B2B applications – silent player of the great market
We can learn quite a bit about the application market in the context of “business to clients” market relationships, although we don’t hear much about business applications. Mobile Trends finds the answer why this is so, which we will hear in the latest podcast with Tomasz Witt. – Where there is a digital transformation, there is also mobile most often, while when it comes to the “marketability” of this market, it is a market that prefers silence – says the CEO of Norbsoft during a podcast broadcast.
According to research by PMR Market Expert already in 2017, the revenues from business applications amounted to 2.2 billion PLN and were by far the largest segment of the software market in Poland. This value was then responsible for one third of its value. The positive situation of the B2B application sector was then influenced by the m.in. Positive economic situation, progressive computerization of companies and favorable changes in economic legislation. ERP type applications were the most important in the market, followed by BI and finally CRM.
Business applications are the future of almost every market, which is confirmed by the words of Rafał Orawski – Advanced software is key to achieving competitive advantage. It allows to integrate a number of business areas of the company, automates and accelerates many operations. In a nutshell, – it is the engine of business, providing data and tools necessary to operate in the digital economy – explains – After the first wave of digital transformation, comes another one. On this second wave are companies that are replacing or expanding a system implemented a few or even a dozen years ago. – adds President of BPSC. (business.straight to.pl)
In the context of the global market, in 2019 the value of the business software market was equal to 225 billion dollars. Compared to 2018, this was an increase of as much as 7.5 percent. As we read on the pillarsofbusiness website.en the last years were very good for software providers. IDC analysts conclude that this will continue until the mid-2020s, where the market will grow at a rate of ca. 3.4 percent. y/y. According to the same calculations, in 2024 providers of IT systems such as m.in. ERP, CRM, or MES could earn just under $266 billion, which is $44 billion higher than the 2019 figure.
Business likes silence!
The investment attractiveness of this market and long-term growth prospects are astonishing when we understand the financial opportunities it brings, but even more surprising is the fact how little we talk about it in the public space. The debate centers around reports dedicated to consumer apps and the statistics on downloads and revenue that these generate, such as reports from AppAnnie and Sensor Tower.
Contrary to appearances, it is completely understandable and markets as a rule do not approve of hype in relation to their sources of income – Most companies do not want to give away their competitive advantage to other entities and they do not want to boast about their product, and even when they do, they want to say as little about it as possible. They don’t necessarily want to reveal how it works, what its secrets are, how they have simplified processes and how much savings have been made on it. All this makes the company have some competitive advantage and she does not want to share it so willingly – says Tomasz Witt, CEO at Norbsoft and developer of mobile solutions.
Most of the cooperation which is concluded between the creators of such software and companies which want to use them is based on confidentiality, i.e. the so called “confidentiality agreement”. NDA, which categorically forbids to speak about the implemented solution more than the company’s main department responsible for communication and representation. This is obviously beneficial for the company in terms of keeping the secrets of competitive advantage with them, but this is not quite the case for the team that creates such tools. – Our fate as a developer of these applications is a bit more difficult. We can’t brag about awards or some big data because these companies mostly don’t want to share it and they are fine as it is, which is with us – working with them quietly developing their applications in peace, without publicity – explains Norbsoft’s CEO.
Developers b2b – incomplete win
As we can see, this approach provides developers with favorable earnings and fruitful, long-term cooperation, but limits their opportunities to promote their own brand, which consequently does not allow them to use the full potential in the possibility of acquiring new customers. Of course, there are sites where companies can show their case studies, portfolios and other offers or respond to ads that are well known to the IT community. Portals like behance.net or clutch.which is standard for b2b entities, but for those interested we can still list upwork.com, toptal.com, crossover.com/jobs, freelancer.com, stackoverflow.com, outsources.pl and oferia.en.
However, developers operating in this area will not run out of customers for many years to come, especially when there are many players using such systems on the market, especially those involved in acquiring customers, selling and servicing their products. – Wherever there is a process that has as its actors – participants who do not use their desks or computers all the time, then such an application is a useful tool because it provides constant contact with the base or provides the company with feedback from such a person. And this can be a number of different applications, that is, applications that support sales, support service technicians, support salespeople, support hostesses collecting data, providing various types of information necessary for the work, providing instructions or instructional videos, or otherwise a whole range of information that should be available here and now, without having to run a computer or make a phone call to the company – adds Tomasz Witt.
We can also assume that thanks to the widely discussed digital transformation, which forces entities to adapt to mobile, even more employees will move to the mode of remote work, not only in companies where it was already known, but also in new industries, where company applications will only develop. Practically every company that knows its procedures is able to subject them to greater or lesser digitalization and automation.- If a company knows its processes, and every company practically knows its processes, then identifies those processes that need to be digitized, [and there are more and more of them] then that is the starting point. At the moment when a given process is to be digitalized, you need to look at whether this digitalization process should be done with the use of applications, whether web-based or installable on computers – because, for example, the participants of this process do not leave their devices at all, and they work in an office, and this computer is the main tool of their work, or, for example, in the process there are players who are cut off, detached from the workplace and need to move around, and at the same time they should have access – tells Witt in our podcast.
Podcast-wise!
B2B application market is an interesting issue, which was discussed by Tomasz Witt with Robert Rachwal during the podcast Mobile Trends Podcast, available here.
Mobile Trends will be expanding the podcast area. Coming soon interviews with Artur Jabłoński or Artur Kurasinski, to which we warmly invite you!