[mnash]

So much of enterprise software is awful and successful because of "industry standard" brand recognition, platform integrations, and buckets of money to outspend upstarts.

Salesforce is a prime example, which until Lightning rolled out in earnest late 2017/early 2018, had UI and UX that killed productivity (and employee happiness). There were and still are tons of alternatives that are better to use, however, can't unseat the giant. Platform is a huge reason for this, however, is only one factor.