PricewaterhouseCoopers says the bursting of the dot-com bubble should not be mistaken for the end of e-business. In fact, it is just the beginning, according to a technology forecast released today.
The annual PricewaterhouseCoopers Technology Forecast 2002-2004, Volume 1 - "Navigating the Future of Software", says the continual evolution of enterprise applications and enabling software has not slowed with the economy.
This is despite the disappearance of many of the highly visible dot-com start-ups and the decline in the market value of the survivors.
It says the IT industry is going back to work and refocusing on building the tools and infrastructure needed to push e-business further into every facet of business activity and everyday life.
"Many companies felt the pain of the dot-com implosion, but the exuberance that marked the past few years left behind some very positive aspects that will help carve out the future of enterprise software," says Mike Katz, COO and MD of PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Technology Centre.
"The addition of inter-enterprise capabilities has been the major factor influencing the development of corporate applications during the past few years. And the future will see increasing sophistication of these capabilities as vendors release their next generation of e-business enabled applications, leading to significant changes in the software industry."
The report notes that unlike many other technology areas, forecasting the future of software is difficult to do with any degree of accuracy, as the software world is characterised by a low degree of certainty about the speed and direction of progress.
However, it says certain identifiable trends carried over from the dot-com boom will lend a sense of direction to an industry marked by creativity and innovation.
Ernst Maritz, PricewaterhouseCoopers` technology partner in SA, says that after the burst of the dot-com bubble, there was negative sentiment in SA towards IT investment and new technologies.
However, he believes that now is the right time to revise technology strategies and embrace those technologies that can add value to the business and shareholders.
The Technology Forecast`s discussion of changes underway in enterprise IT is divided into three major sections, each highlighting a different area of enterprise software: enterprise applications, commerce software and enabling technologies.
It also discusses trends that are expected to influence the future of software.
Volume 1: "Navigating the Future of Software" is the first of two Technology Forecast volumes to be issued this year. The second volume, scheduled for release in October, will focus on information technology infrastructure.
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