Who’s Your Software Daddy?
I live in Seattle-land, where Starbucks coffee, Microsoft software and a jungle called Amazon all live in harmony. But we escape using Expedia, headquartered here as well. We take a lot of flack about Microsoft and their continuing issues with being called a monopoly.
The focus, of course, is the amount of market share Microsoft has on the tools of information technology, namely the operating system and Office.
In an enlightening post, Christopher Koch talks about The Monopoly that Matters More than Microsoft.
Who matters more? Why, SAP, of course.
I missed that one, didn’t you?
Those of us in IT tend to focus on IT stuff like market share for operating systems and office software. We forget the fact that most businesses don’t sell that sort of stuff to customers. So Microsoft can have 100% market share but it won’t mean a thing to your business strategy.
Most businesses sell products or services differentiated by the business process used to fulfill the products and/or services to the customer.
To use a simple example, Amazon sells books through an entirely different process than typical brick bookstores: huge variety coupled with fast ordering via the Internet. Plus, Amazon has a differentiating process for getting you to buy more: offering recommendations based upon what other people bought when they bought the stuff you just ordered.
The processes used to sell and fulfill the sale to the customer were both different and differentiating from others.
What does this have to do with SAP?
SAP sells software that allows employees to electronically implement your business processes. They are not very flexible in allowing changes to their process implementation software nor interfacing with other programs that could. Because of the market share and the incredible investment that companies have made in SAP software, companies are reluctant to change out SAP software and therefore enable changing their processes to better serve their customers.
That, according to the post, stifles innovation and creativity. Market share, lack of innovation, companies unable to create…yes, that looks like a monopoly to me.
Who’s your software Daddy? If you run SAP, you tell me.
Tags: Cube life, Software tips, Strategy, WindowsRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Cube life, Software tips, Strategy, Windows
0 opinions for Who’s Your Software Daddy?
No one has left a comment yet. You know what this means, right? You could be first!
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: