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LARGE BUSINESSES with many supplier and customer relationships
can make conducting business on the Web significantly easier. By turning to a
model with dynamic pricing capabilities, such as Ariba Dynamic Trade,
companies can focus the supply and demand of goods and services, increase
their global supplier and customer reach, and reduce operational costs.
Dynamic Trade 1.5 provides the tools necessary to buy and sell goods in a
digital marketplace. Released earlier this year, Dynamic Trade is a key
component of Ariba's Commerce Platform. Ariba is the market leader in
business-to-business services and competes closely with Commerce One and Moai
for providing services and solutions for procurement and dynamic
marketplaces.
Ariba's comprehensive solution supports a wide range of marketplace types,
in-depth business and bidding rules, and granular permission settings for
creating and conducting dynamic commerce on your Web site. Considering its
comprehensiveness, it's obvious why Ariba is the market leader.
Even with a starting price of $100,000 for the installed solution, Dynamic
Trade is competitively priced. Ariba will charge a flat fee for the hosted
version (that price has not yet been determined) as well as a transaction fee
of 1 percent to 3 percent per transaction.
I accessed a preconfigured hosted site; however, this solution can also be
installed in-house, which is typically the customer's preference. Dynamic
Trade can be made fully customizable via the use of APIs and in conjunction
with an Ariba Integration partner.
Dynamic Trade offers four user interfaces: Trader is the interface for
participating in a marketplace such as bidding and trading; Designer is for
market designers to customize market rules; Operator is for administrators;
and Analyst is for reporting on market results.
Creating and designing marketplaces is done via the Designer interface, where
I could select from a variety of market types such as auction, reverse
auction, and exchanges. Within each of these, I could select and define
options, such as single or multiple units for an auction or whether an
exchange is periodic or continuous, via Web forms with drop-down menus and
radio buttons. Dynamic Trade offers all of the typical auction types,
including English, Dutch, Japanese, Sealed Bid, Open RFQ (request for quote),
and Clearing Exchange.
This solution's variety of options and settings provides the flexibility
necessary to customize trading business goods and services to select
individuals, which enables companies to target the demand of their supply
groups. For instance, I set specific business rules regarding which suppliers
could participate in an auction, and I set discounts for specific groups of
customers. If a trader belonged to more than one group, I selected which
discount applied to that trader's bid.
I also determined what auction information is released and to whom, such as
names of bidders and how much they bid. I defined settings for clearing
rules, such as what to do in case of a tie, if bids could be withdrawn or
replaced, and who could place proxy bids. These rules and settings can be
saved for setting up future markets for your trading community.
The Trader interface was also impressive, with areas for viewing current
auctions, messages for upcoming markets, and a favorites tab for tracking
particular markets, a feature similar to Moai's and BayBuilder's Hot Lists.
When I accessed markets, I could drill down into information such as bidding
history, rules for bidding, and details describing the item or service. These
details not only gave me a wealth of information on the item but also
enlightened me about how to place bids.
As an administrator, I accessed the Operator interface to manage users and
groups, set up categories, and view the status of auctions. For setting up
initial users (suppliers and traders) and categories of products, the
administrator uses the import feature, which pulls existing data from XML
files, making loading data faster. Dynamic Trade gives administrators the
capability of setting granular permissions on groups, such as which interface
users have access to and which views they will see when they log in.
This solution also gives administrators an overall view of information in the
digital marketplace. For instance, I drilled down into an auction and viewed
bids and trades that took place as well as read comments that were added to a
bid. The administrator also has access to records useful for tracking an
auction, such as audit logs to see who has been on the site.
Unfortunately, the Analyst interface for viewing reports about historical
trends was not available for my review. Such reports are useful in tracking
markets and analyzing demands for future markets.
Throughout the solution, I had access to extensive online help akin to online
documentation. In some instances, tutorials were available, such as when
using the Designer to create markets. Ariba also offers training and
professional services.
Corporations that are trading complex products or professional services
should investigate starting an online marketplace. Ariba's Dynamic Trade is a
comprehensive solution for creating and maintaining your trading community
and is well worth considering. In addition, companies that choose Dynamic
Trade will have access to the Ariba buyer and supplier base to further their
global reach. This customizable solution will help strengthen your company's
trading community with its impressive interface and complex market options.
Senior
Analyst Lori Mitchell (lori_mitchell@infoworld.com)
covers Internet-based collaboration and auction tools.
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BOTTOM LINE
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Dynamic Trade 1.5 
BUSINESS
CASE
This comprehensive trading solution offers great flexibility for creating
and managing a digital marketplace. Corporations can heighten their
global communities and increase revenue by selling more via negotiated
pricing.
TECHNOLOGY
CASE
Dynamic Trade can be installed in-house or hosted by Ariba for
organizations with limited internal IT support. Web designers can work
with Ariba to customize their companies' marketplaces by using APIs.
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PROS
+ Very comprehensive
+ Supports wide range of marketplace types
+ Clean interface
+ Detailed, granular security permissions for groups
+ Complex auction settings
+ Great online help, including tutorials
CONS
- Wireless support available only with programming
- Analyst interface not available for testing
PLATFORM
INFO
Installed: Microsoft Windows NT, Sun Solaris
COST
Installed: starts at $100,000; hosted: flat fee (not determined) plus
transaction fees
COMPANY
Ariba Inc. Mountain View, Calif.; (888) 487-2339; www.ariba.com
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