B2B Ecommerce

This is a re-post from www.bigmachines.com:

BigMachines announced that its BigMachines 11 release has achieved Oracle Database Ready status through Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN), demonstrating that BigMachines has fully tested and supports its product on the Oracle Database 11g Release 2. BigMachines is a Gold level member of Oracle PartnerNetwork.

Oracle Database Ready is part of the Oracle Exastack Ready program, which allows partners such as BigMachines to be recognized by Oracle for developing, testing and tuning their applications on the latest component products of Oracle Exadata Database Machine or Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud engineered systems. Oracle Database 11g offers BigMachines industry leading performance, reliability and scalability to power the most demanding business critical applications. It also helps customers save money by lowering storage usage, reducing administration tasks, and enabling consolidation onto secure private database cloud environments.

BigMachines software streamlines the sales process and provides solutions for product configuration, pricing, quoting, proposal generation and B2B ecommerce. BigMachines’ Oracle Database Ready status helps ensure that joint Oracle and BigMachines customers will leverage proven technology and quickly receive benefits of an integrated, joint solution including reduced time to implement, seamless user experience and rapid return on investment.


View the entire press release on our website.

For additional information on using BigMachines sales enablement software with Oracle, please visit http://www.bigmachines.com/oracle.php

BigMachines recently announced the release of BigMachines 12, the latest version of the company's award-winning SaaS selling solution. BigMachines software assists sales teams, channel partners and resellers in product configuration, pricing and quoting, proposal generation and B2B ecommerce.

Customers will benefit from enhancements and new features in BigMachines 12 including:

• The improved Migration Management Center allows customers to easily transfer changes between their BigMachines test and production sites. Customers can easily compare changes between two BigMachines instances, filter results, and select specific components to update. The new migration management center allows for greater visibility of changes and speeds up the migration process.

• BigMachines’ new Configuration Layout Editor allows customers to create complex configuration and search layouts with an easy to use drag-and-drop editor for pixel perfect control of the page layout. The results are web pages are easier to design, faster to load, and allow for richer functionality.

• BigMachines updated Commerce Rules Wizard now provides customers with a centralized location to create and edit all commerce rules.  The new functionality adds more flexibility in the BigMachines commerce process and improves the user experience by providing a more scalable, standardized way to create hiding attributes, constraints and validations within BigMachines.

Additional information can be found at www.bigmachines.com. Customers can view the BigMachines 12 release notes and learn more about scheduled upgrades by visiting support.bigmachines.com.

Channelinsight, the leader of channel sales management solutions today announces a new partnership with BigMachines, the leader in product configuration, pricing and quoting, proposal generation and B2B ecommerce. Together these industry leaders have created a cloud-based solution that empowers enterprises to fully automate closed loop control into the discount management process, enabling customers to gain unprecedented visibility into channel sales data.

The partnership allows both companies to offer a channel sales management solution with unparalleled ability to maximize the return on discount pricing policies in the channel.  The solution leverages Channelinsight’s Lead to Ship™ functionality in tandem with BigMachines configuration, pricing and quoting capabilities to automatically close the loop from configuration to quote to shipment.  This results in better forecasting, reduced discounting and improved management of opportunities being fulfilled through the channel.

"We are consistently looking for ways to enhance the value we bring to our customers," said Mark Geene, CEO of Channelinsight. "Our partnership with BigMachines closes the loop on the discount management process with unprecedented control over special pricing and discounts. BigMachines cloud-based selling platform combined with Channelinsight Discount Manager allows enterprises to effectively manage the channel discount process."

Companies benefit from the new partnership by using the BigMachines cloud-based selling platform, integrated with Salesforce CRM, to help their sales teams and channel partners generate quotes, select and manage product configurations, automate renewal contracts, and enter orders.  Channelinsight Discount Manager reconciles POS data with quotes issued from BigMachines to automatically track sales results against special price quotes, reducing the time spent manually processing discount claims.  This provides complete visibility into their indirect sales channel. As a result of implementing this solution companies can expect to reduce their cost of processing discounts by 80 percent and ensure that partners are in compliance with their discount process.

