We can now assemble solutions from tens of thousands of software components, many of them license-free.  Each of those solutions has pluses, minuses and costs.  We also have a choice between physical or virtual infrastructure. Wise build/buy or reuse choices can make or break a software development project. The days of easy outsourcing around an application is over, as virtual platforms such as Salesforce and Workday take prominence.  To achieve faster schedules, many firms are, once again, seeing the benefit of cultivating in-house talent. At the same time, technology continues to develop, calling for talent in specialized areas that did not exist yesterday.

Companies are challenged just to be aware of the range of choices, much less making intelligent, informed decisions.

Every company needs to learn how to be a software company. Your interaction with customers, with your employees, with suppliers and all of your stakeholders is through software. The term "software as a service" usually refers to companies like Salesforce and Lending Club that only deliver their services via software. However, inside almost every company today there are services delivered by IT to business units or from one business unit to another. Even internally, within corporations, we now see business units that are transforming themselves into software-as-a-service entities.

For example, GE has forged new software entities to provide services for storing big event data on behalf of their different business units, whether it's aircraft tension, diesel locomotives, or some other business. Corporations such as GE are now building business units which are in fact software-as-a-service entities. These entities, within companies that are not native to software, must be built, managed and maintained, while adding value to the core business. Companies are challenged to maintain their core capabilities in other areas, while also perfecting their ability to develop new software.

Companies across the globe are waging a war for software talent. In the Bay Area alone there's a large quantity of venture capital and other forms of investment casing software ideas. Those companies are all competing for software talent at the same time that the traditional corporations are fighting over the same pool. 

There is an order-of-magnitude difference between the best software engineers and all the rest. In some cases the best talent is overseas but finding and reaching that talent is difficult. The political situation in some parts of the world inhibits companies from accessing the very best talent. In general, finding and retaining software talent is among the most common problem companies face today with respect to the software component of the business.

The software business is constantly developing new ideas about the best way to write and deploy software. Every time there is a fundamental change, either in tools, components or in the demand for software, the methods used to create quality software also need to evolve. The biggest trend now is the agile methodology. However, agile refers to about a dozen specific practices that very few companies follow completely because not all of the agile suite of practices is universally applicable. 

The reality is that every company creates a software development process that works within its context. Since there is no one-size-fits-all process, companies are challenged to create processes that are unique to their business, their culture, their workforce and the software universe at large.