In 1997, management consultants Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema co-authored a book entitled, “The Discipline of Market Leaders: Choose Your Customers, Narrow Your Focus, Dominate Your Market,” which asserted that companies could only aspire to become leaders in their industry by focusing on one of the following differentiating characteristics:

1. Product leadership
2. Operational excellence
3. Customer intimacy

Although it does take a concerted effort and significant investment to become expert in each of these disciplines, a growing number of cloud companies are proving that these disciplines are no longer mutually exclusive. Click here to read THINKstrategies’ views in Sandhill.com about how today’s cloud leaders are excelling in all three disciplines and other players are going to have to strive to match their success.