I can recall meeting Sam Kinney, founder of Free Markets (which Ariba later acquired) in a Delta Crown room in 1996 and hear him expound on the joys of reverse auctions and "near commodities". I remember a number of conversations with Paul Melchiorre as he left SAP to run sales for Ariba in 1998. He was always unhappy with Gartner's coverage of the embryonic e-procurement market. I can remember walking the halls at Ariba a few times in 2000-2001 to discuss alliances with the marketplace company I had co-founded.
So it was nice to catch up this week with Craig Federighi, CTO of Ariba. We did not talk much technology. We did talk about how "SaaSy" his company has become. How vibrant their supplier communities continue to be. How Free Markets has expanded its intelligence on commodities and suppliers with staff in E. Europe and China.
And how SAP and Oracle continue to win when they sell the broader technology integration story. Take it from a sourcing consultant. Commodity and vendor landscape knowledge trumps integration by a long payback shot.
It defined the category a decade ago, It continues to do so.
