Two damning posts ago we wrote about influential damnation #75 Consortiums and how they were the damnation you couldn’t live with but yet couldn’t live without. However, consortiums are not the only damned-if-you-do but damned-if-you-don’t situation that you need to deal with this year. The other is the mobile movement.

Consumerization has been coming to supply management for almost a decade, heralded in by the likes of Coupa who lead the quest to bring B2C to B2B. And the current consumer craze is the mobile craze (which, by the way is so bad as a result of the social media frenzy that recent studies indicate that mobile devices are damaging 70% of relationships). It’s not just taking consumer sites by storm — every enterprise software provider and their doggy mascot are running around in circles trying to figure out how to implement mobile functionality in their supply management software suite.

This will be both a blessing and a curse. A blessing in that you will be able to access reports and key data on the go, your delivery personnel will be able to log deliveries on the go, and your customers will be able to check the status of deliveries on the go — but it will also be a curse. First of all, your ability to work anywhere, anytime means that you will be expected to work anywhere, anytime. Secondly, even small amounts of data entry will be painfully difficult due to small screens and even smaller keys. Third, the limited computing power and mobile bandwidth will make even simple processing tasks difficult and drive you absolutely crazy when you try.

And then there’s the social media craze that that’s going to ride the mobile movement bandwagon and bring a whole new level of craziness to the B2B world. You need to manage relationships with your suppliers, which means you have to manage relationships with your suppliers’ personnel — who believe that relationships are best maintained on FaceBook, that brief communiques are best delivered through Twitter, and that pictorial communications are best communicated through Instagram — on your phone. It’s mobile mania — and it’s going to take over your organization and your personnel. (And continue to ruin society.) Get ready!