Financial services companies in the United States and United Kingdom are leading efforts in adopting B2B e-commerce while Germany is lagging behind, according to a global survey commissioned by B2B e-commerce software provider Izodia (formerly Infobank).
The survey, titled "The State of Global B2B E-Commerce", found that nearly 41 per cent of companies in Germany's finance sector had no plans to deploy B2B initiatives, more than twice as many as those responding from manufacturing companies.
Financial companies in the United States and in the United Kingdom ranked highest in terms of B2B adoption with 72 per cent either implementing or already having deployed e-commerce programs. As many as 62 per cent of these plan to automate procurement and supply functions simultaneously.
Globally, more than 62 per cent of all financial services companies surveyed were implementing or had plans to implement B2B initiatives.
Other findings in the financial services sector include:
* The two most important priorities for B2B companies across all geographies are getting value for the money spent on B2B e-commerce software and services, and the ability to integrate with existing systems;
* When considering B2B solutions, companies give open integration, support for multiple trading models and the ability to connect to other marketplaces as the three top features; and
* Of those who have implemented or are in the process of implementing B2B, nearly two-thirds of companies are automating both procurement and supply-side functions.
Overall, financial services companies had the least aggressive return on investment timetables, with 37 per cent expecting ROI within a year and another 37 per cent expecting ROI within two years. This contrasts sharply with manufacturing companies, 47 per cent of which expected ROI within one year.