Comments on: It’s time to play – Turn Back the Clock http://www.esourcingforum.com/archives/2008/05/29/its-time-to-play-turn-back-the-clock/ The source of information and best practices in strategic sourcing. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:32:03 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Andreas http://www.esourcingforum.com/archives/2008/05/29/its-time-to-play-turn-back-the-clock/comment-page-1/#comment-11247 Andreas Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:09:01 +0000 http://www.esourcingforum.com/archives/2008/05/29/its-time-to-play-turn-back-the-clock/#comment-11247 I love this post, too. In 2000 the analysts predicted a prospering e-Sourcing market, in 2002 they predicted, that all the vedors will disappear! 2001 was probably the hardest year for e-Sourcing, as unlike e-procurement the prodcuts were not only covering existing processes, but demanded a complete shift in working. Sometimes you only have to have a look, where the analysts were raising their data and you know: the report is not the money worth, it was printed on. Does anybody know a report, where there was a good prediction? I am not talking about the no-brainer prediction, that "there will be consolidation" ... after 8 years in e-Sourcing and e-procurement market I really lost the faith in the analysts! I love this post, too. In 2000 the analysts predicted a prospering e-Sourcing market, in 2002 they predicted, that all the vedors will disappear! 2001 was probably the hardest year for e-Sourcing, as unlike e-procurement the prodcuts were not only covering existing processes, but demanded a complete shift in working. Sometimes you only have to have a look, where the analysts were raising their data and you know: the report is not the money worth, it was printed on. Does anybody know a report, where there was a good prediction? I am not talking about the no-brainer prediction, that “there will be consolidation” … after 8 years in e-Sourcing and e-procurement market I really lost the faith in the analysts!

]]> By: Charles Dominick, SPSM http://www.esourcingforum.com/archives/2008/05/29/its-time-to-play-turn-back-the-clock/comment-page-1/#comment-11235 Charles Dominick, SPSM Fri, 30 May 2008 19:31:25 +0000 http://www.esourcingforum.com/archives/2008/05/29/its-time-to-play-turn-back-the-clock/#comment-11235 I love this post! I love this post!

]]> By: Eric Strovink http://www.esourcingforum.com/archives/2008/05/29/its-time-to-play-turn-back-the-clock/comment-page-1/#comment-11234 Eric Strovink Thu, 29 May 2008 14:21:35 +0000 http://www.esourcingforum.com/archives/2008/05/29/its-time-to-play-turn-back-the-clock/#comment-11234 "The ERP Vendors Will Conquer All" has been a recurring theme with analysts since time zero. There were similar predictions about the Time & Attendance space, which was viewed as an easy vertical that would be trivially swallowed by the ERP vendors. Well, here we are in the present, Kronos dominates the space, and the ERP vendors failed completely. In their defense, analysts have to make predictions, and inevitably many of those predictions are going to be wrong. And, it's hard for analysts to avoid the watered-down doublespeak that is necessary to keep the firm's vendor clients happy, while at the same time delivering useful advice to end users. However, I think that the main problem that analysts face is the insidious corporate culture of "avoidance of personal risk." There was a recent article in one of the business publications pointing out that this culture breeds mediocre CEOs who are canny political survivors rather than the innovators and leaders that we really need. So, what's an analyst to do, other than recommend a "safe bet," one that can't be attacked by his client's political enemies? And what could be "safer" than an ERP vendor? It's a major Catch-22. “The ERP Vendors Will Conquer All” has been a recurring theme with analysts since time zero. There were similar predictions about the Time & Attendance space, which was viewed as an easy vertical that would be trivially swallowed by the ERP vendors. Well, here we are in the present, Kronos dominates the space, and the ERP vendors failed completely.

In their defense, analysts have to make predictions, and inevitably many of those predictions are going to be wrong. And, it’s hard for analysts to avoid the watered-down doublespeak that is necessary to keep the firm’s vendor clients happy, while at the same time delivering useful advice to end users.

However, I think that the main problem that analysts face is the insidious corporate culture of “avoidance of personal risk.” There was a recent article in one of the business publications pointing out that this culture breeds mediocre CEOs who are canny political survivors rather than the innovators and leaders that we really need. So, what’s an analyst to do, other than recommend a “safe bet,” one that can’t be attacked by his client’s political enemies? And what could be “safer” than an ERP vendor?

It’s a major Catch-22.

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