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Custom Software Development Market size and your Market Share

The information on the market size is required to calculate your market share. You need to gather the data about your current market share to understand in the future whether you increase your share compared with your competitors, maintain or lose it. Surprisingly, precise calculation of your market share and market shares of your competitors helps you better figure out who your real competitors are. This altogether shapes the strategic dimension concerning the future of your company.

Key Takeaways

  • Planning your marketing strategically you should mandatorily know who your competitors are in each market subsegments you’re going to target on, as well as your benchmarking with them (not just with yourself in the past);
  • To know your competitors thoroughly, among other things, you need to understand your market share;
  • To understand your market share, you need to have the information about your market size which is often too complex to obtain;
  • Considering the absense of reliable data on market share for outsourcing services companies (which sell developers on the basis of hourly billing), it’s possible to use the term “market share by employees” as the substitute for the real market share; 
  • Data on employees may be gathered from LinkedIn both for documenting the current situation and for its evaluation in dynamics;
  • Taking into account that often you just need to possess not absolute values but relative ones, some inaccuracy of LinkedIn’s data can be neglected at the cost of uniform data gathering methodology;
  • The key issue with this approach is to find the exaustive list of companies which do the same business as you. 

Why it’s so Hard to Define the Size of Custom Software Development Market

To define precisely the global market size of custom software development, for example, at the beginning of 2021, we need to know the total spending in this area during 2020. Or, in other words, it’s necessary to summarize the revenue of all custom software development companies.

It’s often impossible due to several reasons:

  • Non-availability. Data on annual revenues for most companies is not available to the public.
  • Mixed data. Custom software development outsourcing services business is not the same as software product business. However, revenue of software product companies often gets into industry reports on software development market.
  • Black box. The methodology behind different industry reports remains black-box or non-reproducible. 

What is Custom Software Development Services Market

I found that the “custom software development outsourcing services” market has another name, remarkably, more established than the mentioned above. 

Gartner names it “applications outsourcing” explaining that is the subsegment of the “application services market” that’s, in turn, a part of the “IT services market”. This IT research and consultancy company specifies “applications outsourcing” as a “new development, legacy systems maintenance, offshore programming, management of packaged applications and staff augmentation”. 

The statistical company Statista also names this market “IT-application outsourcing” extracting it as the IT-outsourcing market subsegment. Statista defines “IT application outsourcing” as “all IT application services in a software production context, spanning from requirement assessments to concept and design of software applications. Further, it includes the development (production) and support and maintenance of such software products and services by contracted service providers”. 

As we see, the definition of the “application outsourcing market” is the same as the definition of the “custom software development outsourcing services market”.

What’s wrong with the Available data on Custom Software Development Services Market

Statista predicted that this market would be approximately $89.0 billion in 2018, would have achieved $96.7 billion by 2021, and would have held 53.8% of the global IT-outsourcing services market by 2021 ($179.8 billion).

Elsewhere on the same website, Statista provides another date – $109,4 billion by 2021 (and $141,5 billion by 2026).

This data may be useful to understand your global market share. Just divide your 2021 year’s Revenue by the Total Sales of the whole industry (or market size).

However, the methodology behind this report remains black-box and non-reproducible, and only a few major market players were included.  

Moreover, you aren’t able to:

  1. compare your market share with a particular competitor’s one;
  2. understand your market share among your local competitors if you’re an offshore software developer. Of course, you can try relying on official statistics like the IT Export Revenue (for example, $2,735 billion in Belarus for 2020), but the issue with mixed data still remains. In this statistic the revenues of software product companies and software development outsourcing companies are not divided. It means, that if you don’t compete with software product companies, why should you take them into account?

Where to find the Market Share of your Custom Software Development Outsourcing Company and your Competitors

Traditionally, market share is about how much you have sold comparing with your competitors. As we know, it doesn’t come easy to reveal competitors’ earnings. At the same time, it’s essential to understand it for the reasons mentioned at the beginning of the article. 

That’s why services companies use the substitute, a so-called “market share by employees”. It’s quite rational when your business is based on selling hourly labor. On average, the more staff you have the more you earn. Moreover, companies in such industries compete not only for clients but also for staff.

In this model, we need to get access:

  • to the list with all companies which are with you in the same industry (in our case, custom software development outsourcing or application outsourcing);
  • to the number of employees in each of them. 

Luckily, it’s incomparably easier to obtain such data. Let’s use this approach to explore, for example, the custom software development outsourcing market in Belarus, one of the Eastern European countries where US companies outsource their development needs.  

