Briefings Direct

Find the podcast on iTunes/iPod. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: Ariba.

It's impossible to factor the implications of cloud computing without examining the context of all the other major business and technology trends in play today.

To gauge the potential business benefits -- and threats -- from cloud, we also need to examine the confluence of these developments and how together they change businesses and business ecosystems.

The implications of companies collaborating more efficiently over extended information networks is appropriately then the theme for the upcoming Ariba LIVE Conference in Las Vegas, which kicks off on April 10, 2012.

To help better understand the complex drivers of the next wave of business productivity, BriefingsDirect interviewed Ariba’s Chief Marketing Officer, Tim Minahan, in advance of the conference. The networked economy comes as a consequence, says Minahan, of the major business and IT trends of the day -- those being cloud computing, mobile, social, and big data.

To appreciate the full impact of the networked economy, we need to recognize how previously internal processes are now becoming increasingly externalized. Cloud computing, the force behind a lot of this extended
business process innovation, has let loose the imagination of businesses to consider how to do commerce anew.

The good news is that shaking up the status quo is enabling massive efficiencies with more active market benefits, shared by more participants, as they cooperate and collaborate in entirely new ways.

As a leader in cloud-based collaborative commerce, Ariba has a unique observation of where the networked economy is headed. To gain a better idea of how business networks will drive the future of commerce, Minahan recently sat down with BriefingsDirect's Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions.

Find the podcast on iTunes/iPod. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: Ariba.