8. Innovate Incrementally
Don't worry about big-bang innovation. Customers are ready to consume innovation in pieces. After we chose to focus on spend management, we really created that space from scratch. We knew we had couple of anchor applications to deliver but it took several quarters to flush out the extra pieces we needed to offer.

As we move from exclusively on-premise to also offering on-demand products, we have gradually rolled out portions of the solution. From its debut last year to a larger chunk this spring to today, we've now got nearly 100 percent of the full suite of spend management products re-engineered.

9. Evaluate Regularly
Ariba started out in the catalog business, basically. From there to where we are now is a pretty massive leap. The way we stayed on top was to continually evaluate our capabilities, the market's needs and the new technologies, methods and acquisitions we could use to meet those needs, both today and in the future.

While these observations and evaluations go on regularly, it is important to build in a formal evaluation at some regular interval, perhaps every year.

10. Stick with It
Don't change strategy every six months. Remain true to your mission long enough to achieve it - because it will likely take longer than you thought possible to execute.

Again, part of the secret is to describe your goals in terms of the business value delivered to your customers. As new technologies, business models and delivery methods appear to help you reach this goal, you can evolve your offering accordingly without changing strategy.

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As we celebrate our 10 year anniversary, it is exciting to review the milestones we've passed. It's been a lot of hard work but very rewarding. We appreciate the customers, employees and partners who have contributed to our evolution - and we look forward to working together as the software business morphs into its next incarnation.


Tayloe Stansbury is executive vice president of Products & Operations at Ariba, Inc.

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