Software development and computer services, 2014
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Released: 2016-05-24
Industries associated with software development and computer services earned operating revenue of $55.4 billion in 2014, up 7.9% from 2013.
Software development and computer services comprise three industries: computer systems design and related services, software publishers, and data processing, hosting and related services.
The largest of the three industries, computer systems design and related services, reported $42.8 billion in operating revenue, an increase of 8.6% from 2013. Operating expenses totalled $37.8 billion in 2014, resulting in an operating profit margin of 11.7%.
Most of the sales in this industry were derived from information technology technical consulting services (43.9%).
Software publishers, the second largest industry, posted $8.6 billion in operating revenue in 2014, up from $7.9 billion a year earlier. Operating expenses grew 10.4% to $7.8 billion, resulting in an operating profit margin of 9.5% in 2014, compared with 10.4% in 2013.
Two major components of this industry's sales were application software publishing (35.9%) and system software publishing (22.3%).
The smallest of the three industries, data processing, hosting and related services, generated $3.9 billion in operating revenue in 2014, down 1.3% from 2013. Operating expenses were $3.5 billion in 2014, yielding an operating profit margin of 11.6%, up from 10.8% the year before.
Over three-quarters of this industry's sales came from sales of hosting (48.5%) and transformation (29.9%) services.
Overall, sales to businesses in Canada accounted for the largest share of sales by type of client, representing 48.8% for software publishers, 60.2% for computer systems design and related services, and 70.6% for the data processing, hosting and related services industry.
As these industries require a highly skilled workforce, the largest expense item for each of the three industries was salaries, wages, commissions and benefits, accounting for 34.8% to 48.5% of total operating expenses.
Note to readers
Data for 2012 and 2013 have been revised.
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