Study finds that software getting more important

PTC has announced the findings of new research study Developing Software-Intensive Products. It shows that the majority of respondents significantly increased the amount of software, the importance of software and the innovation driven by software in their products over the last five years with nearly seventy five percent of the respondents planning to increase these efforts further over the next five years.

The survey uncovers specific reasons why companies are increasing the use of software in their products: three-quarters indicate they use software in their products to improve product capabilities, two-thirds say they are seeking ‘smarter’ and more innovative products, and one-half say they use software to tailor products to customers or markets. The top reasons companies are pursuing software-intensive products are competitive factors that drive the top line.

Jim Brown, president, Tech-Clarity commented “The biggest increases in both the amount of software and the level of innovation driven by that software were found in automotive and high-tech industries. Another interesting discovery was that medical device manufacturers have increased the ratio of software engineers more than others, and 92% of the respondents in that industry say they plan to further increase software in their products over the next five years.”

The survey also uncovered significant challenges and negative business impacts resulting from product complexity. For example, over one-half of the companies surveyed indicate they experience product quality issues when developing software-intensive products. In addition, survey respondents also reported delayed time to market, negative impacts of rework and high product development costs, and poor software development efficiency. These findings were consistent across all size manufacturers.

Through its findings, the survey identified that companies with the following characteristics reported fewer significant, negative impacts when engineering products that include electrical, mechanical and software components when they:

• Had a unified or integrated team structure to develop products with electrical, mechanical and software components
• Made use of systems modeling techniques to get systems architecture right at beginning of development
• Made use of combined PLM and product-centric ALM initiatives for an integrated solution approach to designing software-intensive products

Of course, PTC has a product (Integrity) that deals with the software systems lifecycle management, manages software system development processes and connects all software engineering artifacts, including requirements, models, code, and test, ensuring comprehensive lifecycle traceability.
The full report, Tech-Clarity Perspective: Developing Software-Intensive Products, can be found here and yes – it is free and does not require that you provide lots of personal information.

Thanks guys


Brian Bailey – keeping you covered

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