These companies have been known for excellence, but it wasn't necessarily an easy year for either of them. Listening to their explanations of how they accomplished this, I racked my brain for any commonalities--marketing, leadership, similar markets--but the thing that kept standing out was product line changes. Both added products, one from the same vendor and one from a different vendor; saying which products might give this away easily. And I've heard the discussion from others who had decent years that they had a focus on their product mix in a way they haven't for a while. Carrying more than one good, competitive product is a difficult, even if both are from the same vendor because they were resources and they divide management's focus. But I've believed for a long time that companies that carry one financial application do not do as well in a downturn as those that are diverse. I view the 2009 results as supporting this argument.