Monday 28 November, 2011

Faster, smarter sourcing decisions and the savings and efficiencies that come with them are no longer the exclusive domain of large corporations.

Ariba, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARBA), the leading provider of collaborative business commerce solutions, has officially leveled the playing field, announcing today that Ariba® StartSourcing™ is now available at no cost. Delivered on-demand in the Ariba Commerce Cloud, Ariba StartSourcing is a unique offering designed to help small and medium enterprises boost their performance and profits by more efficiently and effectively locating trading partners and negotiating for the goods and services needed to fuel their operations.

“eSourcing has been shown to be one of the most effective tools to drive costs out and improve operating efficiencies. By offering their solution for free, Ariba is providing smaller enterprises with great access to one of the most proven and effective tools in the industry,” said Andrew Bartolini, Managing Partner and Chief Research Officer, Ardent Partners.

Sourcing Made Simple in the Cloud

With the click of a button, mid-market companies can access Ariba StartSourcing and tap into everything needed to structure and execute sourcing events that increase savings, shore up supply, and improve performance through an easy-to-use interface at no cost, including tools for:

• RFX creation and management
• Auctions, competitive bidding and timing
• Communications and messaging
• Sourcing reporting
• Global and multi-lingual capabilities
• Web-based buyer and supplier training and online tutorials

They can also access Ariba Discovery, a next-generation business matching service through which buyers can quickly identify and qualify trading partners from a global community of over 700,000 selling organizations and sellers can access new business opportunities with Global 2000 buyers in active purchasing cycles.

“Better commerce is for everyone,” says Tim Minahan, Chief Marketing Officer, Ariba. “With the enterprise-class functionality delivered in Ariba StartSourcing, companies of all sizes can more efficiently connect with their trading partners around the world and negotiate best-value agreements that improve their cost structures and competitive position.”