Accelerate Your Data Exchange Processes with B2B Integration

Before engaging with customers, or in other words selling, transacting, and doing business with them, organizations must sell, transact, and do business with other businesses. To digitally connect as well as communicate with other business ecosystems including, retailers, manufacturers, shippers, etc., they must rely on powerful B2B integration software solutions. 

Even though it’s obvious that organizations need B2B integration solutions to drive data sharing and exchange processes, it’s not easy to implement them well, which is why multiple enterprises employ cloud managed services for their specific B2B processes. Prior to choosing a B2B integration solution, however, businesses need to comprehend their needs and know how they can leverage these solutions to kickstart revenue generation processes using these platforms. 

How Can B2B Integration (B2Bi) Help Businesses Drive Forward?

A good B2B integration isn’t hard to find online, but companies must simplify it as much as possible: B2B integration, or B2Bi, involves automated business communication across myriad ecosystems. It entails a comprehensive digital strategy that enables business integration to kickstart business forward. 

In the current digital environment, business users need to connect, communicate and collaborate with customers, partners, suppliers, and service vendors. 

So, the question is, why do businesses need a B2B integration platform?

Every enterprise uses its own approach to execute data exchange processes across its trading partner ecosystems. That means every business uses a different system, applications, cloud, etc. that need different formats, B2B security protocols, and governance considerations. B2B integration solution helps these technologies – and they don’t communicate with each other. 

The final objective of B2B integration is to amplify external logistic workflows and system integration throughout multiple supply chains and value chains. Further, it enables end-to-end process execution that includes global community management and supply chain visibility – for comprehensive control of companies’ mission-critical business data exchanges. 

How Does B2B Integration Drive Data Exchange?

Business integration involves a series of steps like taking information from an internal source, application and transferring it to the end external application. As far as the type of technology is concerned, companies can employ on-premise, cloud-based, hybrid or a combination of both. Furthermore, B2B integration software needs to support hybrid integration and cloud integration scenarios. Discover these four components of a standard B2B integration process. 

Source Application

B2B integration enables business users extract information from customer data. For example, a purchase order (PO). It is a particular kind of official document that buyers send to sellers to document the myriad sale of products as well as services to be delivered. In a purchase order, important information including the retail store’s monthly sales figures is present. But the way the data is extracted depends on the application itself, which can be a SaaS solution. 

Transport Protocol

Similar to any other communication format, both the sender and receiver must agree on a protocol or channel for exchanging information. Though it is obvious, the transport mechanism is dictated by the trading partner, determining how to send a message ultimately needs a payload assessment. 

Data Format

It’s a fact that data is never standardized. Business ecosystems generation information and store it in their own proprietary formats (iDoc, flat file). These particular file formats have to be converted into CSV, XML, JSON, EDI, and other formats to drive integration processes. 

To drive data exchange, companies leverage a multitude of advanced protocols like SFTP, AS2, web services, HTTPs, and other proprietary high-speed file transfer methods. Organizations need B2B integration solutions to support protocols in a more friendly and agile way. 

Target Application 

Ultimately, these processes use a target application that enables users receive and process information and use insights to make business decisions. The target application allows business users transform data from a particular standardized format, which can further be ingested and accessed throughout ecosystems. Various companies use web portals for simpler exchange and streamlining data transformations. 

Simply put, organizations must rely on next-gen B2B integration platforms to drive information exchange and processes without complexity. With features such as pre-built application connectors, shared templates, monitoring dashboard etc., organizations can integrate data and drive interactions without excessively relying on IT. Not only they can deliver maximum value to customers but also become easier to do business with. 

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Created on Mar 26th 2021 04:50. Viewed 343 times.

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