Which factor contributed to growth in the commercial software market?

Which factor contributed to growth in the commercial software market?

• A. The availability of industry-specific software has declined in the software market.
• B. The commercial market is attempting to accommodate a growing number of small businesses that can afford in-house systems-development staff.
• C. The commercial software market is taking advantage of upsizing organizational units and the move toward distributed data processing, which is appealing to larger organizations.
• D. General commercial software has a relatively low cost as compared to customized software.

Answer: (D)

The growth of the commercial software market is driven primarily by the cost advantage of off-the-shelf software. General software that targets common business needs is cheaper to acquire and implement than building a customized system from scratch. This lowers upfront development costs, reduces implementation time, and provides predictable ongoing expenses through licensing and maintenance. With lower total cost of ownership, more organizations—from small to large—can adopt software, deploy it across multiple departments, and realize faster return on investment, which accelerates market growth. Other options don’t fit as well. If availability of industry-specific software had declined, adoption would slow rather than grow. Focusing on in-house development staff for small businesses suggests more custom work, which isn’t the primary driver of growth for a broad commercial market. Emphasizing larger organizations and distributed data processing addresses a trend, but the overarching growth comes from the affordability and immediacy of ready-made software that serves many common needs.

The growth of the commercial software market is driven primarily by the cost advantage of off-the-shelf software. General software that targets common business needs is cheaper to acquire and implement than building a customized system from scratch. This lowers upfront development costs, reduces implementation time, and provides predictable ongoing expenses through licensing and maintenance. With lower total cost of ownership, more organizations—from small to large—can adopt software, deploy it across multiple departments, and realize faster return on investment, which accelerates market growth.

Other options don’t fit as well. If availability of industry-specific software had declined, adoption would slow rather than grow. Focusing on in-house development staff for small businesses suggests more custom work, which isn’t the primary driver of growth for a broad commercial market. Emphasizing larger organizations and distributed data processing addresses a trend, but the overarching growth comes from the affordability and immediacy of ready-made software that serves many common needs.