When we talk about internet opportunities we often think Business to Consumer model. Businesses sell and Consumers buy.
And the B2B transactions actually see Businesses as end users or consumers, where the products or services are pretty much standardized.
Still, the vast majority of purchases made by businesses are very specific. The purchase process usually means creating a RFP (request for proposal) and sending it to a small group of suppliers.
This process means however that are many inefficiencies in the process:
1. Building a RFP - creating and RFP is of critical importance. Too many RFPs are too vague, meaning that during the project phase or delivery phase many details must be negotiated. That leads to increased contract amounts and other hidden costs.
2. Limited competition - by sending the RFP to a limited number of suppliers, the buyer is probably not getting the best service / quote.
1. Building a RFP - creating and RFP is of critical importance. Too many RFPs are too vague, meaning that during the project phase or delivery phase many details must be negotiated. That leads to increased contract amounts and other hidden costs.
2. Limited competition - by sending the RFP to a limited number of suppliers, the buyer is probably not getting the best service / quote.
3. Unstructured negotiation process - by not creating a RFP framework subsequent purchases events can not be correlated and few conclusions can be made. It is very important that the negotiation process is a structured process that evolves and it is improved over time.
What Internet can do for my company?
The BizNectar.com portal helps you out. By enabling you to connect to different suppliers with only one click and to reuse RFPs you can gradually start implement you procurement and sourcing procedures in a structured way.
By sharing and using RFP templates that are common to a all community you can share some intelligence with others players. Many would say that you are delivering important internal know-how. Actually it is a half empty or half fully type of approach. What you should consider is how much you are getting out of it.
My suggestion is that SMEs should share . The probability that you are sharing some critical information with a direct competing SME is actually very low. Why? Because you are an SME meaning your customers, product and geography base is limited, as the probability of publishing some information that will get used by a direct competitor.
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