Ariba Inc., a vendor of software for supplier management and collaborative business commerce, is making its Ariba Contracts application available on the Force.com platform. The new tool, designed entirely for access in the cloud, helps companies to improve their vendor contracting through real-time collaboration. Users can engage in a paperless contracting process in a hosted environment. The results, claimed Ariba, are faster contracting cycle times, improved revenues and more strategic partnerships with customers. The use of Force.com eliminates the need for client/server hardware and software. In addition, employees can use the social capabilities of Salesforce Chatter, including profiles, status updates and real-time feeds available within Ariba Contracts. Force.com also allows Ariba Contracts to be instantly mobile-enabled, with contracts accessible on mobile devices such as the Android, BlackBerry, iPad and iPhone. Ariba Contracts on Force.com features a central repository to manage, store, structure and search for sales contracts; a Web-based, smart phone-enabled user interface to create, locate and connect contracts to sales opportunities, and templates to drive the attributes and required elements of sales contracts.
