Tech or tech-adjacent firms tend to be defined that way, at least in part, because they do the things these major software consultancies and outsourcing firms d

Tech or tech-adjacent firms tend to be defined that way, at least in part, because they do the things these major software consultancies and outsourcing firms do on their own. If you're not a tech or tech-adjacent firm, and have a nontrivial technology need, you're likely to pick up the phone and call someone who specializes in delivering those solutions. Think of it like the difference between Instacart having their own software teams and infrastructure to manage shoppers and orders, vs the national grocery chain Instacart operates within calling IBM for an integrated inventory management and point-of-sale system. There are debates to be had about whether this approach yields good results over the long term (specifically for the inventory management example, you could point to Amazon and to a lesser extent Walmart having such success in part because of their internal software efforts). But if you aren't prepared to reinvent your grocery stores as a friendly frontend for your logistics technology, plenty of firms have solutions to sell you.