Application Outsourcing market in Belarus

Methodology

  • The list of companies was obtained from the Clutch’s listing of Belarusian custom software development companies and mixed with the HTP’s listing of residents with declared “software development” direction of activity. 
  • Product companies were removed after revision if they occured there.
  • Services companies which don’t target the USA market were also not taken into account, as well as those ones which don’t have a website.
  • Software testing company a1qa was included in the list. 
  • LinkedIn accounts of each company from the final list were analysed to find out the number of staff in Belarus.
  • The Belarusain staff of all selected companies was summed to use it as 100%.   

#

Company

Linkedin, Sept 2021

Staff, Total, Sept 2021

Staff in Belarus, Sept 2021

"Market share" by employees in Belarus

Full revenue, 2020

1

Epam

https://www.linkedin.com/company/epam-systems/

48915

13400

42.14%

$2.66 billion

2

Itechart group

https://www.linkedin.com/company/itechart-group/

2200

2007

6.31%

3

Itransition

https://www.linkedin.com/company/itransition/

1548

1280

4.03%

4

IBA Group

https://www.linkedin.com/company/iba-group/

1432

1255

3.95%

5

ISsoft

https://www.linkedin.com/company/issoftsolutions/

1256

1180

3.71%

6

Exadel

https://www.linkedin.com/company/exadel/

1170

598

1.88%

7

Innowise group

https://www.linkedin.com/company/innowise-group/

507

494

1.55%

8

Sciencesoft

https://www.linkedin.com/company/sciencesoft/

569

471

1.48%

9

a1qa

https://www.linkedin.com/company/a1qa

521

465

1.46%

10

Elinext

https://www.linkedin.com/company/elinext/

522

440

1.38%

11

SaM Solutions

https://www.linkedin.com/company/sam-solutions/

640

419

1.32%

12

Coherent solutions

https://www.linkedin.com/company/coherent-solutions/

455

351

1.10%

13

LeverX

https://www.linkedin.com/company/leverx/

435

342

1.08%

14

Oxagile

https://www.linkedin.com/company/oxagile/

383

337

1.06%

15

Softteco

https://www.linkedin.com/company/softteco/

353

333

1.05%

16

Solbegsoft

https://www.linkedin.com/company/solbeg/

363

332

1.04%

17

Effectivesoft

https://www.linkedin.com/company/effectivesoft/

347

326

1.03%

18

SOFTCLUB

https://www.linkedin.com/company/softclub/

316

309

0.97%

19

Instinctools

https://www.linkedin.com/company/instinctools/

342

278

0.87%

20

Altoros

https://www.linkedin.com/company/altoros-systems/

382

261

0.82%

21

Softeq

https://www.linkedin.com/company/softeq/

291

247

0.78%

22

Intetics inc

https://www.linkedin.com/company/intetics/

638

232

0.73%

23

IntexSoft

https://www.linkedin.com/company/intexsoft/

233

229

0.72%

24

Belitsoft

https://www.linkedin.com/company/belitsoft-llc/

234

220

0.69%

25

SCAND

https://www.linkedin.com/company/scand/

232

217

0.68%

26

Forte Group

https://www.linkedin.com/company/fortegroup/

622

211

0.66%

27

Itrex group

https://www.linkedin.com/company/itrex-group/

245

174

0.55%

28

Artezio

https://www.linkedin.com/company/artezio/

278

154

