“Snapshot” of the State of Software Reuse in Colombia

Abstract

Due to competitive markets, the software business wants faster, better, and cheaper solutions in a short amount of time. Software reuse emerges as a viable solution to these demands since it offers significant benefits, such as increased quality and efficiency and lower development costs and effort, as well as shorter commercialization times. This research aims to study and understand the state of the practice of software reuse in Colombia, to make comparisons with related works, and to offer an instrument for decision-making in companies that adopt these practices. To reach these objectives, three stages were proposed. In the first stage, the research questions were defined. In the second stage, a survey was developed, evaluated, and carried out to validate successful practices and adoption barriers in the context of the Colombian software industry. Finally, the results were analyzed and reported. This paper showed and evidenced the expectations, adoption barriers, and factors influencing the success of software reuse in Colombian industrial environments. In the same way, the experience from the development of this work serves as a roadmap for other regions that want to analyze the current state of reuse. Nevertheless, each organization needs to determine its capabilities and find the appropriate factors to be adopted to its context.