Due to so many frauds and online security issues, security to be up to par with world's standards is the # 1 priority, especially in Banking, Insurance, Healthcare and government.
I had gone through that with an Insurance and healthcare prospects and they both denied AwareIM as the tool for their project.
As far as 3-tier goes, they want the back end and front end to be totally independent via REST services for immediate scale-ability and be able to connect to any type of client and other services. This also requires very tight security system. They're not being annoying. This is the reality & requirements of 99% of contracts today.
Many companies now even dictate what technologies must be used, i.e. Microsoft full stack, so they feel there is a large company behind the tooling system. When I tried to raise capital for my app, that was their first requirement to be based on the .Net 4.5 and above. AwareIM did not ring any bell on their list.
