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Can your solution be considered “complete” if you make a big deal about all the things you can plug into it? I would argue, yes. They don’t have to be mutually exclusive statements, as companies from Apple to Salesforce.com have demonstrated. It’s the difference between a suite strategy vs. a platform strategy. Do you believe marketing benefits from more of an open platform? If so, then a thriving third-party developer community is a great strength.
Framed another way, do you believe the API economy is indeed emerging and will grow to be a significant part of marketing in a digital world?
I also found it highly encouraging that Eloqua, which started their third-party marketplace back in 2010, claims that over 90% of their customers have tried out apps from the Eloqua AppCloud. It’s evidence that, given the opportunity to plug-and-play more specialized marketing apps into their marketing automation backbone, marketers will happily do so.
Finally, I would also argue that by embracing third-party developers, marketing automation providers are in a position to significantly broaden the applicability of their platforms.
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You cannot be all things to all people, and the old school days of massive feature adds is long gone. The AppExchange proves that you need to allow vendors to innovate, and they'll do so far faster than the platform.
Downside: platforms use this as a revenue source, charging for this, that and the other. IT SLOWS DOWN INNOVATION, AND ULTIMATELY HURTS THE USER BASE.