Taming the Impossible with Spend Management

For the uninitiated, Washington DC is a rather beastly place. Sure, it has a great subway system and zoo, but the district also has one of the highest per-capita crime and poverty rates in the country, and a corrupt city administration known more for smoking crack and hiring prostitutes than legislating innovative policy. Just this summer, the city has been put on a crime wave alert because of rising violence. I guess you can't expect much from a city where the former "bitch set me up" mayor was quoted as saying: "If you take out the killings, Washington actually has a very, very low crime rate." Given these factors and my belief in the need for strong urban leadership -- sure, my local mayor in Chicago, Richard Daley, has some issues, but at least he gets the job done -- DC is not on my list of places to live or even visit, if I can avoid it. But might things be changing for the down and out District? Ariba would like to think so, as it just licensed its eProcurement and invoicing applications to the public school system in the city. It's a good thing that the public school system is the one acting as a guinea pig for Spend Management for the city, as I doubt the "find it, get it, keep it" message would translate very well to the legislative branch given that Marion Barry is now back in office. "Find it, steal it, smoke it" might be more appropriate ...

- Jason Busch