Impact on Application Software: COVID-19 - Thematic Reserch

Impact on Application Software: COVID-19 - Thematic Reserch

Summary

The COVID-19 outbreak has now spread across the world, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. This report discusses the impact of the virus on leading companies in the application software sector.

Application software companies risk a sterile year, with most new product releases struggling to escape COVID-19’s cloying grasp. The spring software product launch season will be less dynamic than usual because of user and market uncertainty. Only the collaboration tools market epitomized by Slack and Zoom will generate any fizz.

SAP, which announced quarterly results on 21 April 2020, found its relatively healthy performance in the first two months of the year was eroded as the extent of the COVID-19 crisis became clear. New business was postponed, which led to a 31% year-on-year decrease in software license revenues. By contrast, Microsoft reported strong third-quarter results on 29 April 2020, with COVID-19 having little impact on its performance. However, it warned of a transactional licensing slowdown. It is still early days. When the true economic impact of COVID-19 hits software companies, they will copy SAP’s actions, protecting profitability by slowing hiring and reducing discretionary spending.

Scope

• This report analyzes the impact of COVID-19 on the global application software sector.
• It identifies those companies that may benefit from the impact of COVID-19 over a 12-month period, as well as those companies that will lose out.
• It includes a thematic screen, that ranks the leading companies in this sector on the basis of overall leadership in the 10 themes that matter most to their industry, including COVID-19. - This generates a leading indicator of future performance.

Reasons to Buy

• COVID-19 is by far the most significant theme to affect the technology industry in 2020. It is effectively a stress test on companies’ ability to cope with extreme shocks.
• COVID-19 will test the financial robustness of companies. Many companies will not survive this initial phase. Almost all others will suffer a significant drop in revenues.
• This report will help you understand the impact of COVID-19 on the application software sector and identify which types of companies could potentially benefit from the impact of COVID-19, as well as those businesses that are set to lose out.