Ariba Inc. has developed a set of software applications aimed at helping small and medium-sized business to control sourcing costs, minimize risk and improve profits. Ariba StartSourcing and StartContracts are offered in an on-demand mode via the Ariba Commerce Cloud. StartSourcing includes tools for RFX creation and management, competitive bidding and timing of auctions, communications and messaging, sourcing reporting, global and multilingual capabilities, and Web-based buyer and supplier training and online tutorials. In addition, it provides integrated access to Ariba Discovery, an online marketplace for accessing profiles, performance and other qualification information on more than 300,000 suppliers. StartContracts provides the technology and processes for automating contract-management functions. Legal, sales and procurement professionals can create a central, online contract repository for storing agreements; manage contracts across the organization through free-text search and reporting capabilities; and receive notifications about expiring contracts and other key milestones, among other things.
