Ariba Delivers Perfect Payable In The Cloud

SUNNYVALE, Calif.(BUSINESS WIRE) Why is it so easy for consumers to pay bills online and on time, and so hard for businesses to do the same? Because when it comes to invoice processing, manual methods rule. More than 85 percent of all invoices and payments are still sent on paper. Ariba, Inc., the leading provider of collaborative business commerce solutions, is out to change this. Through market-leading PO-Flip service functionality in its Ariba Invoice Management solution, Ariba enables companies to match and process invoices more quickly and efficiently than ever before. Delivered as part of the Ariba Commerce Cloud, Ariba Invoice Management arms companies with the tools necessary to drive a completely automated, error-free invoice matching process, leading to faster approvals and payments, and ultimately, more effective management of working capital.

"Companies spend inordinate amounts of time and effort processing paper invoices, matching them with contracts and tracking purchase orders, yet they can still see only so far into invoice processes, leaving them exposed to risks such as overlooked billing discrepancies, missed discounts and overpayments," said Joe Fox, Senior Director, Financial and Network Solutions, Ariba. "Ariba Invoice Management is designed to help companies eliminate these risks and deliver the perfect payable."

Ariba Invoice Management provides everything that's needed for buyers and sellers to develop and execute an efficient, effective electronic invoicing process, including:
    * Technology - Market-leading applications to drive a completely paperless invoice process - delivered as scalable, cost-effective and burden-free cloud-based services
    * Community: Ariba Network, the world's largest global trading community with more than 300,000 buyers and suppliers to drive greater collaboration, and Ariba Exchange, an online community of peers and thought leaders for sharing insights and best practices
    * Capabilities: Expertise and skills to fuel more efficient and effective global invoicing, including smart invoice validation against more than 60 business rules; VAT and global compliance; account coding; 2-, 3-, and 4-way matching; routing and approval; reporting and analytics; and invoice processing via a supplier portal, EDI, cXML, CSV, and paper conversion services

With Ariba Invoice Management, buyers and sellers can:
    * Collaborate more effectively via the Ariba Network
    * Reduce operating costs by 70 percent
    * Enable 98 percent touchless processing
    * Eliminate exceptions and simplify dispute resolution
    * Speed straight through processing rates
    * Support global e-invoice operations in more than 70 currencies
    * Improve cash flow management

Leveraging the PO-Flip service functionality in Ariba Invoice Management, companies can automatically convert electronic purchase orders into electronic invoices that are error free and an exact match to the purchase orders."The ability to simply convert an electronic purchase order into an invoice with a click of the mouse is a great feature of Ariba," said Joy Stoelting, studio manager, Big-Giant of Portland, OR. "With paper invoices, it can take weeks or months to get paid. When we use Ariba for submitting electronic invoices, we always receive prompt payment. In addition, I always know when we will get paid, which is a great help in forecasting cash flow."