"We look forward to working closely with Channelinsight to help enterprises across all industries sell more and sell faster," said Matt Gorniak, SVP Worldwide Sales and Alliances, BigMachines. "Our products and expertise are complementary, creating a win-win scenario for companies looking to better understand and serve their customers."

In addition, Channelinsight will be gold sponsor of BigIdeas Chicago 2011, the annual BigMachines customer and cloud conference for B2B professionals. Attendees can see Channelinsight’s offerings in action in the BigIdeas Sponsor Expo from October 23 – 25 at the Swissotel.

"We are excited to show BigIdeas attendees the synergies between BigMachines and Channelinsight, as we are both focused on streamlining and increasing the efficiency of the sales process," continued Mark Geene. "By pre-integrating our products we provide the most functional and cost-effective end-to-end discount management solution in the industry."

Learn more about BigIdeas at www.bigmachines.com/bigideas and more about Channelinsight at www.channelinsight.com

BigMachines is the global leader in product configuration, pricing and quoting, proposal generator and B2B ecommerce. With many new and existing users worldwide, we're pleased to offer two levels of administrator certification: Yellow Belt and Blue Belt.

Our software certification programs are available to all current BigMachines customers and consulting partners.

BigMachines interactive training classes are designed to teach administrators and users the fundamentals of setting up, customizing and maintaining their BigMachines software solution. Yellow Belt certification classes provide the building blocks for implementing and administering BigMachines, and are a prerequisite for more advanced classes that lead to Blue Belt certification.

Blue Belt Certification classes offer advanced content in focused areas of the BigMachines platform. Students who successfully complete all four Blue Belt classes, and pass the Certification Exams at the end of each of those classes, will obtain the Blue Belt Advanced Administrator Certification.

BigMachines customers and partners can choose to take certification classes in the way that best fit their schedules, learning styles and budgets. Classes are offered at BigMachines Learning Centers in Deerfield, Illinois; San Mateo, California; Frankfurt, Germany; and London, UK; can be delivered on-site at your location or can be taken via an online learning platform. The online option allows each customer to learn at his or her own pace, save on travel costs and still receive the same high level of administration training that an in-person class offers.

Learn more about upcoming training at www.bigmachines.com/training1.php

This is a re-post from our website.

BigMachines, Inc., the leader in product configuration, pricing and quoting, proposal generator and B2B ecommerce, today announced that its third annual Customer Innovation Awards will be presented at the BigIdeas Chicago 2011 conference. These awards recognize customers who have demonstrated business success and innovation using the BigMachines Selling Platform and those who have contributed the most popular enhancements to the BigMachines product roadmap. BigIdeas, the annual BigMachines customer and cloud conference, will be held October 23 to 25, 2011 at the Swissôtel Chicago.

Customer Innovation Awards will be presented for the following categories:

• Big Innovation Award is presented to the BigMachines customer that demonstrates the most innovative use of BigMachines within their company.
• Big Success Award is given to the company that demonstrates a significant return on investment (ROI) from using the BigMachines Selling Platform or demonstrates how BigMachines enabled them to eliminate costly tools and processes in their company.
• Biggest Idea Award recognizes the customer that contributes the most innovative idea to enhance the BigMachines' platform. Ideas are submitted online through the My BigIdea innovation portal on the BigMachines Customer Support Center.

For more information on the Customer Innovation Awards, or to submit a nomination, visit http://www.bigmachines.com/bigideas/big-awards.php

"The Customer Innovation Awards program recognizes excellence within our customer community," said Will Wiegler, Vice President of Marketing at BigMachines. "At BigMachines, we not only deliver innovative software to enable our customers to sell more and sell faster, but we also deliver customer success. At BigIdeas, we take the opportunity to highlight truly inspiring examples of innovation and accomplishment among our customers. The conference offers attendees to hear from many BigMachines customers in a variety of industries, to learn from their achievements, and leave with best practices that they can incorporate into their own business processes."

