The SAP ERP ecosystem. Dick Kuiper, commenting on my previous post, points out that SAP is also developing an ERP ecosystem around its mySAP Business suite. Dick writes, "SAP is marketing this as a component architecture, but it's really a modular ecosystem, breaking down the monolithic R/3 system into plug-and-play modules."

In the case of SSA, the large installed base for the ecosystem is being built by acquisition, and the complementary products require custom integration to each of SSA's legacy ERP systems. In the case of SAP, the installed base is a single system (with some clients on older versions, of course), clearly a more workable environment. But in either case, the goal is the same: keep customers in the ecosystem so that revenue from additional products and services can be derived from the installed base.