Koozoo Hits Pay Dirt with Ariba Discovery
Koozoo Hits Pay Dirt with Ariba Discovery
Company uncovers hard-to-find suppliers, drives significant costs savings through premier business matching service
SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- As consumers, we often struggle to find the things we need to make our lives go. Those size 4.5 AA shoes. The replacement belt for the vacuum purchased 20 years ago. Likewise, businesses are frequently challenged to match a unique demand to the right supplier. San Francisco-based startup Koozoo recently found itself in just this position. Koozoo is building the world's first crowd-sourced network of continuously broadcasting smartphone video cameras, making it easy for anyone to share fun and informative views of the public spaces they see outside their window. To help their growing community of broadcasters set up their video feeds, Koozoo needed custom-made window mount solutions, and wasn't sure where to look.
"We didn't have an existing supplier database," recalls Ian Thomson, the company's head of business development. "And we needed to identify reliable, flexible partners who would understand that we're a small startup that needs to prove a concept before we can make a large order."
The company tapped into a number of online channels to find them. "We tried Alibaba, but were frustrated by the responses we got from suppliers who clearly didn't understand our requirements," Thomson said. "We tried Google Search, but found it laborious and ineffective to contact each individually through their websites. And we had no luck on sites like eBay or Amazon."
As Koozoo illustrates, there are plenty of tools out there that buying organizations can use to find new trading partners. But figuring out whether these suppliers can meet their needs can be a battle. "The key is to connect to an intelligent network that can deliver detailed information on its members and their activities along with community-generated feedback and recommendations," says Tim Minahan, Senior Vice President, Network Strategy, Ariba.
And this is exactly what Thomson did when he plugged in to Ariba® Discovery™, the premier service for matching business buyers and sellers offered by Ariba, an SAP Company and the world's business commerce network. Delivered via the Ariba® Network, Ariba Discovery simplifies the process of discovering qualified partners for even the most complex and unique items by instantly matching buyer requirements to supplier capabilities and delivering a powerful set of cloud-based tools that enable buying organizations to:
Evaluate profiles and unique qualifying information for nearly one million selling organizations worldwide
Access community-based references and ratings to judge seller capabilities and performance
Gain visibility into e-commerce capabilities and performance with other buying organizations to determine experience level and fit
Track minority and women-owned business status and green certifications to support corporate diversity and social responsibility initiatives
Using Ariba Discovery, Koozoo created six Requests for Proposal for various iPhone, and Android devices as well as custom-made mobile device mount solutions. Within a few days the company received about 10 bids on each, and found five new suppliers, including one who was able to deliver a custom-made solution within a tight timeframe allowing Koozoo to launch on time and lower its cost-per-unit from $17 to less than $1.
"As a startup with extremely limited resources and high investor expectations, using Ariba Discovery has been a huge advantage," Thomson said.
To learn more about Ariba Discovery and the value that it is creating for buyers and sellers around the world, visit: discovery.ariba.com
About Koozoo
Koozoo is a new online platform that allows everyone to share live views of places they care about. Koozoo's goal is to make live views of the world's public spaces easily accessible to one and all. Koozoo is a private company backed by New Enterprise Associates, Tugboat Ventures, and other private investors. The company was founded in 2010 with offices in San Francisco, CA. For additional information, visit www.koozoo.com.
About Ariba, an SAP Company
Ariba is the world's business commerce network. Ariba combines industry-leading cloud-based applications with the world's largest web-based trading community to help companies discover and collaborate with a global network of partners. Using the Ariba® Network, businesses of all sizes can connect to their trading partners anywhere, at any time from any application or device to buy, sell and manage their cash more efficiently and effectively than ever before. Companies around the world use the AribaNetwork to simplify inter-enterprise commerce and enhance the results that they deliver. Join them at: www.ariba.com
About SAP
As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYS: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device - SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 238,000 customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.
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