. The results support recent findings from Gartner which forecast that worldwide spending on software will increase 6.0% in 2016 against a backdrop of an overall decline in global IT spending of -0.3% and with spending on devices declining -7.5%.
IT Europa’s latest database report, Solutions VARs in Europe – the Top 500, which is published today, provides detailed profiles of Europe’s top 500 Solution VARs which last year racked up combined revenues of 34.11 billion ($38.15 billion). In terms of revenue increases across geographic markets, the best performers include: Lithuania (47.8%), Slovakia (37.6%), Slovenia (23.9%), Belarus (23.1%), Turkey (17.6%), Russia (14.8%), Serbia (13.5%) and Croatia (12.6%). Amongst the largest markets, Germany and France performed strongest with 11.3% and 8.0% growth respectively. The UK showed more modest growth at 1.2%, while Spain showed another slight fall of -1.8%.
The report shows strong demand for software and solutions across all major verticals with the greatest focus amongst major VARs on the Public Sector (62.8%), Banking/Finance (55.6%), Retail (55.6%) and Healthcare (41.4%). In terms of types of software the hottest sectors were networking/security software (79.2%), followed by CRM software (45.8%), ERP software (45%) and internet software (45%). Another notable development is the surge in the proportion of Solution VARs which offer managed service-based solutions which has now reached 77%, an increase of more than 40% over the last 2 years.
“With continued downward pressures on hardware sales and even infrastructure technologies becoming commoditised, software and solutions sales represent a ray of hope for the European IT sector,” says Alan Norman, Managing Director, IT Europa. “The demand for software and solutions is continuing to rise and Solution VARs, ISVs and increasingly Managed Service Providers will all play a major role in how these are developed and delivered in the face of fast evolving customer demands.”
The “Solution VARs in Europe – The Top 500” database report spans 34 countries and represents the most detailed view available of this key market sector. It has been compiled from interviews by IT Europa’s own research team. The company profiles include sales breakdowns by company activity, which markets a company operates in, and detailed information on staff numbers and development plans, along with contact details for the top executives of each company. The report is available from IT Europa (www.iteuropa.com) costing from £2,350. Data can also be extracted and supplied by country, region or on a bespoke basis.
The factors behind the continued growth in software and solutions, how the industry is set to evolve and where the best future opportunities lie, will be addressed at next year’s European Software & Solutions Summit 2017 – Europe’s leading event for ISVs and Solution Providers. Now in its 10th year, the event will bring Europe–s leading software and solution providers together with major vendors and service providers with the goal of developing business relationships to generate future growth. The European Software & Solutions Summit 2017 will take place at the Royal Garden Hotel, London, on 30 March 2017. Further details can be viewed at www.eusss.com
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