Recession Causes Companies To Rethink Their B2B Strategies

Financial uncertainty and a changing vendor landscape are driving companies to rethink their B2B strategies, according to the 2010 Vanson Bourne OmniBoss survey on strategies for business-to-business (B2B) integration. The survey results were announced by Sterling Commerce, a provider of B2B commerce solutions.

The survey polled 600 senior IT decision-makers at large organizations across the financial services, manufacturing, distribution, transportation and other commercial sectors in the United States (U.S.), United Kingdom (U.K.), France and Germany. Its findings show that 60% of companies are considering changing B2B vendors over the next year.

Although a majority (78%) believes the recession is at least half or completely over, the survey showed that companies still think uncertainty in the B2B integration vendor market puts their business at risk. 53% believe it could have a direct impact on their trading partner integration, while 43% claim it could disrupt their supply chain and have an impact on costs.

Among the companies who are aware of the instability, many are taking preventative measures. 84% are either rethinking or believe they should be rethinking their B2B integration strategy, and 66% say economic uncertainty has affected headcounts or budgets. The economic uncertainty seems to be a higher concern in the U.S. (70%) than the U.K. (46%).

When asked what is the most important capability to them in a B2B vendor, 38% of the companies cite financial stability, while 57% say they predict effectiveness and productivity enhancements as a result of added visibility into their B2B data via a mobile device.