IACCM -- Blogging Live (Dispatch 1)

After an uneventful trip, I made it to IACCM just a few minutes after Tim Cummins opening keynote began. While the pearls of wisdom in the initial discussion so far have been somewhat limited -- other than the need for closer collaboration between legal and procurement and the challenges of globalization -- I have high hopes for the rest of the presentations. But what struck me most so far is as I sit here typing away in the vendor lounge area is one particular vendor booth touting "SharePoint for Contract Management" alongside the contract management Rolls Royces who are also in attendence -- Upside, Emptoris, Ariba, Nextance, Emptoris, and SAP just to name a few. SharePoint? Man, next thing you know Microsoft will be focused on the entire Spend Management lifecycle. Regardless, it's a shame that Redmond can't get a simple operating system right -- I refer to Vista here -- despite the fact that different providers and SIs are customizing SharePoint and selling it as a Contract Management tool. What's next? Perhaps we'll also see a presentation dedicated to the wonders if Excel Macros (wait, a good many don't work without modification in Office 2007) ...

- Jason Busch