Emptoris, IBM, Smart Commerce and Beyond — Thawing Out the Dim Sum or Something Fresh?
Sometimes when markets move fast, you’ve got to take calls in uncomfortable spots — literally, physically and metaphorically. Such was the case with the analyst briefing following IBM’s announced acquisition plans for Emptoris. I happ…
Ariba Buys B-Process, Perhaps the Largest E-Invoicing Provider No One Has Heard Of
Earlier this week, Ariba announced it had acquired B-Process, which claims to be France’s largest electronic invoicing provider. Yet no one in the sector I know who is close to the electronic invoicing market in Europe has ever heard m…
Hubwoo and SAP Look Forward — Which Dog is Wagging Which Tail? (Part 2)
Please click here for the first post in this series.
One thing that is clear in looking at Hubwoo’s customer momentum around the SAP product set is how the vendor is benefiting from general SAP adoption trends in the broader source-to…
Analyzing the Crossgate Acquisition: An SAP and Market Perspective
Earlier this morning, we covered the P2P rationale behind the SAP/Crossgate acquisition, while touching upon other points as well. On the surface, the transaction will provide SAP with a market offering to help bring together the space…
What’s in Store at SAP Sapphire? — Supplier InfoNet, SRM, Sourcing and Beyond (Part 1)
I have an extremely packed conference week between SAP Sapphire and ISM’s Annual International Supply Management Event. Fortunately, both events are taking place in Orlando, so shuttling back and forth should not be such a big dea…
Handicapping Ariba’s Ultimate Potential — Two Perspectives (If You Believe and if You Don’t)
Following Ariba’s quarterly results, which showed solid growth last week (yet I believe are at least partially representative of a rising tide lifting many procurement vendor boats), I thought I’d share a few thoughts on the poten…
Ariba Supplier Network Alternatives: Oracle (Part 1)
This post is part of a Spend Matters series looking at Ariba Supplier Network alternatives. We will cover each Ariba supplier network alternative in a series of three-part posts beginning with the provider’s basic background in th…
Rant: Custom Software Development – Is There a Point?
I had a demonstration earlier this year with an organization (that will go unnamed) that decided to build its own internal Spend Management applications, starting first with an application to span the traditional purchase to pay (…
Friday Rant: How Will the Spend Management Technology Landscape Look in 2013 (Part 2)
In the first rant in this series, I proffered an opinion about how the Spend Management P2P technology landscape might look in 2013. Today I’ll turn my attention to the e-sourcing and related category management, advanced sourcing…
Friday Rant: Supplier Networks Have Failed Us
Editor’s Note: this rant is in part based on a forthcoming detailed analysis by Spend Matters looking at the evolution of supplier networks and where networks of the future may take us next.
In the early days of e-procurement,…
