This IDC Manufacturing Insights Perspective summarizes the recent SAP Ariba Live event I had the privilege to attend in mid-March in Las Vegas. I don't know for certain that this was the biggest show SAP Ariba has put on, but it certainly felt that way. For those of us who have been with and around Ariba for a long time, this was the first SAP Ariba Live — just three additional little letters but a really important harbinger of things to come. Last year at this time, or thereabouts, Alex Atzberger had just been named to lead Ariba, and while the business had largely been left alone by parent SAP to that point, the implications of his nomination were unclear. Yet, a year plus into his leadership, SAP Ariba seems on the right road to meeting the stated goal of being the best-in-class procurement vendor. My own worries that SAP ""meddling"" might erode the Ariba brand appear unfounded, as customers both old and new continue to extol the virtues of the business, and the forward-looking road map has never been more exciting.

Contributors: International Data Corporation (IDC), SAP Ariba
Categories: Whitepaper
SRC Type: Risk Management, Risk Management Outsourcing (RMO), Sourcing, Sourcing Management, Third Party Management, Trends