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Business to business (B2B):
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Business to business (B2B) is the second area to
investigate for eBusiness opportunities. The goal of B2B is to automate Business-to-Business transactions — for example, ordering parts needed
in the manufacturing process. The key question to ask when evaluating B2B opportunities is:
- What opportunities exist to streamline the supply chain?
An example of supply chain automation utilizing B2B follows:
The company receives the customer order from the web site and electronically approves it within its
accounting system, based on pre-set business rules. The order is electronically forwarded to the
enterprise resource planning (ERP)
system. At some point in time, a manufacturing forecast is created. Based upon the forecast,
inventory is checked to ensure the company has enough parts and supplies on hand to meet
the forecast. If not, an automated order of necessary parts or supplies is sent to the
appropriate suppliers. This is the actual B2B transaction. Once the parts are received, the company
builds the products, fills the orders and ships to its customers – potentially without human intervention.
Utilizing eBusiness in this area allows a company to reduce manufacturing cycle times, reduce inventory costs,
and minimize line downtime. It is an important area for evaluation of eBusiness opportunities. B2B transactions
require suppliers and partners to have the technical infrastructure in place to enable full automation of this
process. SCM software like machMerchant are bright examples of how SCM can help businesses acheive esucess.
Know more about Supply Chain Management(SCM)
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Back to: Why Conduct an EBusiness Strategy?
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