When someone asked Willie Sutton, the famous bank robber, why he robbed banks, Willie reportedly replied: “Because that’s where the money is.”

Everybody and their dog seems to have an enterprise software solution these days, and those rare few who don’t yet have it are working on one. Clearly, the business logic behind this fairly recent development is to go after the large customers with the megabucks. If you believe in The Long Tail effect, however, this development trend ignores, (or even creates) the large(r) unserved market in the tail.

Meanwhile, every time I hear “Enterprise Software Solution,” I think of Willie Sutton.



PS The term “The Long Tail” was coined by Chris Anderson in an October 2004 Wired magazine article. Anderson argued that products that are in low demand or have low sales volume can collectively make up a market share that rivals or exceeds the relatively few current bestsellers and blockbusters, if the store or distribution channel is large enough.

The Long Tail in Wikipedia.