The Commodification of Industry Applications Software.

The last two decades have seen a rapid increase in the number and type of commodified software tools and packages offered by suppliers. The main thrust of commodification has centered on systems and utilities software. The paper considers to what extent commodification will expand to include those industry-specific applications which have characterized the bulk of in-house or customized software development during the 1980s. The conditions under which particular types of software have already become commodified are examined, and a model of product life cycles is utilized to conceptualize the opportunities for a market to emerge for industry-specific commodified software. Case study material on the genesis and implementation of packaged solutions in financial services is used to reveal the problems in the development of generic commodified industry-specific applications software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]