Sunnyvale, CA—Jan. 17, 2012—The world’s business commerce network is about to get bigger. Ariba, Inc. is joining forces with Thomas Industrial Network to connect more buyers and sellers around more commerce in the fast-growing category of industrial MRO.
Under the terms of a newly-formed partnership, Thomas Industrial Network, an online division of Thomas Publishing Co. that provides procurement professionals, engineers, and plant and facilities management with access to the detailed information needed to make purchasing or specifying decisions, will offer services to enable the more than 650,000 suppliers that it currently supports to do business on the Ariba Network.
Ariba, in turn, will automatically match the capabilities of Thomas’ suppliers to the requirements of Ariba buyers and provide a common platform through which they can connect and transact business.
“Companies today are looking beyond the four walls of the enterprise to connect and collaborate more efficiently with their customers, suppliers and trading partners across the street and around the world. And, increasingly, they are finding that business commerce networks are the fastest, most efficient way to do this,” said Jason Kurtz, vice president, Ariba Network.
Companies around the world use the Ariba Network to transact more than $200 billion in commerce each year. By joining forces with ThomasNet, Ariba can expand this community and the value it delivers.
In addition to Thomas’ suppliers, buying organizations on the Ariba Network will have access to ThomasNet’s comprehensive, attribute-rich private catalogs, which they can integrate with their procurement solutions, including ERP systems, to enhance and accelerate the results that they deliver.
“Finding and qualifying leads for new business requires significant time and effort,” said George Short, vice president, Thomas Industrial Network. “Connecting ThomasNet suppliers to a network through which they can automatically receive and respond to RFPs from buyers in active purchasing cycles allows for increased speed and better business opportunities.”
Ariba will distribute leads to ThomasNet’s suppliers through Ariba Discovery, the service for matching business buyers and sellers globally delivered through the Ariba Network. In the past 12 months, more than $3 billion in new business opportunities have been offered through Ariba Discovery, over 15 million leads distributed and more than 15,000 matches between buyers and sellers made.
For more information, visit www.ariba.com/commercecloud/.
