1. This is state-of-the-art. First of all creating enterprise software is far from an art. Those who actually practice an art would be mortified at trying to identify an engineer's true expression from coding - but to each his own. That aside, with the speed of technology, do you really want to be tied to a "big database company" version 5.0 for 20 years? Yep, this enterprise software is as about as state-of-the-art as you and I. Go ahead and ask your spouse if you live up to the expectations deep into a marriage. Let's face it, it's kept around because it serves some purpose and beside, changing will be very difficult at this point and quite expensive. In the long run a divorce lawyer may be cheaper than that professional services consultant moving data from a legacy system. This leads us to the next biggest lie...

2. Licensing will be your biggest cost. Did you really buy this line? You sure did. And now you are shelling out a ton, and I mean a ton, of money to get this thing customized. Let's face it, the enterprise did not purchase this enterprise software - that was your decision. Now you find yourself engulfed in consultants continually making this enterprise software work for your enterprise. Of course there are many types of consultants out there, bashing the competition and telling you it's too bad you didn't pick the state-of-the-art system years ago. Oh yeah, and remember those licensing fees? You probably won't after you beg for the budget for customization.

3. Ultimately you'll save money... Not! Usually this is the overarching reasoning for committing to enterprise software. Productivity, efficiency - these are the firebrands igniting the push to adopt certain technologies. But it wasn't that long ago that a London School of Economics - McKinsey report informed us, "a study of 100 manufacturing companies in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States found that IT investments have little impact unless they are accompanied by first-rate management practices, which, by contrast, can boost productivity on their own." In no other certain terms, your management means far more than this behemoth called enterprise software. If you are an efficient company, you'll remain efficient, but if not... buyer beware.

So what's the bottom line? The first wave of Software as a Service solutions are taking hold. SaaS companies' services are being deployed in enterprises that just don't want to mess with all that goes into installing and maintaining enterprise software. We will see the stuffed shirt CIOs call it a night and be succeeded by those CIOs open to Web 2.0 and all it can mean to large enterprises.

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