Coopetition – the philosophy that groups can and should help and cooperate with each other, even as they compete – is not a new concept.
The earliest examples date back as far as 1913 where the Sealshipt Oyster Company organised a standardised approach to shucking, shipping and retailing oysters with around a hundred independent oyster dealers. The result was called the Sealshipt Oyster System.
While the independent dealers were instructed to work together for the benefit of the system, they remained in competition with each other for customers in their respective cities.
“The lack of an integration story could be the deciding factor between a small pilot and an enterprise-wide implementation project.”
Wind the clock forward and you don’t have to look very far to find coopetition within the IT sector. Savvy enterprises and software vendors alike recognise the huge potential of simple, configurable interoperability between applications.
It is no longer enough to make awesome software on its own. At a minimum you need to make sure you have an API, but better still; pre-built connectors or even an app marketplace. The lack of an integration story may be the deciding factor between a small, business unit pilot or an enterprise-wide project.
Coopetition makes complete sense in this software age. Enterprises are moving away from monolithic software platforms towards the flexibility of picking and choosing from a mix of best-of-breed applications. It’s pretty simple – platforms which don’t play nice don’t get invited to the party.
Devicedesk recognises and embraces coopetition. In fact, it’s at the very core of our mission – we’re not out to replace an application stack, we want to help you make the most of what you already have.
With integrations for electronic quotations (DocuSign and Adobe Sign) through to ticket management and order fulfilment (ConnectWise, Zendesk and ServiceNow to name but a few) we’ve got your business covered.