Smaller Vendors Can Still Provide Relevant Business Systems
Part One: Event Summary
P.J. Jakovljevic - January 24, 2005

Event Summary

In our relatively recent article about the still ongoing consolidation in the market, we mentioned that the market will not stop short at the eventual Big Few or so many leading largest vendors. Namely, we expect the market for application software to further segregate into two tiers. The first group will be a limited number of very large vendors, while the second group will be a large number of small, highly focused vendors. The latter’s business model will be focusing on a relatively small, tightly defined market with specific requirements that cannot be met with more generic products. These specialists, boutique or niche vendors (whereby neither of these terms is meant in a derogatory manner) will compete by having in-depth product functions and intimate knowledge of their market place or by offering services (content or location wise) not available from the Big Few or large independent service providers...