Last week, I got the heads up from my colleague, Andrew Bartolini, that he was going to leave the Aberdeen family to pursue other opportunities. To me, this seems like a very newsworthy event, as Andrew was the face of Supply Management for Aberdeen and will not be easily replaced. I also do not think that Abderdeen was expecting this, so there will likely be some large gaps they need to fill quickly. Knowing Andrew, I am sure he will be involved in some type of cordial transition.

From a personal perspective, I could not be more happy for him. I have to believe that he is making this move to redefine his role in the supply management industry. He is not going to a vendor, so I would put the money down that he will be launching his own vision of how analyst content should be generated and distributed. It would be a bold move, and one that I think the market would embrace.

From a professional perspective, I think it could usher a new era in analyst coverage for sourcing and procurement. Andrew has a deep network and strong knowledge base. By creating his own model, it might generate interest in a new way for analysts, vendors and practitioners to collaborate and improve. With the recent market consolidation around Gartner/AMR, there is certainly an opportunity for a start up to succeed in this area.

I truly look forward to seeing what Andrew ends up doing. It might end up being a big win for everyone.