<p>Pretty much any industry expert you care to ask will tell you that<br />
b2b integration is critical for improving organizational efficiency and increasing profit margins – but if you ask for a simple explanation of what the term means,<br />
you&#8217;re likely to be met with silence and confusion. This is, in part, due to the fact that the subject itself is fairly complex;<br />
trying to simplify the ideas behind integrating business to business communication would be awkward and result in a significant loss of detail.<br />
Still, most of the definitions you can find,<br />
either on the internet or in your conference room, are heavily laden with jargon, making it hard to wade through the buzzwords to find the straightforward meaning.</p>
<h2><strong>So What Is It?</strong></h2>
<p>In unadorned terms, b2b (business to business) integration is the passage of information from one company&#8217;s systems to another&#8217;s.<br />
What kind of &#8220;information&#8221; that is depends on the businesses involved and their relationship to one another.<br />
One of the easiest examples of b2b communication is between a company and its supplier.<br />
Purchase orders, invoices, inventory lists, shipping notices, and other merchandise documentation all fall under b2b communication,<br />
and processing all of them manually can rack up significant overhead expenses – to say nothing of the cost of resolving errors.<br />
Using integrated b2b communication allows the company and its supplier to interface directly through their information technology systems,<br />
so each has instantaneous access to changes made to the documents and can verify items more quickly and easily.</p>
<h2><strong>Why Does it Help?</strong></h2>
<p>When companies are able to reach beyond the literal walls and firewalls of their own business and share information with their partners,<br />
the normal operations of their business are processed much more smoothly and with less overhead cost.<br />
Financial institutions can share relevant data quickly and securely,<br />
service providers can receive up-to-the-minute updates from their clients about their accounts and needs,<br />
and orders and transfers can be handled more accurately when all the parties involved can connect directly.<br />
This can dramatically reduce errors in deliveries and shipments that negatively impact customer satisfaction or<br />
cause companies to lose sales resulting from desired products being out of stock.<br />
By avoiding the need to ship back products that were delivered in error, shipping costs are reduced.<br />
When orders and invoices are handled automatically online, it&#8217;s much easier to for a company to receive any discounts or bulk rates that their orders may qualify for.<br />
Overall, using effective b2b integration technology solutions brings down costs and drives up efficiency in numerous arenas of corporate interaction.</p>
<h3><strong>How Do You Do It?</strong></h3>
<p>There are a variety of business to business integration technology solutions available to companies today.<br />
Popular integration trends include SaaS (software as a service),<br />
in which the solution provider offers a web-based platform to access the b2b communication service, rather than forcing companies to download, install, upgrade, and troubleshoot the programs on their own.<br />
Cloud-based b2b communication solutions are also increasingly popular, as they allow secure communication and data sharing from any location,<br />
which is invaluable for companies with multiple locations or whose employees frequently travel for business or work out of the office.<br />
Several business technology companies offer consultations to help corporations determine which set of b2b communication and integration solutions will best suit the needs of their business.</p>
<h5>Featured images:</h5>
<p><span class="license">License: Creative Commons</span><br />
<span class="source">image source</span><br />
Marietta has always enjoyed helping out others with their business needs. She also enjoys sharing tips and tricks with others as well.</p>

Back To Basics: Understanding B2B Integration
