For Patrick Grady, the consumerisation of enterprise applications is long overdue: “As a consumer you can go on to Amazon and buy a book in three mouse clicks. But go on a corporate intranet and try to buy office supplies through a system such as SAP or Ariba and it’s tantamount to a heart transplant.”

Mr Grady is founder, chairman and chief executive of Rearden Commerce, a small California-based company that has developed a web-based assistant, which acts like a personal concierge. It gives users one point of entry to a wide range of goods and services, and then updates the user’s calendar, sends invitations and even notifies them of changes via e-mail, text message or phone.