#3 The SaaS Opportunity

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is Internet-based software delivery. Here the consumers can have access to software that otherwise had to be purchased. Google Apps, Microsoft 365 and Amazon web services are already providing SaaS services.

In 2012, the SaaS market grew 26 percent to become an $18B market according to market research firm IDC.  According to Citi's survey, SaaS has already captured 8 percent of their software wallets so far and firms expect to increase spending to 70 percent of their budget over time — a 9-fold increase.

#2 Software Defined Networking

Software-defined networking (SDN) is an approach to building computer networks that separates and abstracts elements of these systems. SDN allows system administrators to quickly provision network connections on the fly instead of manually configuring policies. SDN simplify IT networks by separating the Control Plane (the intelligence) from the Data Plane (the packet forwarding engine). "Instead of having intelligence distributed across the network in separate boxes, SDN centralizes the Control plane in an overriding software layer which disseminates instructions to each router or switch," the report states.

Thanks to its affordability, SDN is expected to grow from just under $360 million in 2013 to $3.7 billion in 2016, according to IDC.

Read Also: Mobile Phones Alone Account For 90 Percent Of Samsung's Profit  and 8 Most Anticipated Products From Google I/O