Numerous articles have been written about the effectiveness of business-to-business (B2B) - for those companies already using secure extranet sites, the controversy surrounding the effectiveness of the B2B model is not in question.
Phil Southwell, CEO of the Ivory Tower Group, had this to say: "B2B transactions are about providing an unbeatable service, with the sole aim of encouraging purchasers to place all their orders online regularly. This service and the tools provided must be tailored to purchasers - in other words, make it so easy and efficient that they will never revert to traditional methods of ordering. Also, software must be customised to suit the market."
As Ivory Tower Internet Solutions has already developed software that is easily customised, there is not much cost involved for either a start-up business or a new division within an established company. To make it even easier, Ivory Tower offers three revenue models - outright purchase plus a hosting contract, leasing the software, or a revenue share. By not burdening a new company with huge overheads, Ivory Tower ensures growth and long-term relationships.
Because the software is targeted at a vertical market, Ivory Tower approaches operational partners who understand and have relationships with buyers and sellers within that market. These partners generate significant revenues by charging sellers a transaction fee, and the option of a subscription fee to buyers.
For example, in the hospitality industry, the Protea Hotel Group started a B2B division - Hotelshop - which after a gestation period of nine months was generating just under R2 million per month in turnover, with a staff of three. The model developed by Ivory Tower proved so successful and efficient that the group made it compulsory use for all their hotels in southern Africa. In addition, it achieved massive cost-savings and provided management with total control of the procurement process.
In real world scenarios it makes life pretty easy, as this ordering system is customised to suit each user. For instance, Peter, the food and beverage manager, receives regular reminder e-mails, where by merely clicking one button his daily/weekly/monthly order list reloads automatically, and Peter`s boss can review the ordering history for a year at any stage. Mario, chef and restaurant owner, is rewarded with a couple of extra hours` sleep, as he is able to update his order offline, after the restaurant closes, and submit it for dispatch early the next morning without him having to be there!
The portal look-and-feel is managed via style sheets. Products are found using keyword searches, by viewing different catalogues and by calling up categories within these catalogues up to two levels deep. Searches are exceptionally fast and powerful. When products are added to the database, all non-common words in the description, title and custom fields are indexed on the server, and intelligent search routines return result-sets across all categories and catalogues.
Purchase orders are generated and e-mailed to each of the suppliers of products in the cart. A confirmation e-mail is sent to the buyer, and the order can be saved for re-ordering at a later date. A registered purchaser may view all saved purchase orders, change their details before resubmitting, and modify purchase order reminders by logging into their account. Registered suppliers may add or delete products and view their statistics.
An online help tutorial covers the various stages, while other key features include: the software configures for almost any type of product; it saves multiple completed orders; existing product databases can be imported in various ways which saves time; the software generates clear, concise reports; it is easily extended to process credit card orders automatically. Should the shopping cart not be the appropriate model to sell specialised products, or if an unusual order is placed, then a company or consumer may submit a request for quote (RFQ).
From the purchaser`s viewpoint, an extremely useful set of functions is the ability to allocate purchasing allowances for all users per category. Management can monitor which users are permitted to make purchases on the system and restrict that user`s spending budget. Exceptions or erratic purchasing patterns generate a warning e-mail and further purchases are blocked.
A comprehensive range of business tools complement this B2B software, namely e-commerce, order fulfilment, site management, search engine optimisation control, and added marketing assistance through affiliate programs, link exchange, viral (send-to-a-friend), direct, newsletters, competitions and more.
To find out more, or to view this live, contact Phil Southwell at Ivory Tower (021) 418-8230 for a user name and password. (www.ivorytower.co.za)
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