SAN FRANCISCO, July 15, 2009 – Aravo Solutions, Inc., the leading provider of on–demand Supplier Information Management (SIM) software and services, today announced the latest release of its Aravo SIM software, which introduces the Aravo Supplier Productivity Pack. With new features like Preferred Supplier Tracking and Dynamic Surveys, the Aravo Supplier Productivity Pack helps eliminate an organization's maverick spend and improves both buyer and supplier productivity.

In a down economy, increasing cash on-hand can be crucial to a company's survival. Maverick spend, when companies forfeit negotiated savings with preferred suppliers because employees continue to buy from the wrong suppliers, can usually be identified as one of a company's most controllable expenses. It is also often the largest expense. According to Accenture's recent study, "Procurement to Payment Processes," which surveyed and interviewed 50 large enterprises on procurement practices, maverick spend accounts for as much as 32% of overall buying.

The Aravo Supplier Productivity Pack introduces Preferred Supplier Tracking which reduces maverick spend by facilitating purchasing from pre-approved suppliers. Preferred Supplier Tracking allows users to designate suppliers as preferred based on multiple variables including commodity or service, geography and business unit. For example, a team in China should be sourcing through preferred suppliers in Asia while a team in Europe has preferred vendors in that geography.

To further improve productivity and to increase the accuracy of supplier information, the Aravo Supplier Productivity Pack has enhanced functionality in a number of other areas including:

• Dynamic Surveys: To facilitate on-boarding and ongoing supplier management, the surveys dynamically change the questions asked of suppliers based on their answers. Suppliers are only asked specifically pertinent questions, increasing usability and streamlining the process.
• Bounced Emails: The Aravo Workflow Engine has been enhanced to support immediate tracking of undeliverable emails to suppliers. Tasks are re-routed and buyers are immediately notified that key contact information is inaccurate so that they can take corrective actions without waiting for information requests to expire or missing critical tasks.
• Real-time Tax ID Validation: Aravo has added a direct 3rd-party data integration with the IRS to ensure that supplier reported Tax ID numbers (EIN & SSN) are matched and verified with the IRS via automated TIN matching. Failed matches will automatically route tasks and notifications to the appropriate resource to correct the invalid data.

"We've found that most large companies spend 80 percent of their time managing preferred suppliers that account for about 20 percent of their supplier base. That means that there may be outdated contacts or inaccurate information for up to 80 percent of their suppliers," said Tim Albinson, founder and CEO of Aravo. "Our goal with the Aravo Supplier Productivity Pack was to give companies a way to better manage all their suppliers and to mitigate supply chain risk with more accurate supplier data."

For more information about the Aravo Supplier Productivity Pack, please visit www.aravo.com.

About Aravo
Founded in 2000, Aravo reduces the cost of managing supplier information by up to 72 percent, according to leading analyst firm AMR. The world's largest companies trust Aravo to manage their global supplier information. Aravo's core product, Aravo SIM, reduces costs by automating supplier management and providing real–time data that makes supplier relationships more cost effective and reduces risk. From supplier management to risk management to supply chain sustainability, Aravo's Application Suite solves today's most demanding supplier information management challenges. For more information, visit www.aravo.com.