Procuri Empower: Dispatch One

A Class Act

Even though I expect this year to be short on information regarding product and company substance given the pending Ariba acquisition, Procuri's Empower is nevertheless starting down the same class-act front as last year's event. The attendee list looks solid -- perhaps more senior than last year -- and the festivities and networking so far have been above average for events this size. I really need to hand it to Tim Minahan and his marketing team for pulling off such a classy affair. On the gossip front, only two partners pulled out of the event from a sponsorship/display perspective given the pending deal with Ariba.

Without disclosing names, one is a direct eProcurement competitor to Ariba, the other, a "large financial services" company who can never seem to execute on its well-thought-out Spend Management visions -- at least so far -- is also noticeably absent. Stay tuned throughout today and the rest of this week as I can continue to share what I learn from the event on these pages.

Also, as a final event "kick-off" note, I have absolutely zero reason to expect the Ariba deal not to close, at least from the Procuri perspective. From my vantage point and previous corporate development background, everything appears to be progressing normally -- even faster perhaps -- than you might expect in a post LOI/definitive agreement situation. But what do Procuri customers think of becoming Ariba customers? Check back to find out.

- Jason Busch