0.48%

29

XB software

https://www.linkedin.com/company/xb-software-ltd/

148

140

0.44%

30

Klika Tech

https://www.linkedin.com/company/klika-tech/

193

135

0.42%

31

Vironit

https://www.linkedin.com/company/vironit/

144

135

0.42%

32

Syberry

https://www.linkedin.com/company/syberry/

154

133

0.42%

33

Paralect

https://www.linkedin.com/company/paralect/

143

125

0.39%

34

Emerline

https://www.linkedin.com/company/emerline/

121

116

0.36%

35

BelHard Development

https://www.linkedin.com/company/belhard/

108

102

0.32%

36

GP Solutions

https://www.linkedin.com/company/gp-solutions-gmbh/

152

98

0.31%

37

Specific-Group Belarus

https://www.linkedin.com/company/specific-group/

109

97

0.31%

38

Aristek systems

https://www.linkedin.com/company/aristeksystems/

118

96

0.30%

39

Professional Software Associates

https://www.linkedin.com/company/professional-software-associates-inc-/

114

96

0.30%

40

Invento Labs

https://www.linkedin.com/company/inventolabs/

92

92

0.29%

41

Itexus

https://www.linkedin.com/company/itexus/

95

88

0.28%

42

BelVirtualGroup

https://www.linkedin.com/company/belvg/

92

84

0.26%

43

Pixelplex

https://www.linkedin.com/company/pixelplex-inc/

92

84

0.26%

44

MBicycle

https://www.linkedin.com/company/mbicycle/

106

83

0.26%

45

Promwad

https://www.linkedin.com/company/promwad/

112

83

0.26%

46

Azati corporation

https://www.linkedin.com/company/azati-corporation/

93

82

0.26%

47

Success Craft

https://www.linkedin.com/company/success-craft/

86

82

0.26%

48

Exposit

https://www.linkedin.com/company/exposit/

85

81

0.25%

49

HQSoftware

https://www.linkedin.com/company/hq-software/

93

77

0.24%

50

Akveo

https://www.linkedin.com/company/akveo/

89

76

0.24%

51

Twistellar Ltd.

https://www.linkedin.com/company/twistellar-group/

74

69

0.22%

52

Brimit

https://www.linkedin.com/company/brimit/

81

67

0.21%

53

Spiral scout

https://www.linkedin.com/company/spiral-scout/

85

66

0.21%

54

Lightpoint global

https://www.linkedin.com/company/lightpointglobal/

67

65

0.20%

55

Logic way

https://www.linkedin.com/company/logic-way-inc/

81

64

0.20%

56

Cactussoft

https://www.linkedin.com/company/cactussoft/

77

63

0.20%

57

Ciklum

https://www.linkedin.com/company/ciklum/

3400

61

0.19%

58

Jazzteam

https://www.linkedin.com/company/jazzteam/

61

61

0.19%

59

SpurIT

https://www.linkedin.com/company/spurit/

72

61

0.19%

60

Wimix

https://www.linkedin.com/company/wimix-llc/

65

61

0.19%

61

Expert Software Development

https://www.linkedin.com/company/expert-software-development/

62

59

0.19%

62

Clevertec

https://www.linkedin.com/company/clevertec-ru/

55

54

0.17%

63

NEKLO

https://www.linkedin.com/company/neklo/

70

54

0.17%

64

Softarex technologies

https://www.linkedin.com/company/softarex-technologies/

81

52

0.16%

65

Bamboo Group OÜ

https://www.linkedin.com/company/ou-bamboo-group/

62

51

0.16%

66

Sunmait technologies

https://www.linkedin.com/company/sunmait/

54

51

0.16%

67

OnePoint Ltd.

