Suppliers include Global Sports Access, GT3, Park n Fly Network and RazorGator
San Mateo, CA — June 26, 2006 — The services marketplace Rearden Commerce this week announced three new service categories, extending its offering to include Airport Parking, Car Service and Event Tickets purchases.
The new services are integrated into the Rearden Commerce Network, using the Rearden Personal Assistant to coordinate activities within the employee's calendar and provide automatic alerts via phone, e-mail or SMS in the event of any change in plans.
The company said its next-generation platform utilizes Web services and is delivered on-demand, enabling it to deliver new features, service categories and suppliers every few weeks.
Rearden also announced the addition of new suppliers, including Ground Travel Technology Team (GT3) for car service, Global Sports Access and RazorGator for event ticket services, and Park N Fly Network for airport parking.
Rearden Commerce said travel and procurement managers have faced challenges enforcing expense policies, consuming vendor contracts and leveraging discounted rates because employees go to numerous independent Web sites to research, purchase and coordinate services. The firm said it is building on its core travel offering to provide a single online marketplace for all types of services, providing companies more effective control over spend and offering employees a simple, streamlined experience.
Rearden Commerce is rapidly delivering new types of services and new suppliers so employees and businesses will be able to use one site for all their purchasing — from travel and car service to package shipping and airport parking, said Tony D'Astolfo, vice president of travel services for Rearden Commerce. With a single, simple environment that allows employees to book any service from any device, anytime and anywhere, Rearden Commerce is providing procurement and travel managers a new ability to guide employees to cost-effective choices.
Because services are deeply intertwined with people's work and personal lives, Rearden Commerce said its Personal Assistant goes beyond basic purchasing to coordinate schedules, colleagues, services and content on behalf of the user according to his or her identity, organizational role, location and preferences. For example, after an employee books a flight, Rearden Commerce will offer the option to reserve off-airport parking within their travel-planning workflow.
The Rearden Personal Assistant automatically integrates services details into an employee's productivity applications, such as Microsoft Outlook or IBM Lotus Notes, and uses e-mail, SMS, fax and telephone to provide alerts to users and their contacts. From a corporate purchasing perspective, the Rearden Commerce Network enables travel and procurement managers to transparently enforce policies at the point of purchase and to focus spending on their vendors and suppliers of choice.
Rearden Commerce added that merchants can connect to its Network in a matter of hours using the company's Services Business Language, a library of integration standards. By joining, suppliers immediately gain access to a network of more than 500,000 contracted users at both mid-sized and Fortune 500 companies.
