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Gedankenexperiment Snippets

Durable core, adaptive bridge

Cheap integration makes the core more valuable. Above it, software that fits the business and grows with it.

Snippet · July 2026

Working on modern data platforms has changed how I think about enterprise software. Building the platform is only part of the challenge. Another challenge is: how to bring the capabilities of these systems to business' finger tips, where they can be used naturally and continuously.

FIG. 1 Same need, same core. Only the gap changes. Orange is what the business needs and the software does not do. It shrinks left to right. What the business needs What the software delivers Misfit APPLICATION LAYER INTEGRATION CORE SYSTEMS Systems of record Systems of record Systems of record GENERIC SAAS The business works around the software. SHOEHORNED SAAS Custom code closes the gap. Upgrades undo it. TAILOR-MADE Built to the shape, and redrawn when it moves. DURABLE CORE, ADAPTIVE BRIDGE

Enterprise software is splitting into two layers. A durable core of systems that have to stay reliable, and an adaptive layer above it that has to move whenever the business does.

The core gains value in this split. As AI makes integration cheap, the systems holding the transactions and the master data become what everything else builds against. The fit problem moves upward. Generic SaaS gives approximate fit, and customizing it closes part of the gap while charging for it later in upgrade debt and lock-in. What changed is the third option: purpose-fit software that plugs into the core and is cheap enough to rebuild when the process changes.

The result is software that takes the shape of the business, including the parts that keep changing. Durable core, adaptive bridge.

Gedankenexperiment · Zurich