For more information and to read the full release, visit: http://www.bigmachines.com/third-annual-customer-innovation-awards.php

This is a re-post from our website.

BigMachines, Inc., the global leader in product configuration, pricing and quoting, proposal generator and B2B ecommerce, today announced the featured speakers for its BigIdeas Chicago 2011 customer and cloud conference, which will be held October 23 to 25, 2011 at the Swissôtel Chicago. BigIdeas has become one of the largest cloud innovation conferences where attendees share and learn best practices for increasing productivity and generating high value by streamlining their sales processes.

BigIdeas will feature the following keynote speakers:

• David Bonnette, President, BigMachines, discussing the pillars of customer success
• Kaihan Krippendorff, a blogger for Fast Company who has been featured in Business Week and Harvard Business Review, and is the author of three business strategy books, speaking on how to out-think the competition
• Justin Shriber, Region Vice President, Oracle SaaS Applications Group, sharing lessons for sales teams to deliver strong results, even when times are tough
• Peter Gaylord, Director of Product Marketing, Sales Cloud, salesforce.com, discussing how a Social Enterprise approach can improve your sales results -- and your bottom line
• Frederic Kerrest, President and Co-Founder, Okta, sharing best practices for companies who are expanding their use of cloud apps within their organizations

"Delivering unmatched customer success is the mission for BigMachines. Period. This principle will resonate throughout our BigIdeas conference," said David Bonnette. "Many of our conference sessions will spotlight our customers' innovation and success in three core areas: driving and accelerating adoption of our solutions; increasing productivity; and generating valuable results. BigIdeas is a great opportunity to learn, share and take away insights that you can use to make an immediate impact on your business growth."

The BigIdeas Chicago conference will feature interactive sessions focused on solutions for B2B eCommerce, channel sales, product configuration, and proposal and contract generation, among other topics. In addition, a variety of training and certification opportunities are available to customers and partners of all skill levels. Conference attendees are also invited to a gala celebration at the House of Blues Chicago.

Conference sponsors will showcase their services and solutions in the BigIdeas Sponsor Expo and during conference sessions.

• Platinum sponsors include Okta, Oracle and salesforce.com.
• Gold sponsors include Channelinsight, IBM, InsideView, PROS, Vendavo and Xactly.
• Silver sponsors include Accenture, Cloud9, DocuSign, EDL Consulting, Lumographics and Pierce Washington.

Additional information about BigIdeas for attendees, media, and sponsors can be found at www.bigmachines.com/bigideas.

This is a re-post from our website.

BigMachines, a Gold level member of Oracle® PartnerNetwork (OPN), today announced that BigMachines 11.1 software has achieved Oracle Validated Integration with Oracle CRM On Demand Release 19. BigMachines' on-demand selling platform enables customers to help increase sales and revenue. BigMachines provides innovative solutions for product configuration, pricing and quoting, proposal generation and B2B ecommerce. With this Oracle Validated Integration, key quoting activities from BigMachines can be accessed directly from Oracle CRM On Demand, providing customers with a seamless user experience, and ensuring accurate and convenient data flow between BigMachines and Oracle CRM On Demand.

To achieve Oracle Validated Integration, Oracle partners are required to meet a stringent set of requirements that are based on the needs and priorities of the customers. BigMachines integration with Oracle CRM On Demand Release 19 allows customers to extend the value of their CRM investment by providing a streamlined opportunity-to-quote-to-order process. Data stored in Oracle CRM On Demand can be accessed by BigMachines during the quoting process, helping ensure accurate product configurations and quotes. This data sharing also enhances CRM reporting and forecasting capabilities and eliminates redundant data re-entry into multiple systems.

"Our relationship with Oracle ensures that our customers experience seamless integration between Oracle CRM On Demand and BigMachines, enhancing user adoption and delivering more meaningful results," stated Tim Handorf, VP Product Management, BigMachines. "Many mutual customers have demonstrated measurable benefits from extending Oracle CRM On Demand with BigMachines, and the Oracle Validated Integration further demonstrates our product alignment."

