One version of the truth?
When you get two ex-accountants together, talk invariably turns to numbers. Dennis Howlett and I spent some time at the Plex conference a week ago and in discussing the book on SAP I am working on he advised me: “watch your numbers” It’s good advice and I have reached out to more analysts for data […]
Is the Cloud Disappearing or Darkening at SAP in Procurement?
SAP is shaking up its cloud business. Or perhaps the cloud is shaking up SAP. Both Vishal Sikka, who championed HANA on the executive board level, and Shawn Price, the president of SAP’s cloud business unit for only a few months, have left (see news coverage here and here). While there are different views on […]
Exploring e-Procurement Market Trends: No Winner Here
In the past quarter, we have gotten numerous calls from venture capital firms that wanted our opinion on the e-procurement (and broader Source-to-Pay) market, including growth and vendor prospects. As a favor, we try to spend a bit of time with them on the phone. But we suspect many leave more confused than when the […]
Bob Calderoni and Kevin Costello to Leave SAP – A New Chapter for Ariba Inside SAP
Spend Matters has learned from multiple sources that Bob Calderoni (formerly CEO of Ariba and currently President of SAP Cloud) and Kevin Costello (current President of Ariba within SAP) will be stepping down from their respective positions. Their current or future roles inside or out of SAP have not been announced, but sources suggest they […]
Ariba’s AribaLive conference reviewed
I attended the AribaLive event in Berlin last week – this is the European conference for Ariba customers and partners to share stories, network and learn from one another. Ariba is a company which provides electronic sales and procurement solutions for companies. There are over 1 million companies in 190 countries using Ariba. Customer companies […]
Sourcing reinvented: cloud supply chain and spend management
If the future is a networked world, then we may well find that the future belongs to sourcing vendors. No other category of vendors has had its landscape transformed so fundamentally by the advent of the Web, to the extent that leading vendors such as Concur and Ariba took early decisions to wholly rearchitect their […]
The SAP Business Suite and HANA
Most folks using procurement technology would rather not get into the underlying bits and bytes of technology architecture, let alone the nuances of database technology. For the most part this makes sense, though we’d argue that for systems integration, a lot of incremental business value in the P2P and services procurement areas can be derived […]
SAP cloudwashes its image
Watching the playoffs this weekend, I chuckled when I saw SAP is the NFL’s Official Cloud Software Solutions provider. Not sure how much it cost SAP but they are clearly eager to be considered “cloudy”. Since the revenues show a tiny cloud profile (prelim 2012 results show cloud revenues at EU 270 m in IFRS, […]
Coupa’s Suite: From Procurement To Accounts Payable (Part 1)
In only a few years time, Coupa has gone from a purchase-to-pay (P2P) upstart to the fastest growing eProcurement provider, besting the growth of companies many times its size in new customer wins, adoption levels and percentage revenue increases, among other metrics. In a recent press release, Coupa shared some figures around this growth, including […]
3 Essential Procurement Services For Small and Middle Market Businesses
We’re big believers that 2013 is going to be the year that procurement technology adoption takes off in the SMB procurement market. But which technologies across the source-to-pay continuum are most suited to small and middle market environments? Hint: it’s only a handful. Granted, there are opportunities for the full suite of capabilities (including strategic […]
