Growth has slowed: The red highlights in this year’s chart make a statement: Industries are dialing back some app adoption. Thirty-seven industry/category nexuses show negative growth this year — last year, there were just four. Growth, where it occurred, often slowed to a single digit.
Design is always in style: Design software, last year’s darling, is still going strong. Adoption of these apps grew 7% YoY across industries to add to last year’s 18% growth spurt. In fact, design software adoption grew by double digits across seven industries, more than any other category, including 35% in government and 24% in energy, mining, oil, and gas, after posting 27% growth in both last year.
Security stays dependable: In an otherwise slow year, the adoption of security tools grew across almost all industry sectors. Government organizations invested the most, boosting adoption of security apps by 12% YoY (just below last year’s 14% YoY growth). Transportation and warehousing increased 8% YoY after last year’s 9% YoY increase.
Where we’re shrinking: Video conferencing and networking and infrastructure both report negative growth across seven industries. Among the top 10 categories, the manufacturing and insurance sectors see the heaviest decreases. However, these two industries are investing heavily in app categories that don’t rank in our top 10, including business supplies and travel.
Beyond the top 10 categories featured here, we track an additional 20 app categories, many of which show substantial growth. The legal category continues to attract new customers, leading growth by number of customers (19% YoY), while business supplies lead growth by unique users (48% YoY). And travel, which has been on a steady rise since early 2022, is close behind.
