The overall software solution battle

To dominate the marketplace, large software companies tend to return to classic tactics: giving customers software solutions "from root to top".

It can be said that this trend is an old approach for a new race. The idea of ​​increasing sales by selling everything, from operating systems to database software and business applications, has been deployed by IBM Corporation for many years. "Big Blue" used to combine all kinds of high-tech products from hardware and software to services in a product package. Now, Microsoft has launched a One-stop solution at retail channels following similar models. Oracle and SAP are no exception.

This trend is different from a few years ago, when software companies focused on only a few of their strongest areas. There are also packages of solutions introduced, mainly formed based on the combination of the best products on the market, focusing on product features without regard to the manufacturer.

The change in the business direction of the software industry has been the main cause of the decline in profits in recent years. Big companies that want to keep growth are forced to market the total solution package in the hope of maximizing profits from loyal customers.

This trend is most evident at Oracle, the company that makes billions of dollars from selling databases and commercial application software. In recent years, Oracle has been continuously acquiring smaller businesses, even acquiring rivals such as People Soft and Siebel System. After each transaction, Oracle integrates its subsidiary's unique application across multiple sectors into its database, forming the middleware line.

Red Hat has also acquired JBoss and brought open source into a new era of competition in the community of companies specializing in designing overall software solutions. Accordingly, manufacturers can offer large system software in many areas.

Up to this point, only Microsoft "covered" its products in most areas while IBM, SAP and Oracle still left some vacancies. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison complained to the media that he was "just about getting a complete software solution". " We are missing an operating system. You can understand why we are forced to develop and support Linux ," Ellison said.

Experts judge the strategy of providing a total solution that is appropriate for software companies in the present time. Even this trend is useful for start-up firms. When providing software packages, suppliers will optimize the profit from existing customers. At the same time, regulating software development in the future is also more convenient. Customers benefit from consistent technical support and tight integration in products.

" Everything is under control, " said John Rymer, an analyst with Forrester Research. " Oracle sells you an overall license to use and maintain basic income and profits from there. From here, they can continue to increase sales with increased products and services and a lot of potential. another ".

Thao