There’s a slow, slow train comin: Epilog for the Ariba Interviews

Under the headline “Ariba is in demand claims finance chief” (refer to the March 4, 2009 post: http://procureinsights.wordpress.com/2009/03/04/there%e2%80%99s-a-slow-slow-train-comin%e2%80%99-up-around-the-bend-epilog-for-the-ariba-interviews/), Ariba’s chief financial officer Ahmed Rubaie claimed that “a 71% leap in subscription software revenues is proof that Ariba has firmly transitioned itself into an on-demand technology company.” The only real question that remains is “how will the market respond as albeit smaller but more nimble and “technologically seasoned” vendors who have been in the SaaS space from the beginning emerge to compete directly with what was undoubtedly one of the industry’s former “traditional model” titans. A titan, who it is worth noting, racked up enormous losses that if not for a war chest that rivaled that of a small country might have fallen prey to becoming a distant memory of a failed experiment re the “big up front pay, future ROI” programs associated with the old school licensing models. Today's show will delve into the specifics of the Ariba "transformation" in an attempt to understand what it really means for both the company and the market. Guest: Tim Minahan, Chief Marketing Officer, Ariba (Bio Link: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1862843).