Interoperability of software: Demand and solutions

This paper presents empirical evidence on the demand for interoperability among German software companies. We test a set of hypotheses in the empirical analyses. The findings confirm that the interoperability with the software of their customers is most important. The multivariate analysis shows that the demand for interoperability increases with the company size, confirming the concept of network externalities, especially between users. In addition, for companies trying to achieve lead-time advantage, interoperability is also of high importance to secure the installed user base. Finally, the demand of interoperability depends on the characteristics of specific software products. The most important instrument to achieve interoperability is the disclosure of interfaces, the second preference is the use of standardised architectures.