In the second paragraph of my previous comment the sentance “the move is more designed to address the paradoxical differences tier one organizations are now facing relative to their pricing models and the continuing high rate of e-procurement/supply chain initiatives,” should have read, “and the continuing high rate of e-procurement/supply chain initiative failures, and the emergence of SaaS metaprise-based solutions.”

With 85% of all initiatives continuing to fail worldwide in both the private and public sectors, support of the traditional business models is becoming untenable.

After losing $3 billion on $1 billion in sales between 2001 and 2004, the purported synergies between Ariba and Procuri notwithstanding, the move is more designed to address the paradoxical differences tier one organizations are now facing relative to their pricing models and the continuing high rate of e-procurement/supply chain initiatives, and the emergence of SaaS metaprise-based solutions.

This is the reason that SAP introduced a $10K trial license for their strategic sourcing module in 2007, and why DUET (previously the Mendocino Project) as well as Service Oriented Architectures are a priority with SAP as well as Oracle.

When you read the The Ariba Interviews article, you will begin to see the thought process behind the Procuri move as being one of what will become many attempts by the company’s leadership to make the difficult transition to a model that is more reflective of the emerging platforms while simultaneously trying to maintain their present model.

In a period of discontinuous innovation in the ERP/software world, this is truly an attempt to steal second base while still keeping their foot on first. And has Kodak discovered with digital imaging, the likelihood of meaningful success with this type of dual strategy is remote.

http://blog.sourcinginnovation.com/2007/09/21/my-thoughts-on-the-ape-circus.aspx