LONDON – The global forestry software market is expected to grow at an annual rate of more than 22 per cent during the next five years. Technavio’s latest report on the global forestry software market provides an analysis of the most important trends expected to impact the market outlook from 2017-2021.

One of the major reasons for the market growth is the need to streamline forest operations like wood harvesting, silviculture, and forest improvement, Technavio reports. Advances in technology have made it possible to better understand and utilize forest resources in a sustainable manner. The implementation of forestry software among forestry companies and departments has radically changed the science of forest management.

Amrita Choudhury, an industry expert in enterprise application sector, says, “In some countries such as the U.S. and Canada, forest departments are required to submit regular formal reports on their activities and update their plans in response to the changing conditions and objectives. Forest departments that fail to comply with forest management plans face penalties, which leads to the increased adoption of forestry software.”

The top three emerging trends driving the global forestry software market according to Technavio research analysts are:

  • Rise in demand for integrated forestry software solutions
  • Accessibility to mobile applications
  • Forest departments going environment-friendly

The report also notes that end-users prefer vendors that provide integrated and converged software suites, as opting for different software may lead to integration issues. Integrated products and software suites from the same vendor have better integration ability and support other functions. As the increased complexity of network infrastructure has made integration an important buying criterion, solutions with better integration are finding higher adoption.

“Trimble provides integrated forest, land, and fiber management software solutions that enable forest product companies, timberland investors, forest landowners, and state and federal departments to improve their productivity, quality, and operations. There is likely to be a steep increase in the number of players offering SaaS-based forestry software that is compatible with the other applications,” according to Choudhury.

The increasing use of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets is encouraging the vendors to launch mobile apps or mobile-friendly websites. As mobile devices have become an integral part of everyday life, employees are increasingly using them to access forest health and to create a sustainable forest plan.

The growing use of mobile devices and smartphones for professional purposes is a key trend in the global forestry software market. Forestry consulting firms and forest landowners are increasingly focusing on adopting mobile forestry apps because they provide them the flexibility to access and share harvested timber data whenever and wherever needed.

Key vendors covered in the Technavio report are: Baywood Technologies, Mason, Bruce & Girard, Silvacom and Trimble.