https://www.linkedin.com/company/onepoint-oü/

53

51

0.16%

68

Armada labs

https://www.linkedin.com/company/armadalabs/

56

50

0.16%

69

Rubyroid labs

https://www.linkedin.com/company/rubyroid-labs/

52

49

0.15%

70

Cortlex

https://www.linkedin.com/company/cortlex/

73

48

0.15%

71

Routine automation

https://www.linkedin.com/company/routine-automation/

48

48

0.15%

72

On The Spot Development

https://www.linkedin.com/company/on-the-spot-dev/

50

47

0.15%

73

InData Labs

https://www.linkedin.com/company/indata-labs/

60

45

0.14%

74

Sumatosoft

https://www.linkedin.com/company/sumatosoft/

60

41

0.13%

75

BSL

https://www.linkedin.com/company/bsl-dev/

69

40

0.13%

76

Smart it

https://www.linkedin.com/company/smart-it.io/

62

40

0.13%

77

Solveit

https://www.linkedin.com/company/solveit-dev/

66

39

0.12%

78

Geomotiv

https://www.linkedin.com/company/geomotiv/

50

37

0.12%

79

Digiteum

https://www.linkedin.com/company/digiteum/

47

35

0.11%

80

Lansoft

https://www.linkedin.com/company/lansoft-dev/

35

35

0.11%

81

StyleSoft

https://www.linkedin.com/company/stylesoft/

41

35

0.11%

82

Applied Systems Ltd

https://www.linkedin.com/company/applied-systems-ltd-/

37

34

0.11%

83

Abiatec

https://www.linkedin.com/company/abiatec/

40

33

0.10%

84

Mainsoft

https://www.linkedin.com/company/mainsoft-llc/

61

33

0.10%

85

Smartapp

https://www.linkedin.com/company/smart-app-technology/

39

33

0.10%

86

A2 consulting

https://www.linkedin.com/company/3alica/

45

32

0.10%

87

UNL solutions ltd

https://www.linkedin.com/company/unlsolutions/

57

31

0.10%

88

Softacom

https://www.linkedin.com/company/softacom-llc/

33

30

0.09%

89

HF solution

https://www.linkedin.com/company/hf-solution-llc/

32

29

0.09%

90

Twinslash

https://www.linkedin.com/company/twinslash/

29

29

0.09%

91

Insspring

https://www.linkedin.com/company/insspring/

29

28

0.09%

92

Tapston Development

https://www.linkedin.com/company/tapston/

28

28

0.09%

93

InnoTech Solutions

https://www.linkedin.com/company/intechs/

33

27

0.08%

94

Touchsoft

https://www.linkedin.com/company/touchsoft/

27

27

0.08%

95

Upsilonit

https://www.linkedin.com/company/upsilon-it/

35

27

0.08%

96

Naveksoft

https://www.linkedin.com/company/naveksoft/

28

27

0.08%

97

Celadon

https://www.linkedin.com/company/celadon-soft/

32

26

0.08%

98

Coral Team

https://www.linkedin.com/company/coralteam/

31

26

0.08%

99

INTELICO

https://www.linkedin.com/company/intelico/

28

26

0.08%

100

Omertex

https://www.linkedin.com/company/omertex/

28

26

0.08%

101

Touchlane

https://www.linkedin.com/company/touchlane/

27

26

0.08%

102

BIQUANTS

https://www.linkedin.com/company/biquants/

26

25

0.08%

103

Corpitech

https://www.linkedin.com/company/corpitechby/

25

25

0.08%

104

Industry consulting service

https://www.linkedin.com/company/industry-consulting-service/

30

25

0.08%

105

Mifort

https://www.linkedin.com/company/mifort/

28

25

0.08%

106

Mitrix technology

https://www.linkedin.com/company/mitrix-technology/

27

25

0.08%

107

Right studio

https://www.linkedin.com/company/rightstudio/

29

25

0.08%

108

Arateg

https://www.linkedin.com/company/arateg/

26

24

0.08%

109

CleverLabs

https://www.linkedin.com/company/cleverlabs/

24

24

0.08%

110

Fingers media

https://www.linkedin.com/company/fingers-media/

28

24

0.08%

111

AKDev Group

https://www.linkedin.com/company/akdev-group/

38

22

0.07%

112

Cedon BLR

https://www.linkedin.com/company/cedon-blr/

23

22

0.07%

113

Lomray Software

https://www.linkedin.com/company/lomray-software/

22

22

0.07%

114

Antalogic

https://www.linkedin.com/company/antalogic/

21

21

0.07%

115

Finwin technologies

https://www.linkedin.com/company/finwin-technologies/

29

21

0.07%

116

SilkData

https://www.linkedin.com/company/silkdata/

23

21

0.07%

117

SQRD.tech

https://www.linkedin.com/company/sqrdtech/

24

20

0.06%

118

Aligned Code

https://www.linkedin.com/company/aligned-code/

34

19

0.06%

119

Dizzain

https://www.linkedin.com/company/dizzain-inc./

20

19

0.06%

120

Weband

https://www.linkedin.com/company/weband-eu/

19

19

0.06%

121

OZiTAG

https://www.linkedin.com/company/ozitag-web-experts/

19

19

0.06%

122

PlaysDev

https://www.linkedin.com/company/playsdev/

19

19

0.06%

123

Smartpro

https://www.linkedin.com/company/smartpro-llc/

21

19

0.06%

124

Techvice

https://www.linkedin.com/company/techvice/

22

17

0.05%

125

Nord-Soft

https://www.linkedin.com/company/nord-soft/

17

17

0.05%

126

Apro software

https://www.linkedin.com/company/a.p.r.o.software/

18

16

0.05%

127

Exaft

https://www.linkedin.com/company/exaft/

16

16

0.05%

128

Ontid

https://www.linkedin.com/company/ontid/

16

16

0.05%

129

North IT Group

https://www.linkedin.com/company/north-it-group/

17

15

0.05%

130

Scandiweb Bel

https://www.linkedin.com/company/scandiweb/

309

15

0.05%

131

Storymode

https://www.linkedin.com/company/storymodeltd/

24

14

0.04%

132

NavirIT

https://www.linkedin.com/company/naviritltd/

15

14

