The business landscape is under a constant transformation. One of the major reasons of transformation is digitization.
Digital revolution has transformed the business ecosystem and so its components such as customers and suppliers. This change can be challenging if not dealt properly. To operate in such environment, companies need to establish a system that facilitates closer collaboration and communication.
Here the role of the technology comes into play. Proper technological paradigms can enable business align with the change and drive business forward. One such technological solutions is B2B integration.
In this article, you'll find what B2B integration is and how it can help business drive forward through connection, collaboration, and communication.
3 Cs of B2B Integration: Connect, Communicate, and Collaborate
B2B integration is a modern technology that allows business digitally connect and communicate with business ecosystem entities such as manufacturers, shippers, retailers etc. in a reliable fashion. Along with that, a B2B integration solution helps companies function and collaborate across the business ecosystem. It automates business communication by connecting applications and systems across the contours of the business ecosystem.
Simply put, B2B integration involves a strategy that fosters business process automation and strengthens the foundation of a business.
What is the need for B2B Integration?
Most organizations today take the support of B2B integration integrate, automate, and optimize applications and business processes that allow various entities of ecosystem customers, suppliers, logistics companies and financial institutions connect each other.
It makes data exchange more secure and cost-effective, providing a wide range of feature including, supply chain analytics, and community management, business process management, supply chain visibility, among others.
What are its Features?
After understanding what B2B data integration is, let us find what are its features. Some of the most common features:
- • Collaboration Portal
B2B integration platforms provide a web-based interface that business users can use to function businesses and set up fresh connections. Collaboration portal for internal as well as external users helps organizations create s holistic view, thus enabling them create connections and resolving problems encountered - all from a single platform.
With the help of a collaboration portal, organization's ability to make improved decisions to reap rewards including, sustained communication and improved relationships with stakeholders.
- • Standard Customer/ Supplier Portal
This portal allows organizations offer business-critical to their respective partner. Not to mention, they learn about connections and create along with manage myriad data interfaces. Therefore, the need to create proprietary portals gets eliminated.
- • Application Connectors
Modern B2B integration solutions encompass a variety of pre-built application connectors that integrate various on-premise or cloud application such as MS Dynamics, NetSuite, Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk, Dropbox, Twitter, Facebook, OFX, and many more. This feature automates business processes.
- • Monitoring Dashboard
Monitoring dashboard is a feature that allows companies view information exchanged in real-time. In addition, it can be used to monitor historical logs. The dashboard also helps to detect problems or errors encountered while data is being processed.
- • Shared Templates
B2B integration solutions create transaction templates which, in turn, helps to receive and transmitting business information that may include, orders, shipping details, orders, contacts, and more. These shared templates can be used to create business connections easily.
In addition to that, B2B integration solutions have features like security, Transaction Configuration Wizard, Data Mapping, data protocols, data formats, and a message center.
What are the Benefits of B2B Integration?
B2B data integration solutions provide a number of benefits including,
1. Improved Data Quality
Currently, data integration solutions improve the quality of data by alleviating manual intervention and forming a virtual quarantine. The integrity, as well as the accuracy of data, also increases, and so the risks of dealing with corrupted data are minimized and secure data exchanges are allowed.
2. Enhanced Visibility and Control
Businesses savor supply chain and operation visibility with B2B integration. It is responsible for allowing data together and make it visible along the contours of organizations. Along with the real-time visibility featured, B2B data integration allows companies improve performance.
3. Accelerated Onboarding and IT productivity
B2B integration solutions increase onboarding speed up to 80%. Hence, instead of waiting for months or weeks, customers can be onboarded in a few days, thus increasing the company's time-to-revenue. So, enterprises can maximize their ongoing engagement and productivity.
In summary, data integration platforms can help organizations boost data quality and improve onboarding, thereby enhancing productivity and fast-forwarding revenue.
