Microsoft business apps; success hinges on third-party partners

Here's what Meta Group client reg. req. has to say about the state of Microsoft's business applications in the changing applications market where the focus lays on technology components, SOA-based Web Services, and centralized architectures. It doesn't look like it'll be a walk in the park:

Here is one reason why...

Based on this past experience, Microsoft would appear to be in a dominant position to capture from SAP, Oracle, and IBM the burgeoning RCO market (often referred to as small and medium business SMB by the vendor community). Yet recreating the successes of the past will be more difficult for Microsoft. Indeed, its competition (SAP in particular) is now employing many of Microsofts strategies. The NetWeaver technology stack (with some exceptions, such as Master Data Management) comes as part of mySAP Business Suite, with RCOs resource constrained organizations having access through partner-developed mySAP All-in-One solutions or through integration with SAP Business One.

And another...

Over the years, as product capabilities have ballooned, Microsoft customers have become increasingly reluctant to stay on the upgrade treadmill, focusing instead on maximizing the value of what they have and often skipping one to two generations of products.

Not to mention...

Microsoft's well-publicized problems with product delivery and patch management, ongoing complexity with its licensing programs, and an oversupply of technology meant to integrate business application data at the desktop.

The result, is an increasingly complex environment that small-to-midsized businesses will be unable, if not unwilling, to manage on their own. But according to Meta, independent software vendors (ISVs) are stepping in to fill the void, which means...

Microsoft will be increasingly dependent on its third-party partners to deliver business applications that provide context for its business services platform in order to achieve the ubiquity its business model is so well tuned for.