Business to Business System and Its Possible Improvement - Assignment Example

Abstract Most B2B systems are still in flux states. They can be classified theoretically in many ways. Most solutions that are found in the market today have some limitations in their functionalities. This paper will look at the B2B systems and propose ways in which they can be improved. With the introduction of Web 2.0 and its associated technologies, many aspects need to be looked into. There should be features that support the use of Internet applications. In the past, as more and more companies wanted to exchange data, the inefficiencies that are found in traditional methods also grew. These inefficiencies led to companies adopting B2B systems for information exchange with their trading partners. With these better solutions came the need to use the service more frequently and with high volumes of data. The capabilities was not limited to the volume of data that was sent alone, but also achieving high levels of accuracy. In the beginning, the implementation of the B2B solutions was performed by internal staff, the IT personnel. With the increase in business information systems, these functionalities were outsourced so that external companies would handle it, that is they were outsourced. Key words B2B Business-to-business Network Marketplace an online place where a transaction (online per se) will be conducted E-commerce Electronic commerce E-business Electronic business Collaboration management Techniques used to manage virtual group of people working together Table of Contents Abstract 1 Key words 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Current research work 5 Consistency conditions should be explicit 6 Efficiency improvements 8 Conclusion 9 Works Cited 11 Introduction With the advent of the Internet and e-commerce, there are various organizations, which have established systems that can be used to improve certain areas of work. The paradigm shift of companies to using these systems in order to enhance production of quality work, services and quality products that are effective to its customers. This will only be achieved by making sure that customers are well informed and they get the desired products they ask for. Business-to-business systems can only be successful if the organizations are analyzed well while collecting all the relevant information required concerning business systems. Objectives must be set in order to achieve the organizational goals desired. The main task of Business-to-Business systems is to identify specific areas of the organization that require improvement. This will be achieved by collecting the relevant details of the organization, determining the general structure, the management and the components constituting the organizations structure. By conducting this research, it is easier to determine the way the organization operates, the relationship between managers and subordinates, work conditions, various tasks and management related issues. Organizations systems are said to work effectively only when supplied with the correct information of daily transactions of the businesses. A system can be described as an interconnection of various parts elements that are interconnected together to make a complete component that can be used to perform a task or complete an activity. Current research work In this context, a number of valid B2B quality applications are discussed. This is an achievement that is concluded from the e-procurement, although various characteristics have been identified in already-established transaction models. These characteristics describe the relationships between the various components of the system and how they operate in an organization. B2B applications interact with other components in the system and within a network hence, their relationship is regarded as peer-to-peer. In addition, the applications involved in this process must be compatible with one other hence; they must match with the requirements stated in order to make the statement being sent a complete transaction. In this case, the sender of the information must use a destination that will be able to transfer the information on time and to a recipient that will be able to send feedback using the same method. These systems are designed in a way that they can record any transactions being carried out on a daily basis and incase the system does not respond or it’s hesitant in giving out its services to clients, information is recorded and incase of cancellation of the system, the amount charged for the service may also not be incurred. Most of business-to-business transactions do not cancel the process once the request has already been sent. This is because the components already recognize the transaction as complete and irreversible. Once a transaction concerning the transfer of goods has been undertaken, it always becomes hard to return them to the seller, for example, an order placed for supply of raw materials for an industry, may not be reversed once the industry has already accepted the order My contribution In the above context, the paper has analyzed at the reason as to why fault handling, with mechanism transactions is not enough for business-to-business applications. A research study conducted by various researchers indicates that business processes have been overwhelmed by the various sounds of theoretical foundations of the ACID transactions hence the new consistency mechanism established by the current B2B technologies are usually supported by the body. Clinging on support for B2B applications should not be changed their behavior by the transactional mechanism. Three varying approaches used by traditional transaction have been identified, while carrying out of the analysis that is used to take care of the B2B application needs. The three approaches used are going to be described bellow and they include consistency conditions that should be explicit, while abortion of processes should be the last resort and cancellation of transactions should not be made possible. The three approaches will describe measures that can be put across to avoid termination of business transaction processes, and the improvements that should be carried out on various areas to increase consistency by the components used during this time. Consistency conditions should be explicit One of the important things of the ACID transactions is that there are key a feature of this method includes some steps to be followed, which includes the logging mechanism and locking. They normally contain information that is used on the domain that takes into consideration the idea of following up on the application (Wienclaw 64). There other transaction model has the same definition that describes various activities that has a no any description of the methods that needs to be followed. The reason to this is because, locks are