Perfect Highlighted as a Top Provider in Goldman Sachs B2B Strategic Sourcing Report

Business Wire, Feb 27, 2001

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 27, 2001

Perfect today announced the inclusion of their strategic sourcing solution in the Goldman Sachs' B2B Software Technology Report. Issued on February 23, 2001, the report provides a comprehensive overview of the landscape of strategic sourcing benefits, trends and leading providers. For a copy of the report, please contact Janel Hopper at 650/798-3375 or Hopper@perfect.com.

In an economic slowdown, large companies are looking for substantial savings. Goldman Sachs cites that enterprises are expected to spend a total of $3.5 trillion on external providers and estimates that the strategic sourcing market will grow to $2.4 billion by 2005 with a combined aggregate growth rate of 60%. By bringing the negotiation process online, providing analytics and decision support, companies create efficiencies through reduction of negotiation time, elimination of buyer and supplier mismatches and uncertain negotiations. Therefore, strategic sourcing will reduce total purchase costs by as much as 30% and sourcing cycle times by more than 50%.

Perfect is featured in the report as it offers a real-world buyer and supplier negotiation solution that merges over 100 years of offline sourcing progress with the benefits of online commerce. Perfect Sourcing(SM) allows users to conduct complex sourcing and negotiations through an optimization engine that factors multiple-weighted buyer preferences such as quality, delivery, contract terms, price, supplier ratings, etc. Results are ranked and scored to facilitate decision support. Suppliers automatically engage in relevant sourcing exercises based on customizable selling rules that act as an exponential sales force. Perfect Sourcing provides intelligent workflow and can evaluate millions of combinations of attributes, constraints and bill-of-material line items.

An essential component within a strategic sourcing solution is analytics. Goldman Sachs states that the analytic component is an imperative differentiator in choosing a strategic sourcing solution because it provides companies with quantifiable ROI to justify investments. Perfect provides analytic support through Perfect Insight (SM), a product that allows senior management to drive down sourcing cycle time and reduce direct materials costs. By incorporating online analytical processing (OLAP), to interpret negotiation and transaction information, Perfect Insight allows users to decipher buyer preferences, uncover market trends, and better understand the dynamics between purchasing behavior, supply factors and bidding strategy.

About Perfect

Perfect provides advanced strategic sourcing and decision support software to Fortune 1000 companies, allowing enhanced supplier relations and up to 30% improvement in their bottom line. Perfect Sourcing(SM), comprised of Perfect Buyer and Perfect Supplier, allows users to conduct complex requirement specification, negotiation and selection processes through an extended enterprise workflow and decision support system. Its auction engine provides unrivaled -- and previously unavailable -- buyer side decision support by evaluating and scoring multiple-weighted buyer preferences such as quality, delivery, contract terms, price, supplier ratings, etc. Suppliers are quickly and easily engaged in the process, guaranteeing their support and engagement in the e-sourcing process. Perfect Insight(SM) provides strategic sourcing analytics that allow senior management to drive down sourcing cycle time and reduce direct materials costs. Perfect Insight ensures that the vastly improved sourcing process enabled by Perfect Sourcing yields a wealth of actionable strategic insights. Perfect Process Designer(SM) allows non-technical personnel to configure (and later to re-configure, as necessary) Perfect Sourcing with the particulars of their sourcing process. It dramatically shortens implementation time, slashes risk, and empowers the sourcing organization to keep their e-sourcing system up to date.

Perfect was founded in 1999 and is based in Palo Alto, California. Its investors include SOFTBANK Venture Capital (www.sbvc.com), New Enterprise Associates, Allen & Co., Bessemer Venture Partners, WitSoundview, NeoCarta Ventures, Odyssey Capital Group, Primedia Ventures, Staenberg Private Capital, and Angel Investors LP. For more information, please visit www.perfect.com.

Note to Editors: (c) 2000, 2001 Perfect, Perfect Commerce, Perfect.com, Perfect Sourcing, Perfect Insight, Perfect Process Designer and the Perfect logo are trademarks and/or service marks of Perfect Commerce, Inc. All other company, brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.