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If somebody tells you that your present corporate website can be converted to a B2B portal which will help you significantly improve your company’s productivity in both of the two primary factors: Revenue Growth and Cost Saving, and that the portal can be launched in a matter of months with a very reasonable investment, what will be your reaction? Read on to learn how corporations all over the world are missing an opportunity, which can revolutionize the way they manage their businesses.

What is a B2B portal?

A portal is defined as an access point to World Wide Web. A portal is a combination of web pages, features and services which become a primary destination for users. The word was first used to describe the sites of popular Internet access providers or search engines such as AOL, MSN and Yahoo! At a later stage, the word “portal” evolved into something bigger covering business websites, where a corporate portal or enterprise information portal acts as a base for employees, customers, suppliers and other associates of a company to access corporate information and web services. A B2B portal is a distinct kind of website with features to conduct electronic business and manage significant parts of corporate business processes.

Benefits of having a B2B portal

Today, B2B portals are not just a fancy idea! They are an absolute necessity for all enterprises of any type and size. The advantages of having a quality B2B portal are massive. Implementation of a true high quality B2B portal could have immediate impact on company productivity.

Revenue Growth

Revenue Increase from Existing Clients
Existing clients get faster and easier access to product information, quicker response to their requests, get better customer support and are able to buy products online.

Revenue Increase from Value Added Services
Once a B2B portal is set as the primary sales channel, spared resources can be used to create more value added services for clients. Some of the services that the portal may offer also could be utilized to generate more value.

Cost Savings

Order Processing Cost
If the B2B portal integrates supply chain management solution, it will reduce the cost of processing orders drastically. Studies show that similar solution can reduce cost of processing a purchase order from US$ 70 down in average to US$ 6 only.

Sales and support costs
Automated sales and customer support features integrated in the solution is capable of reducing overhead costs up to 30 percent.

Inventory keeping costs
Clearer visibility and forecasting ability thanks to various features of the B2B portal may help companies considerably reduce inventory keeping costs.

Other key benefits include:

Low customer acquisition cost
Effective portal branding on the Internet will help to attract customers from new sources. The cost of acquiring customers through online channels is always cheaper than other traditional methods.

Improve customer service
Ability to have constant interaction with customers through the B2B portal helps companies serve customers better. The B2B portal solution allows tracking the whole ordering process from payment to delivery and brings greater efficiency in customer service.

Reduce sourcing time cycle
The customers can select products from the integrated marketplace of the B2B portal and either sends purchase orders or directly buy products using the shopping cart. Buyers handle all their procurement related correspondence from a consolidated working page, which helps them react instantly and reduce time in document processing.

Community participation
Company buyers and sellers can create communities surrounding the B2B portal’s discussion board. This helps getting valuable feedbacks on time, building new partnerships using the networking ability of a community, and disseminating important information to members easily.

Real time access to current product information
Current information of a product is vital for an accurate buying decision. Updating product content and other information using customized forms as it is necessary, the company can help buyers and other associates to take critical decision promptly.

Control rogue spending
Consolidated and automated procurement and approval method stops maverick buying in a company.

Main components of a B2B portal

Supply Chain Management
Supply chain management solutions can deliver great values to company’s existing systems. Implementation of these solutions will help achieving incredibly high return on investment and will have tremendous impact on company’s business, which include: better productivity, faster order processing, greater visibility, the elimination of maverick or unplanned purchasing, etc.

Marketplace
This is the venue where the enterprises can post their products for sale. A sophisticated shopping cart will be integrated into the electronic marketplace in order to automate the buying process.

Auction
Electronic auction system can use both English and Dutch auction methods. For convenience the auction component can be integrated into the electronic marketplace.

Online auction helps liquidate surplus goods easily.

Reverse Auction
This solution allows the company to automate electronic procurement, where suppliers compete for business real time online.

Storefront for Participants
Each associate of the B2B portal will get a Storefront that may reflect profile of the company, its products, services or other information.

