It stuck me recently that we're succumbing to a new type of disease. I'm naming it Solution Creep, and by this I don't mean the nasty guy in the IT department!
As software engineering has become more of a science, the number of excellent products and solutions in the market is increasing. A lot of our work revolves around ERP systems, and frequently we get involved in bolting on or adding onto existing ERP systems with high ROI types of initiatives such as Business Intelligence and Document Management (see Captaris, and Altec for some excellent solutions).
What seems to be happening is that the software vendors are broadening their product suites, and in trying to increase their value proposition, the solutions are starting to overlap - thus the term Solution Creep.
For example, document management vendors are all touting workflow capabilities, that are already included in ERP systems in many cases. And business intelligence vendors are providing dashboard tools, infringing on the space previously reserved for portal vendors and ERP vendors.
On and on it goes. Is there a moral here?
Definitely. The choices are greater than ever before. This makes strategy and choosing the right tools and partners more important than ever before or you could be afflicted by Creepy Problems!
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