Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Consolidation of the Order Processing Market

Yesterday's announcement about Klopotek purchasing Global Turnkey systems is, I think, the first of many consolidations that I expect will hit the publishing software business in the near future.

Rumors persist around Oracle picking up Vista, and the strategic alliance between Les King's IPub system and the venerable Cat's Pajamas.

It seems that this trend was inevitable given the consolidation of distribution services in the publishing industry. Most publishers are now in the distribution business or are being distributed by someone else. There doesn't seem to be much room for anything in between.

This trend, of course is driven by the demands of the wholesale and retail community who find it more necessary than ever to use technology to help them keep their shelves full of the ever changing needs of its customers.

It's quite a chain of events.

About 20 years ago, a wise man named Sandy MacGregor told me that in the future, he expected that there would be only 4 big publishing 'things' out there. He didn't know what the 'things' would look like. The more I watch the changes in our industry, the more I believe this prophesy to be true.

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