Forum
A Forum or a Discussion Board is an organized, on-line interactive message board where participants conduct discussion on a set of topics by posting questions, comments and responses.

Internal Messaging System
Elaborate Messaging System allows a participant of the B2B portal send and receive messages from other participants and the company. Since the messages do not leave a secured server, participants would not be worried about sending sensitive information over the Internet.

Classified
Catalog based bulletin board allows company associates to post important notices in various predefined formats.

Directory of Companies
This is a listing of all registered associates of the B2B portal either by business category or by alphabetical order. An advanced search engine tool is incorporated in order to find a company based on data provided.

E-catalog
E-catalog a hierarchy of product and service categories based on UNSPCS, a global products and services classification method that covers the broadest collection of industries and commodities available today, and designed to facilitate e-commerce transactions by providing geography-independent common nomenclature system.

Product Content Adding System
Product adding mechanism based on either easy-to-use wizard or simple but detail forms allows users to integrate products or services with accurate and up-to-date information.

Product Notification
The system can generate an alert and send by email to a user, who requested to inform once a particular product or service gets added to the E-catalog.

Numerous other features could be incorporated to an existing B2B portal depending on requirement, such as: News Aggregation using RSS feed, Contact Management, Electronic Journal, Press Room, Document Repository, etc.

Time needed to set up

Using ready made B2B Portal components from a provider like Rusbiz.com a medium size portal can be built or integrated to existing website within three to four months.

By developing a B2B portal ahead of your major competitors you can give your business a significant boost and make your company stand out from the crowd.

Nowshade Kabir is CEO of Rusbiz.com, a global B2B portal for small and midsize companies. Our distinctive web stores along with many outstanding features like e-marketplace, e-catalog, supply chain management solutions, and trade leads section will allow you to build robust Internet presence and manage key business processes online. Rusbiz also develops Corporate B2B portals.

Business to business e-commerce is on the rise! Worldwide B2B e-commerce revenues are estimated to reach around US$ 2 trillion in 2004. This is a significant leap from last year's US$ 1.4 trillion. However, according to a recent survey, although, more than 70% of companies have already used Internet as a purchasing channel, a mere ten percent of their overall spending is directed via the Internet! Contrary to popular believe, this means, B2B e-commerce has still large potential to grow Internet has the capacity of changing the conventional way of doing business.

Today, you can not only buy and sell your products and services on the Internet, you can, virtually, shift all your business processes to online solutions as well. If you take advantages of new Internet based technologies, the outcome would be tremendously beneficial to your business. How to do this without spending a fortune and not putting a huge pressure on scarce corporate resources? The possible answer could be B2B exchanges! A B2B exchange is an online marketplace, where buyers, sellers and intermediaries form communities, exchange views, offer products and services, and conduct business transactions By becoming a member of a B2B exchange you can benefit in both cost-saving and revenue increase - two primary requirements of productivity increase.business forum,trade forum,business opportunity,Business China,Business India,Brazil business3t)LNew sales channel By becoming a member of a B2B exchange, you open a low cost, highly functional and easy-to-use sales channel for your company.

You expose your company to a new targeted audience that otherwise would have been untapped. Prospective customers can buy products and services from you, using various venues and features of the B2B exchange, where you are a member. business forum,trade forum,business opportunity,Business China,Business India,Brazil business

Marketplace: All B2B exchanges include a marketplace, where suppliers can post sales offer of their products and services. Buyers, looking for specific products, can easily find best suppliers that suit them from the marketplace. A populated marketplace can easily become a good sales channel for a supplier.

Electronic catalog: As a member of the B2B exchange, you are allowed to add all your products or services to the consolidated online repository of the exchange. Adding your products to the repository helps to create online standardize electronic version of your product specification - if you don't have that before - and use the same catalog with other electronic sales systems - even with other B2B exchanges using XML interface.forum. You can publish sales offer of your entire catalog to the marketplace, eliminating a need for other web presence.

