B2B and E-Business

My observation in today’s business world is that organizations are increasingly dependent upon connectivity, primarily via the Internet. This coupled with the demand to lower cost through increased efficiency has led many IT managers to embrace Internet or Intranet solutions, which often utilize SOA web services. These services are often involved in the supply chain of the organization, as well as other areas of the organization that require sophisticated IT solutions. This has given rise to the Business-To-Business approach over the past 5 years, which involves the interconnectivity of an organization’s supply chain with that of their suppliers and/or vendors. Some advantages of this include:

Managing inventory more efficiently;
Adjusting more quickly to customer demand;
Getting products to market faster;
Cutting the cost of paperwork;
Reigning in rogue purchases; and
Obtaining lower prices on some supplies (Varon, 2001).

E-Business is not simple and quick, and often takes countless dollars and hours of manpower to achieve the goals of this type of Information Technology. The idea of B2B and E-Business is not new, however, the technologies and methods that are being used to drive it are changing at a radical pace and continue to evolve today. CIO has a great E-Business resource center, with case studies, the ABC’s of B2B, interesting articles, and more at: http://www.cio.com/enterprise/ebusiness/index.html. Some of the companies that are leading the charge in E-Business include companies such as UPS, General Motors, Amazon, Intel, and IBM (eBusiness at MIT, 2005). I think that as the technologies and services that are being developed for B2B are fine-tuned and become more standardized, the B2B model will itself become standard. The capabilities of the B2B model, along with the expanded use of the B2C, or E-Commerce, model will redefine the way organizations interact with each other as well as the flow of information and knowledge throughout the organization.

Resources:
1. eBusiness at MIT, 2005. MIT Sloan School of Management. Retreived Jan. 20, 2005 from: http://ebusiness.mit.edu/index.html.

2. CIO.com, 2005. E-Business Resource. Retrieved Jan. 20, 2005 from: http://www.cio.com/enterprise/ebusiness/index.html.

3. Varon, Elana. August 20, 2001. ABCs of B2B - E-Business Research Center - CIO. Retreived Jan. 20, 2005 from: http://www.cio.com/research/ec/edit/b2babc.html.

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