Zycus Speaks -- Market Observations: 2010

Before the holidays, I reached out to a number of the larger software providers in the sector as well as some of the rapidly growing mid-size providers to get their perspectives on the trends and observations on which they're banking in 2010. While I look forward to sharing the thoughts of SAP, Oracle, Emptoris, BravoSolution, and possibly others in the coming weeks, I've got to thank Zycus, which pounced first on the opportunity to share its perspective (extra credit always goes to those who go the extra mile for bloggers on a deadline). Right before the holiday break, I had the chance to catch up with Zycus's Anurag Dixit, who offered up a few of his ideas on what 2010 was likely to serve up to both Zycus and its customers.

Dixit suggested to me that, on a fundamental level, the market had picked up quite well in Q4; most notably, there's been a healthy upward trend in prospect technology and service acquisition in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. Moreover, companies, especially those who might be a bit behind their peers, are "wanting to make up for lost ground" by implementing "a suite or combination of products" from the start, rather than slowly building momentum and justifying each module based on the ROI of the last. Not surprisingly, given where it stands, Dixit also suggested that Zycus is seeing a trend toward best-of-breed decision making over technology-platform rationalization.

Zycus is also seeing "significant demand for supply information management" as companies begin to think more seriously about improving supplier performance and reducing risk. But savings still counts, and Zycus is also seeing larger sourcing deals as companies move from pilots or limited engagements to company-wide initiatives. How does Zycus plan to take advantage of this improved market demand? It plans to keep "building out the suite, downstream and upstream." What might that mean? I suspect a year from now Zycus's footprint will look more like that of an Ariba than of other vendors focused on only one or a handful of areas of the Spend Management arena.

- Jason