Businesses are increasingly working in component-solution mode. This includes the ability to incorporate third-party components as an integral part of solutions as vendors and businesses work in increasing cooperation. This movement has its ultimate expression in the form of the virtual enterprise and underlines the need for an approach rooted in business needs. The component marketplace presents a unique opportunity for building better solutions faster, at higher quality and at lower cost. Organisations worldwide have invested huge amounts of money in legacy code which they are justifiably reluctant to throw away.
Component software represents an opportunity to leverage existing systems, packages and databases.
The majority of modelling tool and method vendors have, to date, failed to provide the necessary tools and services to meet the challenges presented by the component marketplace. RAD is a useful approach for certain types of systems.