Tools: Menu : B2B

B2B Checklist : download PDF
If you're building an electronic marketplace or an online extension to your business, the B2B Checklist can help you identify issues to consider as you plan for a productive online experience with your customers and trading partners.

1. Which of your current business processes take too much time?
Marketing? Order processing? Fulfillment? Customer service? Support? Which could be accomplished quicker in online environment?

2. What additional services would you like to offer your business customers?
Can you maintain customized catalogs for key business partners and update them quickly when pricing or inventory changes? Would your customers value having instant access to their complete purchasing history?

3. What do your competitors do online?
What services do they offer their customers or trading partners? Do they participate in vertical or cross-market marketplaces online?

4. Are suppliers numerous and fragmented in your industry?
Would federating suppliers speed communications and create efficiencies? What does it cost to maintain relationships with each?

5. How much could your company save if you had real-time access to your supply chain?
If you could close an inventory gap or avoid excess inventory during promotions? Do you have a way to quantify the business value of making an IT investment to add these capabilities?

6. What are your trading partners' main concerns about doing business online?
Privacy? Security? Speed? Points of failure? Uptime? How can you address each?

7. What advantages can you show your trading community about doing business online?
Speed of information? Real-time data exchanges? Improvements in forecasting? Inventory management? A larger targeted market for goods and services?

8. If you have a bricks-and-mortar business, what are the business consequences of not participating in an online trading community?
Do you have unique or unsold inventory? What are the benefits of providing real-time access to selected business process data? How would it change your relationship to each customers and supplier?

9. What is your current procedure for forecasting demand and ordering goods for special promotions, such as 2-for-1?
What was the cost, in terms of actual loss or lost opportunities, when forecasts have been incorrect?

10. In exchanging data with trading partners, how will you handle multiple data formats?
Is there an XML schema for your industry?

11. How will you generate demand for your site?
Which other online organizations would be logical allies with whom you could create cross-selling or promotional opportunities?

12. How will you handle order processing and fulfillment?
How can you automate processes to open bottlenecks?

13. Does your IT department have the know-how to build a secure, automated procurement or accounting system?
What training would they need to do this?

14. Which Web services make sense to outsource?
Developing? Application hosting? System integration site hosting? Online marketing? Will training solve the gap? What criteria will you use to choose an outsourcing partner?

15. Does your training services partner offer full service training?
Is performance consulting available? Is skills training available in the right format for your needs, such as online or instructor led? Are they skilled in assessments?

16. If you are Web-enabling an existing enterprise, which departments stand the most to gain?
Which executive would be the B2B champion?