Almost nineteen years ago, Touchstone Pictures asked What About Bob?, not knowing what a profound question this would be for the Supply Management space, which had not yet truly emerged, nineteen years later. And before you ask what is that crazy doctor referring to, be assured that I’m going to tell you. But first, a little background.
A little over a year ago, Dennis Moore, Susan Scrupski, Thomas Otter, Vinnie Mirchandani, Jeff Nolan, Jason Busch, Zoli Erdos, and pretty much anyone else who mattered in the Enteprise Blogsphere came together and created the Enterprise Irregulars, a central point where anyone who wanted a multi-faceted snapshot of what’s going on in the Enterprise space could go to get it. Little did we know that would be the first milestone on the path to Analyst 2.0, the new analyst model for the Supply Management space. Shortly after, Jason Busch of Spend Matters decided to double down. He expanded the number of voices he allowed to contribute, increased the rate of publication of his Perspectives, and announced bold new changes coming in 2010, which began with the new Compass publication series, which are essentially an Analyst 2.0 spin on the classic Aberdeen model. (The only difference being that instead of sponsoring one big fat [dry] metric filled research study, you sponsor a four-part series that addresses emerging trends and related issues as well as best practices with a dash of metrics thrown in for good measure.)
Then Mr. Horses for Sources himself, Phil Fersht, decided it was time to go all-in with the new Analyst 2.0 model and formed a whole new Analyst Firm dedicated to Global Sourcing Performance.
And now we have turmoil at the Analyst 1.0 firms who are trying to stay relevant. Gartner acquired AMR, and Andrew Bartolini, who was the VP of Global Supply Management Research (and who succeeded Vance Checketts who succeeded Sudy Bharadwaj who succeeded Tim “Mr. Perfect” Minahan), has departed Aberdeen to create his own Analyst 2.0 offering over at CPORising.com.
There’s so much going on right now, and so much noise being made, that I just have to ask What about Bob? You see, while most of the space is going gaga over all of the hullabaloo surrounding the emergence of Analyst 2.0, they’re forgetting two important truths. One, it’s about substance and quality, not flash and delivery. And two, quietly toiling away over in a little corner of The Ferrari Consulting and Research Group‘s piece of the web, is Bob Ferrari who has been plugging away on Supply Chain Matters for over two years now, bringing you deep thought and analysis on a variety of topics on a weekly, and occasionally daily, basis. He’s good. He’s great. He’s wonderful. And he’s too modest to ask it himself. So I’ll ask it. If you need a real analyst, with decades of experience, including stints at IDC and AMR, What about Bob?