Aravo Launches SIM 10(TM): The First Enterprise-Class Global Supplier Information Management Platform

ISM 2008 -- Aravo Solutions has unveiled its new on-demand Supplier Information Management (SIM) platform Aravo SIM 10™. The platform was designed and built to assist global enterprises in gaining control over supply chain management challenges while minimizing the risks of inefficiencies and unanticipated failures in the supply chain. The launch announcement was made today at ISM's 93rd Annual International Supply Management Conference in St. Louis.

"More stringent regulatory mandates and increased pressures to outsource have significantly increased the challenges global enterprises face in managing supplier information," said Aravo CEO Tim Albinson. "Enterprises in all industries can improve their bottom lines by replacing the traditional jumble of legacy point-solution supplier information tools with a single, comprehensive platform that provides collaborative functionality and real-time visibility into supply chain processes."

Developed from Aravo's market-proven, industry-leading supplier information management platform, Aravo SIM 10™ was designed to address global enterprise requirements for comprehensive functionality, security, reliability and scalability in one integrated, easy-to-deploy enterprise solution. Like other enterprise-ready SaaS-based platforms such as Salesforce.com, Aravo SIM 10™ employs a collaborative self-service model that can be quickly deployed around the world to solve the most formidable, costly and risky supply chain challenges.

"The management of supplier information, complex CSR programs, and initiatives is no longer a back-office task operating in the shadows," said Carolyn Duffy, Executive Director of Insite Compliance Services, a leading-edge compliance management organization. "Daily front-page headlines on product recalls, lead-tainted consumer products and unethical procurement practices have brought supplier information management to the forefront and highlighted the broader role it plays in adding value to companies' global supply chain."

Live demonstrations of Aravo SIM 10™ are available this week at the ISM Conference in St. Louis. Participants are invited to visit booth number 118 to experience the benefits of Aravo SIM 10™'s enterprise-ready architecture with prepackaged customer-driven solutions and vertical market modules enabled by the new Aravo platform.

Aravo SIM 10™ Satisfies the Demanding Requirements of Global Enterprises

The newly upgraded product is based on an enterprise-grade SaaS architecture to meet the infrastructure needs of global organizations with complex supply chains. Built on the concept of self-service and automation, it provides easy-to-use, role-based dashboards that pull together disparate pieces of information from diverse areas of the business and aggregate third-party and supplier-generated data into a centralized master data repository.

Suppliers self-author their own information and submit it to their enterprise buyer partners through a workflow-based submission and approval process. All supply chain participants, no matter where they are located, have instant 24x7 access to accurate information with whatever level of detail they need to perform their jobs. Both suppliers and buyers can see a full audit history of all changes made to supplier data.

Aravo SIM 10 addresses all critical supplier information management needs and functions of global enterprises, including:

--  Supplier Risk and Compliance Management - Aravo SIM 10™ provides a
    structured framework for supplier risk assessment and scoring to determine
    the core elements of a supplier's risk profile. Examples of risk categories
    include: financial, geographic, labor, code of conduct, availability of
    labor/materials, and toxics/carbon. Aravo  automates the analysis and
    reporting of supplier risk scores based on these criteria, and delivers
    contingency-based rules to determine dynamic contingency plans and
    workflows for corrective actions planning.

--  Supplier Data Enrichment as a Service - Aravo SIM 10™ integrates with
    external data enrichment providers (such as Dunn & Bradstreet and
    StrikeIron) using batch and real-time, Web-Services interfaces, resulting
    in continuous data enrichment and validation.

--  Vendor Master Management - Aravo SIM 10™ allows global enterprises to
    centralize the management of supplier information across regions, divisions
    and departments, providing a single repository for the management, approval
    and maintenance of supplier information of all types. Aravo SIM 10™ allows
    enterprises to maintain a single view of the supplier with highly nuanced
    hierarchy and permissions controls to ensure the supplier record reflects
    the needs and requirements of all users across the enterprise. Aravo SIM 10
    also offers complete integration framework for the automated pushing and
    pulling of data from multiple internal enterprise systems.

--  Sustainability Program Management - Aravo SIM 10™ offers the market's
    first commercially available sustainability program management platform
    with a focus on sustainable supply chains. Pre-packaged solution offerings
    include supplier/factory audit, carbon assessment, toxic substances
    compliance and green sourcing/procurement.

--  Enterprise Supplier Collaboration - Aravo SIM 10™ provides a single
    platform from which to manage all communications and collaboration between
    the supplier, internal stakeholders and external service providers such as
    auditors. It captures supplier communications such as emails, notes and
    documents in one place for viewing by all with audit trails and a data
    repository.

--  Flexible Architecture - The global enterprise expansion features of
    Aravo SIM 10™ support multi-national and multi-business-unit deployments,
    which typically require the ability to configure the application according
    to complex organizational corporate hierarchies. SIM 10 handles these
    complex deployments by enabling the enterprise to control functional areas
    such as data organization, roles/responsibilities, searching, permissions,
    security, reporting, business rules, and integration.