0.04%

133

VIAcodeBEL

https://www.linkedin.com/company/viacode/

72

14

0.04%

134

Axiopea Consulting

https://www.linkedin.com/company/axiopea-consulting/

15

13

0.04%

135

Jlab

https://www.linkedin.com/company/jlab/

61

13

0.04%

136

Code inspiration

https://www.linkedin.com/company/code-inspiration/

16

12

0.04%

137

OTR

https://www.linkedin.com/company/otr/

397

12

0.04%

138

Adexin

https://www.linkedin.com/company/adexincom/

15

11

0.03%

139

Gersis software

https://www.linkedin.com/company/gersis-software-llc/

14

11

0.03%

140

Nezaboodka Software

https://www.linkedin.com/company/nezaboodka/

11

11

0.03%

141

Goodsoft

https://www.linkedin.com/company/good-soft/

13

10

0.03%

142

Owls Group

https://www.linkedin.com/company/owls-group/

10

10

0.03%

143

Creativeit

https://www.linkedin.com/company/creativeit/

12

9

0.03%

144

Datarockets

https://www.linkedin.com/company/datarockets/

22

9

0.03%

145

DigiTech7

https://www.linkedin.com/company/digitech7/

9

9

0.03%

146

Feeling Digital

https://www.linkedin.com/company/feeling-digital/

10

9

0.03%

147

General Soft

https://www.linkedin.com/company/general-soft-ltd-generalsoftltd.com-/

14

9

0.03%

148

Raisetech

https://www.linkedin.com/company/raisetech/

10

8

0.03%

149

Temsa

https://www.linkedin.com/company/temsaby/

16

8

0.03%

150

Appstud BLR

https://www.linkedin.com/company/appstud-me-/

40

7

0.02%

151

Lovata

https://www.linkedin.com/company/lovata/

8

7

0.02%

152

Mind Games Software

https://www.linkedin.com/company/mind-games-software/

8

7

0.02%

153

N-ix

https://www.linkedin.com/company/n-ix/

1407

7

0.02%

154

Sky incom

https://www.linkedin.com/company/sky-incom/

8

7

0.02%

155

Octopus Games

https://www.linkedin.com/company/octopus-games/

5

5

0.02%

156

CODECAVE PRO

https://www.linkedin.com/company/codecave/

6

4

0.01%

157

GloriumTech Bel

https://www.linkedin.com/company/glorium-technologies/

109

4

0.01%

158

Intelligent Semantic Systems

https://www.linkedin.com/company/semsys/

4

4

0.01%

159

ArtisMedia

https://www.linkedin.com/company/artis-media/

4

3

0.01%

160

ITA Evolution

https://www.linkedin.com/company/ita-evolution/

3

3

0.01%

161

Security Lab LLC

https://www.linkedin.com/company/security-lab-llc/

3

3

0.01%

162

Aiscom LLC

https://www.linkedin.com/company/aisconverse/

3

2

0.01%

163

ConsensusLab

https://www.linkedin.com/company/consensuslab/

3

2

0.01%

164

Frontbyte

https://www.linkedin.com/company/frontbyte/

6

2

0.01%

165

Innovative Future

https://www.linkedin.com/company/innovative-future/

2

2

0.01%

166

ITHub

https://www.linkedin.com/company/ithub-minsk/

2

2

0.01%

167

Botcube

https://www.linkedin.com/company/botcubeco/

1

1

0.00%

31799

Methodology Limitations

  • The employee may not have an account in LinkedIn, including as a result of blocking this media (i.e. in Russia).
  • LinkedIn may show incorrect information about company’s staff due to different reasons including technical bugs or employee forgetfulness to update the profile after job switching.
  • Some companies create fake accounts for outbound lead generation.

Methodology Advantages

  • Uniformity. The use of LinkedIn is sensible because we believe that the profile of each company registered on LinkedIn doesn’t contain the full data on an employee and this deviation on average is the same for each company. It allows us to ignore this aspect because we don’t need absolute values, only relative ones.
  • Wider applicability. You can use the same methodology to understand your market share and market share of your competitors in other locations. For example, for Belarusian custom software development companies which compete globally for clients from the USA it’s important to understand not only their local competitors and appropriate benchmarks but also competitors from other offshore locations, sometimes even better known in the USA.  
  • Reproducibility.  You can get the same results using this methodology and tools. LinkedIn seems to be more stable source of actual data than other sources like 3rd party listings or even companies’ official websites. LinkedIn updates automatically, more frequently and by stakeholders.   

Application of Results

  • Track the trends. Now, when you know your current market share (despite the fact that you use the surrogat “market share by employees”) and shares of your local competitors, you can track the trends. Somebody grows faster than the industry average? Take a closer look at their strategic desicions including marketing activity.
  • Better understanding of close competitors. Now you have the list of your first-line competitors and can analyze them being more focused ignoring minor details.
  • A wider view on who your competitor is.  Competing globally, you can’t limit yourself observing only your local competitors. Using the same methodology for gathering market share data, you can enlarge your vision, adding more competitors, and threfore generate more insights to move forward efficiently.    
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