Chapter 25: Business-to-Business and Business-to-Consumer

“All of the animals except man know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it.”

—Anonymous

Overview

Today’s business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce environment offers companies of all sizes dynamic and exciting business opportunities, but it is rife with uncertainties and challenges. Although most analysts still expect the volume of goods and services sold through B2B e-commerce to climb into the trillions of dollars worldwide in the next few years, the uncertainty seems to be growing. In the face of all of the confusion surrounding B2B e-commerce, most companies are struggling to understand where their real opportunities lie and how they can make strategic technology investments that align with today’s business objectives while providing the flexibility to help them respond to rapid changes in the business landscape.

To help companies make informed decisions and capitalize on the right opportunities, this chapter discusses solutions designed to help companies integrate business partners more effectively. Although this notion encompasses a wide range of business challenges and solutions (including supply chain management, procurement, and CRM), this chapter focuses specifically on one concept: supplier enablement. The supplier enablement initiative and technology solutions (whether they be B2B or B2C) are aimed at helping companies of all sizes to sell to their trading partners more effectively by integrating with customers’ procurement systems, as well as e-marketplaces and other electronic sales channels—all from a single e-business foundation. No matter how large or small a business is, or how complex or simple its business processes, supplier enablement solutions makes it easier for a company to reach its customers through whatever purchasing method they prefer.

More specifically, the supplier enablement solutions leverage existing and new technology investments, open technology standards, and partnerships to empower suppliers to reach the broadest set of buyers. This was done by selling both directly from and beyond their own Web site, through a range of cost-effective, high-performance solutions that offer superior scalability, reliability, and time-to-market.