COTS products for core capabilities

An enterprise whose business-critical processes and operations are driven by commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) [viii] solutions runs the risk of these solutions becoming impediments to enhancing agility. There are several factors that can lead to this negative outcome. If the COTS solution is a few years old, it is likely to have the same issues as legacy software, which impede agility.

Moreover, by definition, these solutions are standard solutions and hence they are unlikely to be fully aligned to the enterprise's processes. Quite often, there are limitations to the extent that these solutions can be customized for the unique context of the enterprise. This often results in the company having to modify its processes, and sometimes even critical ones, in order to "fit" with the solution. As the license of the COTS is owned by the technology partner, the enterprise is forced to depend on the partner for customizing and enhancing the solution. Due to this...