EXPERTCOMMERCE TO OFFER DECISION EVALUATION ENGINE

ExpertCommerce Inc, www.expertcommerce.com, announced the release of its decision-evaluation technology for Web-based suppliers, procurement managers and net markets that will enable organizational purchasers to make the most accurate purchasing decisions online.

ExpertCommerce's Web-based, patented and patent-pending evaluation Engine is the first decision-evaluation engine for the Internet marketplace to be driven by the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), the most widely applied decision- making theory in use today. The AHP methodology, designed to intelligently simulate the way in which people actually process information, was developed by Dr. Thomas Saaty who later co-founded Expert Choice Inc, the largest vendor of AHP-based decision evaluation software in the world, and whose client list includes Fortune 100 companies and government organizations worldwide. ExpertCommerce, through an exclusive agreement with Expert Choice, has implemented this renowned decision theory for use in Internet-based applications. Through this partnership, ExpertCommerce is bringing this proven, powerful methodology online for the first time. Additionally, Dr. Saaty has joined ExpertCommerce's advisory board.

"The emergence of net markets on the Internet has given businesses and organizational purchasers an overwhelming array of choices. Having access to a proven decision-making technology will not only be an essential component of the online purchasing experience, but will also put those who do not employ such a technology at a serious competitive disadvantage," said Jon Fisse, President of ExpertCommerce. "The launch of ExpertCommerce's eValuation Engine introduces the first truly intelligent decision-evaluation engine that is powerful enough to enable truly dynamic and interactive transactions between buyers and sellers -- beneficially impacting the bottom lines of all stakeholders."

The Technology

Unlike filter tools, multi-variable search engines and intelligent agent technology, all of which fail to accurately incorporate the essential tradeoffs that lie at the heart of every decision, ExpertCommerce's eValuation Engine is driven by AHP algorithms that are transparent to the user. The engine, powered by AHP, enables buyers to structure a purchase decision and prioritize important business/corporate objectives with respect to the acquisition of a particular product or service.

"Expert Choice has supported the offline decision-making needs of thousands of leading businesses, government agencies and other organizations throughout the world. We are pleased to join forces with ExpertCommerce to provide them with our proven techniques for decision-making," said Ernest Forman, DSc., Principal and Co-Founder of Expert Choice and Professor of Management Science at George Washington University. "ExpertCommerce addresses the critical need for decision support in the B2B procurement market." In addition to a licensing relationship, Expert Choice has significant economic and strategic stakes in ExpertCommerce.

The Purchaser Experience

Through an intuitive, graphical and user-friendly format, users of ExpertCommerce's eValuation Engine are first asked to make a series of tradeoffs among a given set of criteria, thereby establishing their priorities. Available products from the supplier's or net market's database are then algorithmically mapped to the user's corporate priorities and a ranked list of alternatives based on the tradeoffs made by the purchaser is generated.

With an initial set of database results in hand, the user is then able to examine how toggling the organizational weightings they have ascribed to the considered factors changes their decision, allowing them to instantly perform sensitivity analysis, (e.g., "how would the results change if the organization were relatively more sensitive to factor X?"). These results are presented in a graphic format so the user can understand exactly why the relatively higher ranked choices are the best fit for them. These additional results are made available to the user on a real-time basis.

Additionally, the eValuation Engine enables purchasers make head-to-head comparisons of products or services. At the end of the ExpertCommerce process, the buyer will be able to substantiate that the final decision is consistent with relevant business rules with the supporting data accumulated through the tradeoff process.

About ExpertCommerce Inc

Founded in 1999, with headquarters in New York City, ExpertCommerce Inc is a privately held, venture-backed company whose mission is to enable truly dynamic and interactive transactions between buyers and sellers and thereby beneficially impact the bottom lines of all stakeholders. For more information, please visit www.expertcommerce.com.

About Expert Choice

Expert Choice's software is used worldwide for high-level offline decision- support by government agencies and Fortune 100 companies, including Xerox, IBM and Ford. For more information, please visit www.expertchoice.com.

Contact Connors Communications, Julia Sullivan 212-807-7500, julia@connors.com.