I track nearly 40 different software companies that provide association management software of some form or another. And I chuckle every time I read one of their press releases, because they typically say the same thing: “Company X is the leading provider of…” or “Company Y is the leader in association management software…” One even claims to be “The global leader…”
Now it strikes me that there can only be one “leader” in any given category of, well, anything. And if every software vendor is claiming to be “the leader,” then I’m pretty sure all but one of them is lying.
What I find most amusing is that claiming to be the “leader” means very little. They are wasted words. What these companies should focus on is providing evidence of helping their clients actually accomplish their business objectives.
To be fair, some of the AMS providers I track do not make these “leader” claims, and some of them even demonstrate how they’re helping their clients. I just wish the rest would drop the “leader” claim, unless they can prove that leadership with objective data.