Change is constant. This is proven over and over again in our lives. While change occurs naturally, technology is transforming more rapidly than any other area -through consumption, innovation, and as an industry. Existing products and services are constantly being replaced through faster, newer, better, or cheaper technologies. To delight customers, companies are constantly revisiting capabilities and re-aligning with the latest marketplace trends. In this disruptive environment, how does an established software company plan for the future and manage the needs for the short term? And why are so few established companies successful at changing?

Technology change is hard(er) for established companies

When it comes to adapting and evolving it isn't an even playing field-startups have a major advantage over larger, established companies. With existing customer bases to maintain, established companies have a technical debt that slows down the speed at which they can adapt to change and address new unmet customer needs while more nimble startups are able to leverage new technologies and platforms to solve unmet customer needs without having to deal with tech debt and an installed customer base. They are not subject to the innovator's dilemma.

Open source opens opportunities for enterprise organizations

The good news for more established organizations is that change is also occurring in software used by enterprises. Historically, large organizations would purchase software needed to run their businesses. Today, more and more companies like Netflix, PayPal, Google, and Intuit are partnering around open source solutions that allow them to be more agile, collaborate beyond boundaries and move at the same pace as nimble start-ups. At the same time, open source solutions can reduce operational IT expenditures and simultaneously increase innovation.