Read the full press release on our website.

This is a repost from our website.

BigMachines, Inc., the leader in product configuration, pricing and quoting, proposal generation and B2B ecommerce, was named to Inc. magazine's fifth annual Inc. 5000 list. BigMachines is number 1307 on this exclusive ranking of the nation's fastest-growing private companies. The list represents the most comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy—America’s independent entrepreneurs.

This announcement marks the fourth consecutive year that BigMachines has been named to the Inc. 5000 list.  The company also ranked number 42 on the list of Top Companies in the Chicago Metro Area and number 105 on the list of Top Software Companies in America.

The company has seen a three-year revenue growth of 221 percent. The first half of 2011, BigMachines achieved 92 percent growth in contract bookings and added over 30 new customers. BigMachines has also added to its worldwide team by hiring employees in the areas of product development, services and support, and sales.

"BigMachines' sustained growth can be attributed to ongoing innovations in its industry leading selling platform; the company’s unwavering focus on customer success and delivering measureable business results; and in hiring world-class talent," said David Bonnette, President, BigMachines. "Our SaaS solution helps customers streamline their sales processes, so they can sell more, sell faster and drive more revenue. "

BigMachines will showcase its ongoing innovation at BigIdeas 2011, BigMachines' annual Customer and Cloud Conference, at the Swissotel Chicago on October 23 to 25.  Attendees of BigIdeas will discover the latest solutions and best practices to streamline their sales processes reduce costs and increase revenues.  Information is available at www.bigmachines.com/bigideas.

We've spoken to hundreds of companies around the world, and have uncovered common selling challenges that waste time, cost money and introduce errors. Implementing a selling platform that includes on-demand quoting, configuration, pricing and proposal generation addresses many of these challenges.

Join us on Wednesday, August 31 at 3:30 PM at Dreamforce to learn best practices from ArcSight (an HP Company), Brocade Communications and Acme Packet as they showcase how they use the BigMachines selling platform, sharing the business challenges they experienced before using BigMachines, and the measurable benefits achieved after implementation.

Not yet registered for the cloud-computing event of the year?
We would love for you to be our guest at Dreamforce and receive $100 off registration. Contact us to receive our Friend-of-BigMachines discount code and learn more about our other events happening during Dreamforce.

If you sell directly to other businesses or consumers, you already know how important speed, accuracy and presentation are to close deals.

BigMachines offers a variety of solutions to add speed and accuracy to the quoting and proposal, and order process. Here's how a BigMachines Customer utilizes product configuration, quoting and proposals to sell more and sell faster.

Configure products and services in minutes instead of days using BigMachines Guided Selling, which organizes product specifications as a series of question menus to guide users through the configuration process.

Send custom, validated, configurations on for review and approval via automated workflows. Sales Management, Product Engineers or Finance teams can approve sales quotes on the go via email and eliminate bottlenecks.

Once approved, use BigMachines Document Engine to send a dynamic, personalized sales quote, proposal or contract to customers. Easily add product datasheets, custom terms and conditions, customer logos and more via print, email, or fax in MS Word, Adobe PDF, and/or HTML format.

Need your document signed? BigMachines supports integration of leading electronic signature vendors to provide convenience and fast turnaround for your customers.

When you're ready to submit, use BigMachines to eliminate manual order entry and send approved quotes automatically to back end accounting or ERP systems; orders can even be routed through another approval process as needed with the electronic workflow.

Finally, take advantage of BigMachines Reporting and Analytics to stay on top of the pipeline by generating reports to help you improve quote management, forecasting, and product management.

Now what? Let BigMachines help streamline the renewal process for your existing customers. Quickly and accurately repackage or extend agreements for service and support, software licenses, subscription annuities and more.

