Ariba Launches CXO Council

Led by former CPO of JPMorgan Chase, global group aims to define future of spend management

LAS VEGAS, NV - May 8, 2006&8211; The company that created spend management has taken another major step in moving the discipline forward. Ariba®, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARBA), the leading spend management solutions provider, today launched the Ariba CXO Council. Comprised of Chief Procurement Officers from some of the world&8217;s leading companies, the Council was formed to help define the future of spend management and drive the people, process and technology innovations necessary to achieve excellence. Led by Javier Urioste, the former Chief Procurement Officer of JPMorgan Chase Bank, the Council will meet today at Ariba LIVE, the premiere conference for spend management executives being held this week in Las Vegas.

&8220;Procurement has undergone a dramatic transformation in the last decade,&8221; Urioste said. &8220;But the low-hanging fruit has already been picked. To get to the next level, innovators and thought leaders are going to have to team up and share their vision on how to transform procurement and make it a strategic enabler that drives value across their organizations.&8221;

Designed to spark this dialogue, the Ariba CXO Council is comprised of 20 procurement executives from leading companies, including: Accenture, Alcoa, AXA, BHP Billiton, Hewlett-Packard, Medbuy and MetLife, among others. Working closely with Ariba executives and solution owners, the Council will define the processes and best practices necessary to drive spend management excellence and outline the solutions, expertise and services requirements to support them. The group will meet twice annually.

&8220;The opportunities yet to be realized in spend management are significant, but they require difficult actions and more thorough thinking to execute,&8221; Urioste said. &8220;This group has all the right players to produce breakthroughs in strategy that can take things to the next level. There are certainly other organizations that do thinking along these lines, but few have the unique opportunity to actually effect change by collaborating with a leader like Ariba to influence the development of the solutions and best practices that will drive spend management success in the future.&8221;

&8220;At Ariba, we understand that the future of spend management is rooted in a strong commitment to organizational change and a solid focus on redefining the cost structure within companies,&8221; said Lou Unkeless, Chief Marketing Officer, Ariba. &8220;By working together with decision makers from leading procurement organizations, we can continue to develop innovative technologies and services that enable organizations to drive this change and build the skills necessary to develop spend management as a core competency and achieve excellence.&8221;

Source : Ariba, Inc.