You can add products or services to the repository one by one or you can use XML interface to upload your whole electronic catalog Web Store: Some B2B exchanges allow you to convert or integrate your website to their exchange. This helps you to handle sales conveniently from your website and the marketplace of the exchange seamlessly. You can make a web store from scratch with the help of integrated website builder of the B2B exchange as well.

Auctions: One of the great features of many B2B exchange is their auction systems. As we all know from the immense success of Ebay, auctioning is a great way of selling products online. Some exchanges boast reverse auction system, where suppliers bid for a deal posted by a buyer.business forum,trade forum,business opportunity,Business China,Business India,Brazil business As a supplier, you can participate in those tenders without any extra cost involved.

Low customer acquisition costforum. Your mere presence in the B2B exchange might bring you new customers! Since the buyers come to the exchange themselves; your cost of getting customers through this channel is relatively low in comparison to other traditional channels. You can even increase your visibility by advertising in the key places of the exchange, where your prospective buyers frequently visit. Being highly targeted, these ads produce incredible results.business forum,trade forum,business opportunity,Business China,Business India,Brazil business9 Improve customer service business forum,trade forum,business opportunity,Business China,Business India,Brazil Ability to have constant interaction through the B2B exchange allows you to serve your customers better. You can track the whole ordering process from payment to delivery and bring greater efficiency in customer service.

The integrated functions of an exchange such as sales management, internal messaging service, lead management, etc. also help you managing customers service process effectively.business forum,trade forum,business opportunity,Business China,Business India,Brazil business When needed, you can instantly update your catalog and inform customers about changes.

Whether you are launching a new product or having a web seminar, through the B2B exchange you can share the information more efficiently. Some B2B Exchanges use sophisticated knowledge management systems to create, capture, reprocess and reutilize information intended for specific group of audience. These contents or information can be displayed on demand or in time to a member - when needed. Business processes management

One of the primary objectives of using B2B exchanges for you should be their ability to handle, run and administer various business processes. These solutions assist you to streamline your business, reduce overhead costs and reduce documentary errors. business forum,trade forum,business opportunity,Business China,Business India,Brazil business

Using technologies in a bid to streamline business processes like supply chain is nothing new. Companies have been using various solutions to support product development, customer service, procurement and other integral processes for many years. Before the Internet era, many companies have invested enormous amount of money in infrastructure building to automate supply chain process. Today, thanks to the Internet, even small companies have opportunity to use highly sophisticated supply chain solutions for a small cost. Many B2B exchanges, such as Rusbiz.com, allow small companies to use supply chain management solution for a small fee. The major benefits of using supply chain solutions include.

Under the patronage of His Excellency Mr. Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Industry, State of Qatar, His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Saleh Al Sada, Qatari Minister of State for Energy and Industry Affairs launched the 1^st GCC-EU Forum in Barcelona, Spain, on Thursday, 3rd July, 2008. The forum was organized by the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC) in cooperation with Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Navigation (BCCIN), and Enterprise Europe Network, with a strategic partnership with Qatar Petroleum.

The main objective of the two-day Forum is to promote industrial cooperation as well as subcontracting & partnership activities between GCC member states and the European Union. The Forum specifically focused on meeting the objective of marketing GCC subcontracting capabilities and promoting technology transfer and joint venture interests from the EU region.

Activities of the forum started on Thursday with a welcome speech by H.E. Mr. Miquel Valls, President of Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Navigation; in which he emphasized the great business opportunities available for both regions, in sectors such as energy, chemical and petrochemical industries, renewable energy, raw materials, and plastics industries, further to gas and oil. Mr. Valls also talked about the size of trade between both Spain and GCC member states in 2007, where Spanish imports from the GCC member states reached some Euro 281 billion, and of these 28% were in Catalonia. In terms of exports, Spain exported to GCC member states in these sectors products worth Euro 182 billion. Finally, Mr. Vallas assured the efforts exerted to boost industrial cooperation and subcontracting with Catalan and European companies, promote technology transfer and enhance joint business projects.