In the field and on the go? Generate quotes even when you're offline from the Internet using BigMachines Unplugged. Offline users can configure, price, and generate quotes as well as go online to upload and download quotes to and from a central database.

Ready to extend your reach? BigMachines eCommerce Engine allows you to build a self-service, guided selling and configuration platform for your B2B and B2C customers to shop online.

BigMachines polled more than 100 sales professionals from a variety of industries including manufacturing, high tech and telecommunications. Respondents ranged from sales managers to C-Level sales executives.

Through this survey, we hoped to pinpoint the issues, concerns and success factors impacting mid-size to enterprise sales organizations today.

The results?

Sales professionals across the industry are telling us that the disconnect between sales and the rest of the organization remains high, ultimately resulting in issues with meeting their overall goals.

Moreover, respondents identified two significant pain points in the sales cycle – 28% cited the lag time from quote to close and 19% noted that managing multi-channel selling are broken in the sales cycle. Multi-channel selling includes a mix of offline sales, online sales, mobile ecommerce sales and other sales channels.

Though our survey underscores the struggles the sales industry face on a daily basis, nearly 60% of survey respondents are anticipating an uptick in deal size in 2011.

Implementing new software, optimizing processes and enhancing current tools such as CRM or ERP with configuration and guided selling modules are just some of the ways organizations are streamlining sales to achieve goals and metrics in 2011.

Review the full results from our study.

BigMachines today announced that our corporate leadership team is expanding to further support our continued rapid growth. Godard Abel, the company's co-founder and CEO, is moving to the role of senior advisor to the company's Board of Directors, and in conjunction with this move will transition his day-to-day responsibilities to David Bonnette in his capacity as President. The company is also appointing Sean Fallon in the dual role of Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Fallon most recently served as CEO of Accero, a leading on-demand human capital management software and solutions provider. With BigMachines' bookings growing at over 100 percent year over year, this expansion rounds out the company's leadership to form a seasoned team with deep experience in managing rapidly growing, global software businesses. You can read our full press release about this news at www.bigmachines.com/bigmachines-expands-leadership-team.php

David Bonnette, President of BigMachines, spent 15 years at Oracle Corporation prior to assuming all customer-facing functions at BigMachines. Bonnette will now assume day-to-day leadership of the entire business. I had the pleasure of speaking with David about the news, here's what he had to say, "My time with BigMachines has further expanded my view of the incredible opportunity that we have to continue to accelerate our growth trajectory. I look forward to working with our deep and experienced team to extend our leading position within the market."

Sean Fallon represents the most recent addition to the BigMachines leadership team. Fallon is a seasoned software executive who has spent the last 12 years of his career in senior leadership positions with enterprise software providers that serve Global 2000 customers. He has held executive positions with Trilogy Software, Brazos Software and Accero. Prior to his role as CEO at Accero, Fallon spent 10 years at Trilogy, a leading provider of enterprise software and technology-based business services, the last six of which were in the role of CFO. Sean oversaw rapid profitable growth of Trilogy's Versata software business while managing Trilogy's global financial operations, making numerous international acquisitions and investments, raising a significant amount of debt capital and completing a tender offer for a publicly-held subsidiary. Fallon started his career in Corporate Finance at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. As COO and CFO, Fallon will lead the Company's finance group and oversee its economic strategy and forecasting and work closely with Bonnette to manage the company's operations.

Godard Abel, having grown the company from a Silicon Valley start-up in 2000 to its current market leadership position, will move to the role of a senior advisor to the Board of Directors. Godard shared these thoughts with me about the news, "I am very proud of the company that BigMachines has become and am grateful to have had the privilege of working side by side with many extremely bright and talented people along the way. David Bonnette has already proven a strong addition to our world-class team, and together we have delivered a record first half performance for the company. Sean Fallon represents another high-caliber executive who we are excited to add, and who will help ensure that we continue to provide the best experience to our current and future customers. The company has an amazing opportunity ahead of it, as demonstrated by its continuing rapid growth, and I look forward to staying involved in the business as an investor and Board advisor."

