Beware of software consolidation

When a CIO needs to make a major software purchase today, he or she is faced with far fewer competitors than just a few years ago. Consolidation in the software market has ceded the field to the behemoths: IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP. That type of consolidation, while typically good for customer support, can prevent the type of innovation necessary to keep software on the cutting edge. What's more, companies never know which vendor will end up owning the software they use, thanks to the flurry of mergers and acquisitions that continue to occur in the software arena. Learn how to protect your company's software acquisitions:

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