Davids and Goliaths
Sam Lawrence has a new post up about how social software could dethrone the big guys. Sam references the photographic industry, and how the big guys at Kodak ended up being a niche player in the new global digital photography age.
Like Kodak a decade ago, today’s enterprise software giants have a lot of legacy to overcome if they want to join the social software revolution. They’ll find it difficult to integrate emergent systems with the rules engines that drive their enterprise platforms. In many ways, those two approaches are polar opposites.
Of course, the big players have a lot of resources and talent at their disposal. (As two guys in a basement, we’re acutely aware of that!) But do they also have the vision and the will to reinvent themselves?