The second speech was delivered by H.E. Dr. Mohamed Saleh Al Sada, in which H.E emphasized the importance of the forum in enhancing industrial cooperation between the two regions. Dr. Al Sada also stressed the importance of strengthening SMEs and increasing their leveraging opportunities in the global network of production (GNP) through boosting the GCC- EU industrial cooperation. "Available opportunities are there for our two regions in terms of cooperation and partnership; EU owns the technologies and the capability of supplying equipment and know-how; while our region has got the national resources, infrastructure and the adequate environment for investment", said Dr. Al Sada in his speech in the Opening Session.

In the same session, VIP speakers from the two regions delivered their speeches in the occasion including H.E. Eng. Sultan Bin Saeed Al-Mansouri, Minister of Economy, UAE; Dr. Ahmed Khalil Al Mutawa, Secretary General, GOIC; H.E Mr. Samuel Furfari, Deputy Head of Unit Renewable Energy at the Directorate General for Energy and Transport, European Commission; and H.E. Mr. Joseph Huguet, Minister for Innovation, University and Industry, Catalonia.

Thursday agenda included two work sessions; the first discussed Economic Relations between the Gulf Countries and the EU: Present Status and Future Prospects. Participants in this session tackled important topics relating to the Development of Economic relations between the Gulf countries and the EU; Future prospects for the Gulf countries and Arab Economic relations and main potential growth areas; A survey of policies and actions needed to promote the development of the economy; and finally Economic linearization and reform program in the Gulf countries and its social and economic reflections.

On its turn, the second session tackled Industrial Subcontracting where GCC and EU Subcontracting capabilities and interest in the fields of Petrochemicals, Desalination, Metalworking, Plastics, Rubber and Engineering were thoroughly illustrated.

In the second day of the forum, two other sessions were conducted. In the first session titled Investment Opportunities, Legal and Financial; many concerns were discussed covering Development within the Gulf Economy and its Investment Opportunities; the Legal Framework for doing business in the Gulf: Commercial and investment laws, and Foreign investment incentives; the Role of the private sector as a pioneer for the development of trade and investment between the two regions; and Investment opportunities in GCC and EU. The second session in Friday handled the matter of Future in Energy: Buyers and Suppliers Perspectives.

Within the same context, Business to Business (B2B) Meetings were conducted throughout the two days of the forum, with the participation of some 193 companies of different scales, further to projects' promoters, policy makers, potential investors, technology holders, equipment suppliers, and investors from both regions. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) mainly from Europe presented their subcontracting capabilities; while major companies from the Gulf including Qatar Petroleum and Qatar Holding discussed their demands of manufacturing supplies including specifications, values and quantities. Through those meetings, many arrangements occurred for matchmaking between businesses from both regions at different levels such as joint ventures, alliances, subcontracting and other forms of cooperation. The B2B meetings received considerable attention as they created a good investment and cooperation environment for the participating companies, whether SMEs or large scale companies from both regions.

On the sidelines of the conference, Dr. Al Sada conducted two individual meetings with each of H.E. Jose Montilla, Prime Minister of Catalonia; and H.E. Mr. Joseph Huguet, Minister for Innovation, University and Industry, Catalonia, in which they discussed future cooperation prospects between Qatar and Catalonia.

In addition, a meeting was conducted between Dr. Ahmed Khalil Al Mutawa, Secretary General, GOIC and Mr. Jose Antonio Quiroga Pineyero, Vice President of Eurochambers in which both parties discussed means of cooperation in terms of technical assistance, training and capacity development and industrial information interchange between both parties through GOIC's Industrial Market Intelligence Portal (IMI). In this meeting also, it was agreed to conduct the 2nd GCC-EU Industrial Forum in 2009 in one of GCC member states. H.E. Abdulrahim Naqi, Secretary General of the Federation of GCC Chambers, and H.E. Dr. Khalid Al-Hajiri, General Manager of Qatar Chamber of Commerce & Industry, attended the meeting.

