The notion of B2B e-commerce is unique in terms of providing relatively easy access for enterprises and startups to gain contracts that would normally have been out of their reach.
The pre-B2B e-commerce model relied on heavy resource commitment to fulfill its goal of contract management as well as marketing of the enterprises’ products. The traditional approach has marginalized the potential of startups to acquire a large chunk of the global market.
Fast forward to today…B2B e-commerce has revolutionized the concept of marketing, which has inherently led to better resources and contract management. Enterprises can get contracts based on capital and potential of the supplier, which means that there is no need to rely on the buyer’s supply network.
Usage of the B2B e-commerce and contract management
First of all, B2B e-commerce impacts the behavior of the market. Enterprises are now interested in their needs being met rather than in which company meets them. This has a main B2B marketing benefit in the sense that entrepreneurial firms that previously couldn’t penetrate dominant supply networks can now do so.
Linking with the B2B e-commerce market allows firms to place requests for contracts all across the globe rather than spending a massive amount of money on traditional marketing tactics. Small suppliers can also take advantage by offering competitive prices and a top notch service. This positive effect has been quantified in several industries according to research.
Contract fulfillment, however, can be tricky because all stakeholders (manufacturers, suppliers and customers) need to observe individual operations, prices and schedules, production runs, logistics and supply chain processes. Every business activity, such as a marketing campaign or getting a contract, is dependent on the resourcefulness of the staff present within the enterprise.
Contract management training helps to create an informed administrative and technical staff that is aware of emerging processes within the evolving market. This helps to maximize the potential of the staff and also the enterprise’s ability to fulfill its contracts. The turnover is greatly enhanced and, therefore, so is the company’s reputation.
Benefitting from B2B e-commerce
B2B e-commerce allows streamlining the process by keeping all stakeholders aware of each process and automating flows related to production. Secondly, it provides a better method of evaluating marketing related investments. This has been covered in research done by numerous organizations, which indicates that enterprises who gain exposure to new IT based solutions tend to find a seamless flow of information among suppliers, customers and their own staff.
B2B e-commerce has also become the centerfold of ERP systems as encapsulated in a study. Resource planning is now seen with a strong B2B context and marketing theories can be tested in new environments where relative anonymity of a company is not a threat.
The model that has been described above has been successfully applied in the case of the healthcare industry within various countries. The adoption and implementation of the B2B e-commerce model led to better accessibility to providers, reduction in the inventory cost and, most importantly, less medical errors.
Without doubt, e-commerce has transformed enterprises and also opened new avenues of competition. Firms can now rely heavily on technological advantages, network infrastructures and collaborative solutions to manage aspects such as contract fulfillment.
