The Future Trend of the Information Software Industry?

What Is Information Software Industry?

The information industry is also known as the IT industry and the computer industry. It is the general term for all computer-related software and hardware industries. There are similar traditional industrial models of hardware manufacturing and the service industry of software writing and customer service. Many countries have also set the IT industry as a key development project. The characteristics of the IT industry are fast competition, short product life cycles, high requirements for talents, and high thresholds for invested capital. As the market changes, trends including information security, digital trust, digital avatars, and smart retail services can be observed from the information software industry.

Trends of Information Software Industry

• Trade War Raise Security Role: Affected by the China-US trade war, the distrust between the United States and China in information and communications products highlights Taiwan’s important role in the international information security industry, and creates new business opportunities in the information security industry. Bringing Taiwan's supply chain needs for information security protection such as chips, components, and production lines, it can use accumulated years of offensive and defensive experience to lock in key industry areas to develop information security protection technology.
• Blockchain Builds Digital Trust: The spread of false news and counterfeit content may cause brand crisis and market opportunities, and drive enterprises to pay more attention to digital trust. The decentralized and non-tamperable features of the blockchain can be used for asset protection and tracking, and are the foundation for establishing a digital trust enterprise. In the future, it will gradually spread from finance to medical, manufacturing, retail, and other industries.
• Digital Twins: For the manufacturing industry, when the Internet of Things, sensors, and industrial data are gradually put in place, digital twins are an indispensable part of moving towards smart manufacturing. The digital avatar grasps the true condition of the target object through the sensor. The company can accurately and quickly respond to various changes, improve the physical or system operation, strengthen product development capabilities, and gradually introduce it into high complexity, high risk, high downtime costs, and other fields in the future.
• Retail as Services: In the past, the core value of the retail industry was in-store space and sales channels. In the future, it will assist commodity companies to collect consumption data and convert the data into a decision-making basis. In addition to the hot spot analysis and consumption data analysis that have been developed for many years, the site selection, design, store staff training, new product market pre-test analysis, space design, logistics distribution, etc. are gradually being constructed to construct a complete smart retail service.
• Open Banking: With the consent of consumers, more financial data is bound to be opened. With API as the hub for data exchange, more banks or third-party operators can obtain consumer data to provide financial services. The future development trend will gradually move from Open Banking to Open Finance, with diversified and innovative financial services such as banking, insurance, investment, and lending.
• Rewards Ecosystem: After the popularization of mobile payment, it has gradually moved from simply accumulating user loyalty to a tool for corporate cooperation. Points are used as an important medium for companies to negotiate marketing cooperation and competing strategies to build a point economy and ecosystem.
• The Third Wave Startup: The ICT industry is currently in the second wave of network innovation. Leaders make good use of network effects and are platform players pursuing network dividends. In 2018 and 2019, many unicorns continued to be listed, mostly pursuing Lightning-expanded B2C platform. With the evolution of AIoT technology, the third wave of innovations will be led by innovations in vertical fields, such as smart healthcare, smart transportation, etc. B2B industry partners with expertise in the field will become the key to development.
• Corporate Startup Engagement: Under the trend of digital transformation, to accelerate the speed of innovation, companies actively seek to cooperate with startups, actively carry out external innovations, contact startups and seek cooperation targets through startup accelerators, and establish corporate venture capital investment and mergers and acquisitions of innovations, and turning external innovations into internal resources, will not only drive the growth and transformation of enterprises but also drive the rise of the accelerator industry.
• Subscription Economy: In recent years, subscription services have been favored by users, and various industries have begun to derive multiple types of subscription plans, from B2C to B2B, including food, clothing, housing, transportation, education, entertainment, and other fields. With the evolution of society, the business model has gradually shifted from a one-time purchase in the past to a subscription-based service.
• Digital Transformation: The wave of technology has brought about difficulties in digital transformation. Companies have begun to evaluate and gradually carry out digital transformation, which relatively tests the ability of manufacturers to transform. On the other hand, digital transformation has created new business opportunities for information software and service companies. The focus of development is to integrate software and hardware products and provide digital transformation consulting services.