Finally, Alan Cline, a Principal with Vista Equity Partners and a member of the Board of Directors for BigMachines shared his thoughts about the news, "We are very excited about the growth and evolution of BigMachines over the past decade. Godard's contribution has been outstanding and his continued involvement as an advisor to the Board will be valued by all. The company is having another fantastic year, with record growth and continued success on all fronts. David Bonnette and Sean Fallon represent tremendous additions to the senior leadership team and our ability to attract this caliber of talent is a real testament to the opportunity ahead of BigMachines for years to come."

As the global leader in enabling B2B sales, BigMachines will continue to help companies sell more and sell faster. I look forward to sharing more news with you about BigMachines' award-winning on-demand configurator, pricing and quoting, proposal generator, and B2B eCommerce software solutions, which empower sales across customers' channels by streamlining their sales processes from opportunity to order. I invite you to stay informed by subscribing to our newsletter or RSS-feed for our blog, following us on Twitter or Facebook, and visiting our website regularly for all press announcements and media coverage.

This is a re-post of a press release from our website.

BigMachines, Inc., the leader in product configuration, pricing and quoting, proposal generation and B2B ecommerce, today announced the launch of the BigMachines Certification Program.  BigMachines offers two levels of administrator certification: Yellow Belt and Blue Belt. The new certification program is immediately available to all current BigMachines customers and consulting partners.

BigMachines interactive training classes are designed to teach administrators and users the fundamentals of setting up, customizing and maintaining their BigMachines software solution. Yellow Belt certification classes provide the building blocks for implementing and administering BigMachines, and are a prerequisite for more advanced classes that lead to Blue Belt certification.

“Our customers and partners can feel confident that a BigMachines certified administrator will have the skills required to expertly implement and maintain their BigMachines platform,” stated Tim Handorf, Vice President of Product Management, BigMachines. “Our new training programs ensure that all BigMachines certified administrators achieve the same expertise, whether they take classes in person or online.”

BigMachines customers and partners can choose to take certification classes in the way that best fit their schedules, learning styles and budgets.  Classes are offered at BigMachines’ training centers in the United States and Europe, can be given at a customer’s office or can be taken via the new online learning platform. The new online option allows each customer to learn at his or her own pace, save on travel costs and still receive the same high level of administration training that an in-person class offers.

“Our company makes extensive use of Configuration, Commerce, and the Document Engine for guiding our users to a complete quote,” said Jason Parpart, Systems Administrator, Schenck AccuRate.  “As our company’s BigMachines administrator, comprehensive training in all aspects of BigMachines administration was a must.  After taking the Yellow Belt training, I felt confident in my ability to tweak and maintain our site as it went live.  After completing Blue Belt training, I now feel like I have a vast new set of tools at my disposal to make just about anything possible.  The training team has done an excellent job of putting together a rigorous but well-paced curriculum and they teach it well.  Training up to at least the Yellow Belt level should almost be a requirement for any BigMachines administrator.”

To learn more about BigMachines training or to register for a class, visit www.bigmachines.com/training.  Additional training opportunities are also available at BigIdeas Chicago, October 23 – 25, 2011.  BigIdeas Chicago is one of the largest cloud conferences targeted for B2B sales professionals and offers new insights to help them optimize their sales processes to sell more and sell faster. To learn more, visit www.bigmachines.com/bigideas.

Scott Santucci from Forrester Research recently blogged:

"Here are three common ways sales enablement gets defined (unconsciously) within our client base:

1.     Sales enablement = equipping individual sellers with skills and or tools to do their jobs better. This lens of sales enablement seems simple, but it leaves far too much to interpretation about what a seller needs to be successful. As a result, many different and uncoordinated efforts pop up all over the organization driven by folks trying to help. If there is a sales enablement function in organizations that views the role in this way – they are likely to be understaffed and constantly putting out fires across the organization. 

