Importance, Use Cases, Problems, and Tools of B2B Data Exchange

Business-to-business data exchange is the exchange of data among multiple operational processes along with their applications, whether within one enterprise or across multiple ones. Such kind of data exchange can either happen among business ecosystems or within a single, independent enterprise as a part of their inter-unit communications. So, not only B2B data exchange scales up to global partner ecosystems, but it also scales down to a group of business units of the same organization. 

Enterprises perform data exchange by integrating streams of data across two or more businesses or partners. Hence, B2B data exchange involves a multi-organizational collaboration that is enabled through the transfer of files, documents, files etc. with ease and accuracy. 

Importance of Business-to-Business Data Exchange

Companies are sitting on a goldmine of untapped data. They need to use it with the help of data exchange processes to tap into fresh business opportunities. 

Business-2-Business or partner-to-partner data exchange allows companies understand their target audiences and enhance the customer experience. In other words, the sharing of intelligence between businesses or partners help enterprises make sense of the needs of their customers to offer a delightful experience. Consequently, companies can retain their customers more, helping them unlock new revenue streams. 

It also enables customers and partners orchestrate partner data exchange and streamline services delivery by onboarding their customer data quickly. This allows companies fast-forward revenue generation and grab a larger market share. In addition, B2B data exchange capability allows business users to make connections on-demand sans waiting for IT staff. As the burden on IT teams decreases, they can focus on governance activities. This improves their productivity substantially. It increases companies' agility to capture new market opportunities, new customers, and new supplier relationships.

Common Industries and Use Cases of B2B Data Exchange

B2B data exchange strengthens many business ecosystems. For example, manufacturers and their suppliers. Manufacturing ecosystem is highly complex as it comprises a group of different manufacturers and suppliers. Such a complex ecosystem needs to take a robust B2B data exchange approach to allow secure data transfer between entities. Partner data exchange helps manufacturing companies foster diverse business relationships, streamlining expansion and competition. 

Data exchange serves the retail industry to boot. Retail ecosystems comprise a group of wholesalers as well as distributors that work together to provide goods to end consumers. To exchange information, they need a solid hub for B2B DE that can provide communications and integration infrastructure for all.

Other industries that can use B2B data exchange include finance, insurance, consultancy, shipping, healthcare, etc. 

Problems in B2B Data Exchange 

Currently, business-to-business data exchange is facing a lot of problems. Here are two main problems:

• Lack of Modern Technology: Many companies still rely on ancient interfaces such as electronic document interchange (EDI) along with File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to exchange documents including, paper, faxes, and other poorly structured flat files. These methods are relatively useful but a modern partner to partner data exchange solution is needed - one that operates in real-time and can deal with myriad document formats. In the absence of these modern abilities, enterprises onboard partners or customers slowly, making them difficult to work with. 

• Data Silos in B2B Businesses: Businesses when working with multiple home-grown applications have a lot of data in silos that are isolated from and not accessible by other parts of the organization. This does not allow enterprises to make informed decisions, impacting their sales and ultimately growth. Modernized data exchange solution can solve this problem of data silos and help them extract better insights. 

Modernized B2B Data Exchange Solution

Employing a modern integration tool that simplifies data exchange can help companies deal with the potential pitfalls and drive the business forward. 

It allows companies reduce costs as well. Therefore, a lot of companies are scaling down their dependence on costly applications such as EDI and VANs. Majority of companies have identified XML, JSON, and other modern standards to be more feature-rich, agile, and integrate-able. 

Plus, modern data integration platforms perform data exchange operations in real-time that proves beneficial for retail, manufacturing, healthcare industry, and more. 

The self-service feature of these platforms allows manufacturing companies to browse orders, negotiations, shipments, build plans, and more efficiently, making them easier to do business with. 

Find a good B2B data exchange solution to effectively use data and extract actionable for better decision-making.