not always used for long hours in the models, this provides the application programmer with no hard time in thinking about whether the code being used is correct or not while carrying out its activities. The second approach is that of “the cancel may not be possible”. In most cases it has been found out that some transactions do not go through completely hence while designing B2B applications, the programmer is required to take care of such cases in advance in order to compensate the affected parties (Sagas and Salem 442). The processes does not only have two possible outcomes, that is, the outcome or the aborted one that has unknown effect, and otherwise a broader, wider domain that has specific set of possible outcomes. The last but not least method is “Abort is the last resort”. It is always advisable to work on problems rather than assuming them. When faced with such problems, it is always wise to seek an alternative solution to work on possible working out methods. It’s been all indicated that fault handlers are given the role of detecting any problems hence make they should detect where the problem is and make proper corrections to the certain areas and activities affected (Peppers and Rogers 98). The faulting activities are based in an organization whereas it should remain for quite some time in order to act as a detecting device for any shortcomings. Justification: Business-to-business systems improvement The available systems are always made successful by being efficient in the activities and processes carried out by them in the different companies. For B2B solutions, there have to be some improvements on certain specific areas. This is only made possible by outsourcing its infrastructures. Quite a number of companies have reported quite a tremendous improvement in the available systems within their organizations (Kotler, Pfoertsch and Michi 87). The service provider for B2B systems have been said to have a more exquisite backup system with a center of data recovery. It has also been vividly seen that there has been greater improvements on data quality on the outsourced systems hence reporting a huge reduction of failures on the sending and receiving of messages sites. Another improvement is on the trading partners waiting to get on-boarded this has resulted to business people having a reduced integration backlog while conducting their business transactions. other improvements are such as time to set up new B2B connection which indicates that the time set for partners trading along in B2B connection, has been reduced hence giving a percentage of 49% improvement on time issues (Haig 87). The new systems have been seen to be a very tremendous way of extending B2B solutions for the services provided many suppliers on the business. The improvements that have been conducted in B2B systems regarding time, has allowed time for certain activities such as mapping and testing to be carried out by this systems. In addition, the thought of joining in some new partners in the business became easier and less expensive while conducting the process (Elmagarmid 23). Efficiency improvements Most companies realized the importance of making quality B2B transactions. Benefits enjoyed by most of the companies are more clear traceability and accurate business transactions and more quality facts related to these transactions. An analysis shows that the percentage of this benefits indicated earlier are 49% and 31% respectively. It has also indicated that data was available to quit a number of participants and the percentage was 26% which was unavailable on earlier times, marking an improvement of about 40% (DeMaio 54. Payment cycle time was an improvement on the payment process cycle time. Invoices were paid with ease and within a shorter time than before indicating 45% improvement (Darriel 87). Improvements on trading collaborate satisfaction This improvement provided value added services to the participants of the business transactions. The percentage number of the improvement experienced was found to be 51%. On the other hand, the trading partner satisfaction was successful due to its extensive services to the customers hence meeting their level of satisfaction and expectations. This resulted to a tremendous satisfaction to the suppliers also since they could be able to maximize their profits. The total benefits and improvements experienced by both parties was 62% and 29% respectively. An analysis shows that there is a difference between the participants who used the outsourcing solution since they experienced grater satisfaction than those that used the B2B solution in their transactions hence the percentage improvement of outsourcing solution was much higher (Cunningham 53). Conclusion B2B outsourcing has been regarded as an infrastructure kind of a specific project and therefore it has been found not to be available in the market anymore since it is out of time and does not provide any improvements and hence customer’s expectations are not met as well as supplier’s satisfaction. In its absence, business people have found it easier in searching for other methods that can enable them to continue communicating. In the presence of the of this infrastructure, people get into a position of making use of it hence making the best of it at all costs (Barschel 54). Companies that still use B2B outsourcing are highly recommended to take into consideration the benefits and improvements that comes along with other ways in order to develop their businesses hence creating chances for attracting more participants in the business process and as a result, huge investments will absolutely take place. Works Cited Barschel, Hauke. B2B versus B2C marketing: Major differences along teh supply chain of fast moving consumer googds (FMCG). New Jersey: Grin Verlag, 2007. Cunningham, Michael J. B2B: How to build a profitable e-commerce strategy. New York: Perseus, 2002. Darriel, Ignatius. "Developing distributed and e-commerce applications." Addison-Wesley (2004): 8. DeMaio, Harry. B2B and beyond: New business models built on trust. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2010. Elmagarmid, Achier. Database transaction models for advanced applications. New Jersey: Morgan Kaufmann, 2002. Haig, Matt. The B2B e-commerce handbook: How to transform your business-to-business global marketing strategy. Carlifornia: Kogan Page Publishers, 2001. Kotler, Philip, Waldermar Pfoertsch and Inis Michi. B2B brand management. New York: Springer, 2006. Peppers, Don and Martha Rogers. One to one B2B: Customer development strategies for the business-to-business world. Chicago: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2001. Sagas, Knowl and Garcia Salem. ACM international conference on management of data. New Delhi: Cengage Learning, 2007. Wienclaw, Robert. B2B Business models. New York: EBSCO Publishing Inc., 2008. Read More