Austin, Texas, USA, December 20, 2024
Futurum Intelligence Survey of 895 Tech Decision Makers and Influencers Say the Better Integrations and ROI Demonstrations from Vendors Are Key to Driving More Confidence in Allocating Budget to Software Purchases
Nearly three-quarters (74.9%) of technology professionals say that offering better integrations with third-party software applications will help make them more confident in allocating budget to enterprise applications, according to a survey of 895 technology decision makers and influencers conducted by Futurum Intelligence. Additionally, two-thirds (66%) of respondents cited clearer demonstrations of how a particular software application can provide ROI, which would also help inspire confidence in allocating funds earmarked for software purchasing.
“While features and functions, including generative AI and user-friendly interfaces, are quickly becoming table stakes for vendors, it’s clear that the ability to play nicely with other applications within the enterprise technology stack remains extremely important to technology decision-makers,” said Keith Kirkpatrick, Research Director, Enterprise Applications with The Futurum Group. “Furthermore, vendors that are able to clearly communicate how a particular application or platform can deliver a return on investment (ROI) will also help drive more confidence around allocating budget to purchasing.”
Still, more traditional factors, such as the robustness of support offerings (63.7%) and costs associated with the purchase and use of the software (48.2%), cannot be ignored, as buyers generally weigh a number of factors when deciding to allocate budget to software purchasing (see Figure 1.)
Figure 1: Application Confidence Drivers
Integration Breadth and Quality Are Important in Multi-Vendor Environments
Most organizations utilize several different applications, according to the survey, with 31.1% of respondents indicating they used between 3-5 different applications, and 29.6% indicating they used between 6-10 applications. More than one-fifth (22.1%) of respondents said they used more than 11 applications. Moreover, 56.1% of respondents said their application technology stack consisted of a combination of applications developed in-house, while 43.9% said that they mostly purchased applications.
Furthermore, 62.2% of respondents said that they utilize an application platform supported by additional point solutions, and 24.6% indicated that they use a best-of-breed approach to selecting software, resulting in a combination of point solutions. Just 13.2% of respondents said they solely use a single vendor-supplied platform.
As a result, most organizations have a truly heterogeneous technology stack that incorporates a mix of home-grown and purchased applications. It is no surprise that both the breadth and quality of integrations is a key driver in driving customer confidence.
“Despite many vendors’ desire to have their customers migrate all of their software needs to a single platform, the reality is that vendors must support deep integrations with even their top competitors in order to attract attention and spend from customers,” Kirkpatrick said. “Vendors that play nicely with others ultimately will be well positioned to thrive in a market where automated AI agents that work across applications and platforms are likely to reinvent how work is done within and between enterprises.”
About Futurum Intelligence for Market Leaders
Futurum Intelligence’s Enterprise Application IQ service provides actionable insight from analysts, reports, and interactive visualization datasets, helping leaders drive their organizations through transformation and business growth. Additional information is available here.
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