Some of you might be thinking that I have gone completely off my rocker – 5 posts in the space of 48hrs and a blog post about the 2010 Football World Cup in South Africa (that's a round soccer ball for those of you on the other side of the pond). But here is some food for thought for you…….is today's World Cup draw really much different to the WW ERP market?
32 teams will soon battle it out for the coveted World Cup trophy but the question I am asking is 'Will next year's World Cup serve up many surprises?' Maybe group B is the tough one and seeded nation Argentina will get turned over by Greece or South Korea (I can only hope :)) but even Argentina are just too good to not go through to the latter stages of the competition (as are Spain, Brazil and my home nation England.) Why??
1. Investment: An army of chefs, masseurs, nutritionists and doctors will be keeping a careful eye on players as are they are put through their paces at the end of a long club season (Check out the new SODs and the level of investment being made in Dynamics ERP)
2. Tried & Tested: Every seeded nation has established players playing in the world's most competitive club leagues on a weekly basis. What's more many will not be at their first World Cup (www.microsoft.com/casestudies -> select Dynamics ERP…speaks for itself)
3. Support: 90% of England will be cheering on the national team in the stadium itself (try find a stars and stripes banner when we play you!!) The other 10% will be at home glued to the TV singing God Save the Queen and Rule Brittania (Dynamics ERP is backed by Microsoft all the way – take retail as an example….which other vendor can bring as many assets to bear as we can??!!)
4. Strength to go that Extra Mile: Brazil's Kaka is tiring so bring on Robinho or Luis Fabiano (our partner channel – WOW – they take our products the extra mile and then some with specialized add-ons and expertise)
I do hope that some of the lesser nations like New Zealand get the chance to shine but honestly if they do it will be a one-off……football, like ERP is big business and it is no place for pretenders.
With 3 Lions on my shirt and each and every English shire braced for a repeat of our 1966 World Cup glory (if the US beat us like they did in 1950 I'll up sticks and move to Walldorf) I wish you all a great weekend and c'Mon Eng-er-land!!!
Luke Shave
ERP Industry Marketing Manager