On another development, the organizing parties of the 1st GCC-EU Industrial Forum held a press conference on Wednesday to highlight its theme and expectations, with the presence of media representatives from both regions. Participants in the subject conference were each of H.E. Dr. Mohammed Saleh Al-Sada, Minister of State for Energy & Industry Affairs, Qatar, H.E. Eng. Sultan Bin Saeed Al-Mansouri, Minister of Economy, UAE, H.E. Dr. Lulwa A. Al Misned, Assistant Secretary General for Industrial Investment Promotion, GOIC, H.E. Mr. Mohammed Turki Al-Subai, Chief Executive Officer, Qatar Intermediate Industries Holding Co. "Qatar Holding", H.E. Mr. Miquel Valls, Presdient, BCCIN.

After the conference, a MOU was concluded between GOIC and BCCIN. The MOU provides for the creation of a
Subcontracting Centre based in Qatar, at the offices of GOIC. The center will work for companies in the Gulf to develop its trade relations with Catalonia and the European Union; and make information available through a specialized information center established for the purpose, with an expert from BCCIN, and structure and staff from GOIC.

It is worth mentioning that the forum was conducted with a strategic partnership with QP and sponsored by Qatar Holding, Ministry of Economy, UAE, Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation "KAHRAMAA", TradeArabia, and Al Jazeera Network.

It is scheduled that the GCC-EU Forum will be held once every year interchangeably between GCC and the EU under the patronage of VIPs from each region. Through this forum, attention will be directed towards updates, prospects and opportunities for industrial development and economic relationships, and exploring ways and means of promoting industry and fostering economic cooperation to pave the way for building strong relationship ties between the two regions.

It is worth indicating that the industrial output contribution to the GDP in GCC member states is some 10%, yet, it is strongly expanding in view of the exerted efforts to foster industrial development in the region; and it increased from Euro 28 billion in 2002 to approach the level of Euro 53 billion in 2006. Currently the GCC is set to invest more than Euro 760 billion by 2012 in the industrial sector, as industry is always viewed as the strategic option for the diversification of the economies base in GCC member states.

To end with, GOIC, founded in 1976, targets developing industries throughout GCC by means of providing, both the industrial and economic sectors, with distinctive knowledge, consultancy and technical services. GOIC's mandate is to promote the highest levels of industrial cooperation and collaboration, in both the public and private sectors, by providing a complete set of high-quality, specialized research, information and consultancy services relating to industrial and economic development. Being aware of the importance of spreading knowledge, and introducing latest technical updates in the world to the region, GOIC has conducted a number of leading conferences such as Knowledge-Based Industries and Nano Technology Conference, Industrialists Conference series, the international conference on Aid for Trade, not to mention all; further to a number of seminars, workshops, and continuously organized activities that target opening new horizons for industrialists and investors whether inside the region or foreign ones.

Source by arabianbusiness.com

Corporate Express Document & Print Management (CEDPM), a leading provider of document and print management, and business form, label, direct mail and fulfillment solutions, has entered into an enterprise license agreement with Four51, Inc. Four51 develops online business-to-business catalog technology that connects buyers, distributors and suppliers of indirect goods. Four51's commerce platform will help CEDPM to bring products to market faster and consolidate disparate online ordering systems, while continuing to provide interoperability with ERP and spend-management solutions, such as SAP and Ariba, used by Corporate Express' customers.

"We're excited to leverage Four51's online business-to-business catalog technology," commented Michael Bailey, Vice President, Information Services, Corporate Express Document & Print Management. "Our new strategic partnership will enable us to continue streamlining and optimizing our internal systems and processes, while at the same time providing a state-of-the-art e-commerce front end to our customers."

Corporate Express US Inc., part of the Dutch-based Corporate Express NV (NYSE: CXP), is a leading business-to-business supplier of office and computer supplies, office furniture, facility supplies, document and print management, imaging and computer graphic supplies, promotional products and other similar products.

Four51 is growing virally at the rate of 1,200 buyers per day. More than 27,000 businesses -- including half the Fortune 500 -- and one million users conduct commerce on the Four51 network. Founded in 1999, Four51 is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn., and is the leading e-catalog technology in the indirect goods market.