2.     Sales enablement = making the sales organization more productive. Companies with this perspective are looking at how all of their sales and sales support resources are deployed to drive productivity with less investment. An example would include process-modeling work to document an engagement model and the roles and responsibilities of sales people, sales engineers, consultants, and other subject-matter experts in order to streamline resources to meet clients’ requirements. This might also look like the marketing organization making advances in how it aligns its resources to tie into the strategic plan of the sales organization.

3.     Sales enablement = making the process of growing the sales line item on the income statement more effective and efficient.  Companies and leaders with this perspective are working on a whole new set of metrics, measures, and processes to streamline how they configure their portfolio, modularize their messaging, and arm their sales people with tools to combat the growing complexity of B2B selling. For these companies, sales enablement is an important, strategic function (and leadership role) required to bridge the gap between their strategic vision for the organization and how they manage the execution of that plan across the different functional groups inside their company. A handful of our clients have worked very hard to change their orientation to this perspective and are achieving breakthrough results."

Though the three definitions and job functions vary in focus, we love how each describes pain points felt by B2B sales organizations, regardless of industry, size or customer base.

Moreover, these same pain points are areas BigMachines focuses on when planning our product roadmap and addressing the needs of our users. Through product configuration, quoting, proposal and approval automation, and eCommerce, we strive to empower sales teams with the tools they need to be both more efficient and more productive.

Features like Guided Selling help new users learn product lines, options, constraints and recommended items. Document Libraries ensure that sales teams are equipped with the same dynamic templates to quickly and accurately send contracts and proposals to customers. Native Reporting assists sales organizations in understanding customers, products and how well the company operates from one interface instead of several software packages.

BigMachines continues to grow and gain enhancements as a result of the passionate sales enablement professionals who make-up our My BigIdea Community. In My BigIdea, BigMachines users help to drive development priorities and innovations by posting and voting on ideas with direct interaction from our product management team. As a result, the pain points noted by Scott directly align with our features and continuous development.

Not sure how eCommerce can benefit your B2B sales team?

Learn more about the benefits of BigMachines eCommerce Engine and gain a better understanding of what makes a great eCommerce platform in this week long series!

eCommerce on the Mobile Web

Mobile web is here and growing! Having a mobile presence is increasingly becoming a critical requirement for reaching B2B audiences who are always on the go and always connected.

While not all products and services lend well to configuration on smartphone (or require that level of connectedness), offering other eCommerce self-service features to B2B clients can be the key to increased customer success, renewals and repeat business.

eCommerce Wrap-up

When determining if eCommerce is right for your B2B sales process, keep the following in mind:

• Your customers (and your sales) only stand to benefit from access to Enterprise Portals
• Utilizing the cloud for eCommerce ensures scalability with minimal investment of resources
• Web 2.0 technology empowers customers to create their own custom buying experience
• Empower customers with sales configuration and provide them with the knowledge to create their own products and service packages
• Integrating eCommerce sales tools with back-end order management software helps to ensure accuracy and alleviate headaches further in the process
• Keep mobile usability in mind and include self-service features for business customers always on the go

Learn more about the BigMachines eCommerce Engine by watching a replay of our webinar "Rethinking Your B2B Sales Strategy: Extend Your Reach with eCommerce"


Other posts in this series:
Exploring eCommerce: Enterprise Portals and Cloud/Web Platforms
Exploring eCommerce: Web 2.0 Sales Tools
Exploring eCommerce: Sales Configuration
Exploring eCommerce: Sales Order Management
Exploring eCommerce: Mobile Web

Not sure how eCommerce can benefit your B2B sales team?

Learn more about the benefits of BigMachines eCommerce Engine and gain a better understanding of what makes a great eCommerce platform in this week long series!

eCommerce for Order Management

One of the fears B2B organizations have about adding eCommerce to their sales toolkit is that unknowledgable customers will create invalid products, causing a headache for the sales team, as well as the order entry team, and even the accounting team.

Though a configurator will ensure only configurations which are both technically and commercially valid can be added to a prospect's shopping cart, integration directly to an ERP or other order management system is crucial for alleviating the human error involved with data entry.

