(February 17, 2004) - So far, we've established a number of key dynamics in the Enterprise Sector of the ATS Market:

1. It's tiny and fractured. 20 (or more) companies compete for $200M to $500M in annual business. Consolidation is likely if this year is not better than last.
2. The hidden dynamic is IT's desire to standardize on a single platform (Peoplesoft). Unfortunately, the Peoplesoft recruiting tool is worse than unusable (and unused by most -90%- licensed customers). Currently, IT is the driving factor in most procurement decisions.
3. There will always be a lowball pricing entrant keeping price points damagingly low.
4. The real product isn't software at all (even though the purchasing process is framed as a technical requirements development process).
5. Most projects fail (driving 50% of the potential market to develop internal solutions).
6. Project failure is caused by the requirements development process which focuses on software functionality rather than organizational outcomes.
7. Recruiting is an information process that varies broadly around an idealized system. Effective installations must meet idealized objectives (for Regulatory purposes).
8. Successful installations involve detailed, individualized training and requirements review with each user of the system.
9. Customer satisfaction measured by talking to a subset of users is a meaningless measurement.
10. A more effective measure of the worth of an ATS is its contribution to specific strategic corporate goals.