Doing Business In (Insert Country Name Here) - BNA

Project Management Software
The market for management software applications has recovered from three years of
recession. According to market consulting firm IDC, the Enterprise Resource Planning
(ERP) market, which includes the sale of software licenses, maintenance and services,
experienced 9.4 percent growth in 2006 to reach $5.3 billion in sales. Large corporations
purchased $187 million worth of software licenses, a growth of 30 percent from 2005. On
the other hand, SME sales only grew by 4.9 percent or $295 million. According to market
consulting firm PAC, SMEs represent less than 30 percent of total sales, which means a
strong potential for growth in this segment for providers of ERP solutions.
Demand from large firms is supporting growth in the software and services market,
especially in the area of infrastructure software, middleware, security, and business
intelligence. In addition, recent decisions concerning the “Chorus” project at MINEFI, the
French Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry, confirm the public sector’s role of
growth driver in the French market.
Internet Connections and High-Speed Connections
According to market consulting firm Mediametrie, over 30 million French people or 57%
of the French population are connected to the Internet, including 23 million or 44% of the
population through a high-speed connection.
On the business level, 98% of French SMEs use a PC; 80% are connected to the
Internet, and over 50% have websites. SMEs (49%) have websites to provide services
to their clients and suppliers, while French corporations (79%) use their website in order
to promote their image. Seventeen percent of these organizations engage in Ecommerce.
E-Commerce
The French are overcoming their fears concerning purchases over the Internet. About
two-third of the Internet users pay a monthly visit to one of the top 15 E-commerce
websites. This represents an increase of 16% in one year. In addition, 19.5 million
Internet users – or four French people out of ten – indicate having already made on-line
purchases. With a growth of 21% per year, growth of E-commerce is twice as fast as
that of the Internet population.
Best Products/Services Return to top
• Management consulting in IT systems (+2%)
• Engineering services (+2%)
• Facilities management and Third-Party Maintenance of Applications (TMA) (+8%)
• Packaged software (+5%) especially Integrated Management Software and PLM
solutions, expected to grow respectively by 5.7% and 7.5% each year until 2008.
• Application Service Provider (ASP) solutions: this market grew from $400 million in
2004 up to over $1 billion in 2007. This includes hosted CRM solutions, whose
growth has been 40% in one year.
2/15/2008 Country Commercial Guide for France 37
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