By integrating your eCommerce Engine directly with an ERP and CRM, you can ensure data is captured and stored where needed - without unnecessary duplicate records - and that orders are sent on for fulfillment. Moreover, your prospects and other end users can see, in real time, if products or parts are sold out and are empowered with recommended or similar items to complete the transaction in a timely fashion.


Other posts in this series:
Exploring eCommerce: Enterprise Portals and Cloud/Web Platforms
Exploring eCommerce: Web 2.0 Sales Tools
Exploring eCommerce: Sales Configuration
Exploring eCommerce: Sales Order Management
Exploring eCommerce: Mobile Web

Not sure how eCommerce can benefit your B2B sales team?

Learn more about the benefits of BigMachines eCommerce Engine and gain a better understanding of what makes a great eCommerce platform in this week long series!

eCommerce and Configuration

At its core, a configurator assists the user to understand product information, underlying components and options in the buying processe, as well as enforces specific standard or policies. For B2B organizations, eCommerce Configurators alleviate some of the complexity in finding or creating the right product or service package.

When you add self-service configuration for your customers, you empower customers with the same detail of product information as your most knowledgable sales rep! In particular, Guided Selling ensures that B2B customers take all factors and use cases into account while configuring the right solution to fit their unique needs.


Other posts in this series:
Exploring eCommerce: Enterprise Portals and Cloud/Web Platforms
Exploring eCommerce: Web 2.0 Sales Tools
Exploring eCommerce: Sales Configuration
Exploring eCommerce: Sales Order Management
Exploring eCommerce: Mobile Web

Not sure how eCommerce can benefit your B2B sales team?

Learn more about the benefits of BigMachines eCommerce Engine and gain a better understanding of what makes a great eCommerce platform in this week long series!

eCommerce and Web 2.0

The driving force in new technology is organizations' desire to increase sales. By combining the power of Web 2.0 with eCommerce, you optimize your website and your sales process in three key ways:

1. You take advantage of Web-oriented architecture which allows for greater scalability and reach
2. You add or enhance social and community aspects of your products and services by integrating to relevant blogs, wikis and other social networks
3. You delight the senses with mixed sources of content such as product images, videos, datasheets, and more

In addition to the ease-of-use factor that Web 2.0 provides, you also have the opportunity to open up your products for configuration, social sharing, and user-defined content such as product comparisons and reviews.


Other posts in this series:
Exploring eCommerce: Enterprise Portals and Cloud/Web Platforms
Exploring eCommerce: Web 2.0 Sales Tools
Exploring eCommerce: Sales Configuration
Exploring eCommerce: Sales Order Management
Exploring eCommerce: Mobile Web

Not sure how eCommerce can benefit your B2B sales team?

Learn more about the benefits of BigMachines eCommerce Engine and gain a better understanding of what makes a great eCommerce platform in this week long series!

eCommerce for Enterprise

You may already use an "enterprise portal" - a comprehensive website providing access to and interaction with relevant information assets - think CRM and ERP - but did you know that externally facing portals can provide increased revenue and profitability?

By adding access to product information, marketing content, knowledge assets like guided selling modules and employees to your corporate website, you can enable customers to create a highly personalized shopping experience - as well as their own, technically and commercially valid, sales quote.

eCommerce in the Cloud

If you're still not clear on the benefits of cloud computing, consider this: Web based platforms support business flexibility and speed requirements by exploiting new and enhanced forms of application development and delivery. What does that mean for you? More storage and more computing power!

For B2B organizations which sell complex products or services, this means all of your product lines, part lists, pricing options, recommended item rules and more can be made available to external audiences without an additional investment in hosting infrastructures.


Other posts in this series:
Exploring eCommerce: Enterprise Portals and Cloud/Web Platforms
Exploring eCommerce: Web 2.0 Sales Tools
Exploring eCommerce: Sales Configuration
Exploring eCommerce: Sales Order Management
Exploring eCommerce: Mobile Web