About Four51

Four51 (www.four51.com) is automating the B2B e-catalog market using an open e-commerce platform that connects buyers, distributors and suppliers of indirect goods such as printed materials, promotional products and office supplies. Using Four51's internet catalog technology, sellers can target simple and complex B2B products to a specific buyer desktop while maintaining compliance with all corporate purchasing rules and security requirements. Further, Four51 can integrate with other relevant B2B technologies such as payment services and back-office systems. For suppliers and manufacturers, Four51's unique approach removes inefficiencies from order processing, manufacturing and go-to-market activities. Suppliers on the Four51 network gain instant, seamless access to thousands of distributors and more than one million buyer-users through a single online platform.

About Corporate Express Document & Print Management

Corporate Express Document & Print Management (CEDPM) is a leading provider of document and print management, and business form, label, direct mail and fulfillment solutions. Employing approximately 1,000 people in seven manufacturing plants and 50 sales offices nationwide, CEDPM is a business unit of Corporate Express US Inc.

Corporate Express provides customers with a single source of business products and services, so that they can focus their resources, energy and time on their core business. Corporate Express helps organizations to save time and maximize their productivity. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Corporate Express NV generated 2007 sales of EUR 5.6 billion. The company has a widespread global distribution network spanning North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, has close to 18,000 employees and has operations in 21 countries. Corporate Express is listed on Euronext Amsterdam (EURONEXT: CXP) and in New York (NYSE: CXP). For more information, please visit www.CorporateExpress.com.

China's most well-known B2B e-commerce portal, initiated a trade forum in Beijing to promote e-commerce for Chinese suppliers, sources reported. The forum, which started on Jun. 11, is part of Alibaba's efforts to support e-commerce startup, deployment and operation of local enterprises. Alibaba's online trade platform serves as the gateway

The US-Asia Industrial Trade Portal Worldwide Industrial Marketplace has launched a new program focusing on connecting North American manufacturers and exporters of industrial supplies, equipment and machinery with China-based buyers.

Shanghai, China, June 06, 2008 --(PR.com)-- Worldwide Industrial Marketplace, a division of the Industrial Leaders Group announced plans today to help US-based industrial suppliers develop trading partnerships with manufacturers, engineers and other industrial buyers in China utilizing its Web site at http://www.WorldwideIndustrialMarketplace.com. According to Michael Chin, spokesman for the company in Shanghai, Worldwide Industrial is the fastest growing B2B trade portal focusing exclusively on industrial and construction buyers and suppliers.

Worldwide Industrial enables qualified manufacturers, distributors, importers and exporters of industrial and construction products in the U.S. and China to post and explore offers free of charge at http://www.industrialsaver.com/classifieds/. "U.S. companies looking to expand in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mainland China or any of the country's cities such as Shenzen, Beijing or Shanghai, will find numerous opportunities to develop trading relationships with importers and exporters all over the region," says Chin.

Chin said with the assistance of its partner ForeignTRADEX, Worldwide Industrial provides several trade reports to help connect American and Chinese manufacturers of industrial supplies, equipment and machinery. Including its recently revised US-China Industrial Trade Report at http://www.foreigntradeexchange.com/countries/china.html which was first published in 2003. The publication is updated annually and is free to download from the company's Web site.

China is well known as one of the world's major exporters but we need more American manufacturers and exporters need to realize as the country's infrastructure and industries continue to grow so does its appetite for industrial goods," says Conrad Bailey, Business Director of the Industrial Leaders Group. He added, U.S. companies involved in international trade or seeking to expand in Asia can use the resources of Worldwide Industrial and B2B international network to promote their products in China and all over Asia."

About Worldwide Industrial Marketplace

Worldwide Industrial Marketplace is a US-Asia and Middle East Industrial Directory and Marketplace dedicated in developing trading partnerships among manufacturers, exporters and importers of industrial products throughout the United States, Asia and the Middle East at http://www.WorldwideIndustrialMarketplace.com

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