B2B Integration : A Practical Guide to Collaborative E-commerce

462 B2B Integration — A Practical Guide to Collaborative E-commerce
I I f •"»•' t I I
tut XEDI RosettaNet Plat Hie cXML ebXML
Supplier Supplier Supplier Reseller E-marketplace E-marketplace
Figure 15.13. — Different data formats for e-marketplaces
Thus, there are severe shortcomings of point-to-point connection
mechanism (with e-marketplaces being a point of connection themselves),
such as:
• Disparate technologies and platforms used by buyers, sellers and
marketplaces, leading to integration headaches;
• Insufficient leverage of existing technologies like EDI; and
• Budding B2B standards that are far from maturity.
All these have created the need for a single point of connection which
all of the trading partners, intermediaries and e-marketplaces can use.
15.4.2. Lack of support for collaborative commerce
Collaborative e-commerce, also know as c-commerce, is enabled through
a collaborative framework that integrates cross-organization business
process, customer relationships and knowledge. C-commerce is the next
generation of e-commerce, that brings about an evolution of the traditional
supply chain process.
E-marketplaces primarily focus on constructing a virtual community
of trading partners to buy or sell goods and services. But the scope of
collaborative commerce is far beyond just trading.
15.4.3. B2B collaborative networks
B2B collaborative networks enable formation of collaborative trading
communities and any-to-any connectivity by linking together buyers,