Sterling Commerce and Ariba Partner to Automate Operating Resource Management

Sterling Commerce, Inc., a leading provider of business-to-business electronic commerce software and value-added services, has announced a partnership with Ariba Technologies, Inc. to provide its GENTRAN:Server electronic commerce (EC) message management software and services to Ariba's Operating Resource Management System (ORMS) for the Internet. This partnership aims to significantly reduce the reliance on paper-based procurement and sales processes by utilizing the Internet to automate requests, orders, and payments for equipment and supplies.

Key Takeaways:

• The partnership between Sterling Commerce and Ariba will provide a first-of-its-kind end-to-end Internet-based solution that reduces costs by integrating and automating processes for buying operating resources in a secure and efficient environment.
• The Ariba ORMS enables customers to use corporate Intranets and the Internet to automate the entire process of acquiring operating resources such as industrial and office supplies, and internal services that an enterprise acquires to support its day-to-day operations.
• Nearly 95% of all operating resources are acquired and managed using paper-based processes, accounting for a third or more of the expenditures of a typical Fortune 1000 company.
• GENTRAN:Server will provide catalog interchange format (CIF) tools for suppliers, electronic data interchange (EDI) and data flow management services to the ORMS.
• The partnership will develop the first enterprise end-to-end Internet-based solution to automate the entire acquisition cycle, enabling seamless linking of dissimilar business applications such as Baan, Oracle, PeopleSoft, and SAP.
• ORMS customers will completely automate their acquisition process for operating resources, saving time and money by providing data transformation, routing, and tracking of all requests and payment messages.

Statistics:

• 95% of all operating resources are acquired and managed using paper-based processes.
• Operating resources account for a third or more of the expenditures of a typical Fortune 1000 company.
• 37,000 customers worldwide have chosen Sterling Commerce's electronic commerce solutions.
• Sterling Commerce has over 1,700 employees worldwide and 1997 revenues of over $350 million.

Sources:

• A press release by Sterling Commerce, Inc. on PRNewswire, dated March 24, 1998.
• A press release by Sterling Commerce, Inc. on its website, www.sterlingcommerce.com.