Of Potatoes and Protein

I love potatoes. Shows in my slender figure. But I cannot change the reality that I will get 7 to 8 times as much carbs as protein from them spuds.

Brian Sommer laments, like I do, the lack of innovation from the major ERP vendors. But then he goes on to say "the consultancies are the clear leaders here (around innovation)".

That's where I have to bring in the potato analogy. Services firms - and telcos - don't do innovation. They talk about it, expect premium for it, but they deliver bulk. Brian and I both played the game at Accenture and PwC respectively.

Last year BusinessWeek reported "While Intel Corp spent $ 5.1 billion last year on research and development, AT&T spent just $ 130 million. The word "research" doesn't even appear in Verizon's annual report"

Ditto for services firms.

I would rather goad SAP and Oracle and Cisco and Siemens into more innovation, and cheer on emerging startups which push them in to innovation, than expect it from Accenture and AT&T.

I want bulk from the latter - at staple prices.