Services ; E-Commerce B2B

E-Commerce - Exploiting the Business to Business Model

B2B e-commerce is being driven from two sides. At the pragmatic level are businesses looking to use technology to develop improved ways of working and relationships with trading partners up and down the supply chain. At the other end of the spectrum are the e-commerce product and service providers who are developing new ideas and concepts and hoping that some will fly. Much of the attention given to B2B relates to the emerging and embryonic developments such as e-marketplaces, and e-exchanges, but in reality most of the actual use is at a lower level in the e-commerce implementation cycle.

B2B e-commerce is of interest to a wide variety of large and small businesses but there is also confusion with managers unsure how to define it and, more importantly, how to implement it. It could be said that B2B e-commerce is used to:

• Attract, develop, retain, and cultivate relationships with customers
• Streamline the supply chain, manufacturing, and procurement processes and automate corporate processes to deliver the right products and services to customers quickly and cost effectively
• Capture, analyze, and share information about customers and company operations in order to make better and more informed decisions

The development of B2B e-commerce

The confused picture is not always helped by the wide variety of articles on such a complex subject. There is no single route map that a hard pressed business manager can follow to ensure they are part of the B2B success story. There is a huge difference between using e-commerce to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of existing trading procedures and exploiting the newer business concepts in a way that only a small percentage of organizations are currently doing.
The five steps to B2B e-commerce

It is possibly easier to describe B2B e-commerce as a development process made up of a number of stages. At present this can typically be broken down into:

Stage 1

The business has an interest in getting on-line, can see that it could bring competitive advantage and is increasingly aware of the need to maintain competitive parity. The company doesn't use e-mail and has neither Internet access nor a company web site.

Stage 2

The Internet is being used as a marketing and communications tool. There is a company web site for increasing their marketing reach and the Net is used to gather information regarding possible competitors and suppliers. E-mail is used widely with trading partners but there is no link between any web activity and existing back office systems.

Stage 3

The business uses the Internet to interact with their customers. Their use of e-commerce has developed to the point where they are offering a full service storefront and possibly an online account management facility. Stage three is frequently split into two, with some companies stopping at the online store and not providing any integration into their back office systems for whatever reason. However Stage three can only be said to be fully implemented when such integration has been achieved.

Stage 4

This can almost be seen as an internally facing development as the business uses Internet technologies to extend integration. Everything from their on-line shopfront through to manufacturing and fulfillment is brought together and information can be gathered from all parts of the business. This allows the company to move towards a more integrated, on-line relationship with trading partners.

Stage 5

The business joins online exchanges, e-marketplaces and related services, using the Internet to connect them with business partners, suppliers and customers. There is a potential of significant pricing efficiencies. At this point they could consider themselves to be part of a full B2B e-commerce scenario.

Impact of B2B on business processes

B2B e-commerce impacts across key areas within a business although the level of impact may vary according to the particular emphasis being given to an implementation.