Software is the lifeline to success for companies today as innovative IT strategies become more necessary for survival in a highly competitive world. As a result, the worldwide business software market is expected to earn revenues exceeding $384 billion by 2015, according to a report by Global Industry Analysts.

Factors behind this growth include the proliferation of mobile devices, the increased use of cloud computing and the need to maintain strong data security and compliance. Software-as-a-Service will be one of the most recognizable contributors to the expanding market, GIA noted.

The report said information protection software, like intrusion detection and prevention solutions and firewalls, is expected to see steady growth in the coming years. This is because the increase of data breaches is becoming more noticeable, and organizations are taking a proactive step to prevent these incidents.

Driven by the need to remain compliant with new environments, the global security software market for small and medium-sized businesses is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of more than 13 percent through 2014, according to Infiniti Research. This will help the overall software market expand, while also keeping businesses safe in newly implemented cloud or mobile environments.