Eval-Source, a consulting firm that provides enterprise software selection and strategic technology consulting services for organizations, has compiled a list of 12 technology trends and predictions that should play out this year. Among its observations:

• ERP SaaS spending will increase, though there are many new applications with specific functionalities and industry-specific solutions. Software evaluation will become more difficult as hybrid models and SaaS differentiation pricing models will complicate decisions.

• There will be a rise of cloud providers. These vendors will become cloud brokers by providing application, hosting, infrastructure and platform all from one source.  Many complementary vendors will partner with other providers and application vendors to provide an end-to-end customer solution.

• A start-up buying frenzy will take place. It is often easier for companies to buy an existing vendor with market share or customers to increase application portfolio sizes.  This will cause applications to become more diverse and larger than before.  This has become a trend in software development as in-house development has taken a back seat to just buying the vendor straight out. The solution sprawl this causes will also complicate software evaluation for organizations.

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