CA Southern Africa has revealed the results of a survey of over 1,200 IT leaders released by CA Technologies and conducted by industry analyst firm Freeform Dynamics. The survey confirms that mastering modern software development by building a ‘Modern Software Factory’ is at the heart of business success in the digital economy.
The new research, titled ‘Don’t Let an Outdated Software Strategy Hold You Back,’ shows just how significant the gaps are between the ‘Masters of the Modern Software Factory’ – the top 25% who embrace the key principles of agility, automation, insights and security – and everyone else across a range of measures from revenue and profit to executive leadership and risk-taking to adoption of modern software tools and approaches.
The ‘Masters’ are embracing and exploiting the digital world across key aspects of their organisations and out-performing others on key business indicators. When compared to the mainstream, the Masters delivered:
• 70% higher profit growth
• 50% higher revenue growth
Mastering the Modern Software Factory also offers a significant lead in:
Exploiting the digital world
• 53% of Master-level organisations say their leaders are exploiting new software-driven strategies versus 18% of mainstream companies.
• 50% of Masters say their executives provide the leadership needed to survive in the application economy versus 18% of mainstream companies.
Understanding customer needs and better aligning IT with the business
• 61% of the Masters reported that they understand what customers need and strive to deliver the best customer experience, versus 22% of mainstream company respondents.
• 52% of Masters are very effective at prioritising software development in line with business goals, versus 15% of mainstream companies.
Balancing risk with responsible security practices
• Over 43% of the Masters’ company culture support risk-taking, versus 17% of mainstream companies.
• 49% of Masters have senior management who understands the importance of not compromising software quality or security for time to market, versus 15% of mainstream companies.
Developing, delivering, managing and securing better quality software
• 53% of the Masters are very effective at delivering applications with improved quality and consistency versus 24% of mainstream companies.
• 52% of the Masters reported that their development processes are well documented and understood, versus 18% of mainstream companies.
“There’s a clear indication that those organisations that adopt modern software development practices such as embracing agile, increasing automation wherever possible, using machine learning and analytics to generate insights, and integrating security into the development process do a better job of driving growth,” says Andrea Lodolo, Chief Technology Officer, CA Southern Africa. “If you don’t have a modern approach to software, along with the factory needed to deliver on your vision, you will be left behind in a world where the masters are the winners,” he added.
The results also show just how far organisations still need to go to have software processes that are flexible and can keep up with business demands:
• Only 16% and 18% say they have a high rate of richness and maturity in their software development tools for Agile and DevOps, respectively.
• Only 28% strongly agree that their software team was well equipped to deliver quality on a continuous basis.
• Only 25% strongly agree that they have robust internal processes to continuously test for security vulnerabilities.
• Just 32% believe IT to be very effective at garnering greater insight into customer needs to improve application performance and responsiveness.
The bottom line
“The reality is that the future of your business is in the hands of your developers and depends on how well you’ve organised and enabled them to seize growth opportunities for your company,” Lodolo concludes.
Survey methodology
The global online survey of 1,279 senior IT and business executives was sponsored by CA Technologies and conducted by industry analyst firm Freeform Dynamics’ Intelligence Unit in July 2017. It was augmented by in-depth telephone interviews with key industry executives. For full survey methodology details, see the report ‘Don’t Let an Outdated Software Strategy Hold You Back‘.
View the infographic here.
