As a product marketing executive, I can't always wait for my developer teams to write, test and launch new code in today's compressed market cycles (The death of packaged applications revisited, Freeform Dynamics blog, freeform.computing.co.uk).

I am not knocking software programmers, without whom marketing guys would have nothing to promote. They are the engineers that build the infrastructure that makes a better life for everyone. But in my defence, I'm the guy who lets people know about developers' inventions. I also add value by creating new uses for their applications.

So if my customers need a new feature now, I have two choices. I can reach out to my already-overloaded development team to create a new application, or I can find a company that already has a solution that we can integrate. Thus my job becomes more of a packager of third-party technology into one workable solution that I can price and sell to my market.

If I have a great idea for a new product, a quick web search will return three companies that have already launched it and have a platform with which we can connect. The product rollout game has become faster.

Mark Dlugozima