B2B Primer

What is a B2B Processing Network?

A B2B processing network refers to a business community… the combined set of business partners and business processes that are automated using B2B processing.

Many kinds of business partners may participate in one or more B2B networks.

• Customers

• Distributors

• Government Agencies

• Logistics Providers

• Outsourcing Partners

• Service Providers

• Suppliers (direct and indirect)

eBusiness partnerships are sometimes called:

• Business-to-Business (B2B)

• Business-to-Consumer (B2C)

• Business-to-Government (B2G)

We use the term “B2B” to include all of the above variations.

In addition to automating processes with individual business partners, B2B processing networks may take advantage of community processing services, for example:

• Company identification

• Product information

• Process status

B2B processing networks are created over multiple years.

Companies should define an eBusiness roadmap to systematically increase B2B processing by adding more business partners and B2B processes.

The power of a B2B processing network increases as ?
more partners participate and more processes are automated.