Over at Spend Matters (here and here), there’s a heated debate over Coupa’s recent marketing campaign and it’s claims to better Ariba in many areas. Now I’m not going to jump into that fray – I’ve spent too many years as a copy writer and music critic to bother with marketing claims and hyping the flavor of the month.
In my mind, the one thing that stands out in differentiating purchasing software is ease of use. End-users don’t care if they work for a multi-national, multi-billion dollar company or if they work for a local firm with single-digit FTEs. They are users of a system and by default they expect things to work easily, smoothly and efficiently. It’s as simple as that. Just because you work for a multi-national doesn’t mean you should expect that the tools you use should be complicated.
Bizconnect’s recent poll shows just this (albeit that their research might be a bit shifty):
43 percent of the respondents said the most important feature they look for when evaluating new purchasing software is ease of use.
So what exactly is ease of use.
Well, today many purchasing software developers look at what Google is doing in the domain, or the major internet webshops. I would say that strategy is rather reactive. In an increasingly mobile (in all senses of the word) world – anything developed with a laptop or stationary computer in mind is going to be second-tier by the time they’re closing in on their release date. If your not convinced, check out this blog-post at Google Mobile; Smarter Shopping with Google Moblie to see where internet commerce is heading.
With smart phone sales boosting the entire mobile phone market in 2009, up by 23.8 percent year over year according to Gartner it’s a no brainer to see where development budgets should be going in the future.
Smartphone sales to end users continued their strong growth in the fourth quarter of 2009, totalling 53.8 million units, up 41.1 per cent from the same period in 2008. In 2009, smartphone sales reached 172.4 million units, a 23.8 per cent increase from 2008. More at Gartner.
It’s a fair guess that many a smart phone ended up in the pockets of business managers looking for ways to better manage their daily work (whilst keeping a front of success and innovation). Smart phones are ease of use. Mobile, simple, efficient and always online.
No matter where the war of words between Coupa, Ariba and the numerous commentators end up – purchasing software providers that do not support smart phones in the near future will not be seen as front runners or purveyors of ease-of-use. They’ll just be more of the same old that we are struggling to leave behind.
