The Inovis Blog

Chris is the Managing Director for Inovis Asia-Pacific and has the inside scoop on “AsiaB2B“, the new B2B user community for the Asia-Pacific region.  Here are Chris’ thoughts on the new group.    [update: here's the press release in English and Chinese]. 

Q: What is AsiaB2B and what are its objectives?

A: AsiaB2B is a B2B user community that allows distributors, suppliers, partners, vendors, competitors and SMEs to all gather together to discuss standards, technology and trends in the industry specific to Asia.  You can read more here. For me, it is an opportunity to listen to multiple companies both interested in and leading B2B, alike in the same room at the same time.

Q: What are the benefits of AsiaB2B and why should companies join?

A: Whether you know about B2B or you don’t even know how to spell EDI, AsiaB2B is a place to get information on what the community is doing well and where they are struggling.  It allows you to pose process, modeling, and connectivity questions to the community as a whole and hear what others are facing.  It allows you to ask questions of those who have done it before and share your own successes with the group.  Furthermore, with the vendor participation, you can see what is coming down the road from a technology standpoint.

B2B only works when there is another “B” to connect to.  You can’t go it alone and you should not have to reinvent the wheel. AsiaB2B strives to be that community that allows companies to develop their standards and ensure they get adopted across companies.  More importantly, AsiaB2B tackles problems specific to Asia such as Japanese standards and double-byte character issues.

The companies that participate and become a member gain the most benefit.  They can lead and belong to task groups that decide on standards.  They can determine and drive the next topic and event theme.  They can ask their questions and answer others.  AsiaB2B looks for the decision makers and the hands-on experts of B2B.  Who is dealing with the PO and Invoice every day?  Who is managing the on-boarding?  Who is building the maps and who is analyzing which key partners should be trading electronically?  These are the people that make AsiaB2B tick.

Q: How is Inovis involved in AsiaB2B?

A: Inovis is proud to be a founding member of AsiaB2B as well as a member of AsiaB2B’s sister organization, EDIFICE in Europe.  As Inovis continues to grow in Asia, we will watch and participate with AsiaB2B closely to make sure we are bringing to market the right products and solutions that users are requesting.  The standards that are decided upon by the community will be what Inovis adheres to in our continued implementation, support, and on-boarding efforts in Asia.  As part of the Steering Committee, part of my goal will be to continue to drive attendance and participation from my customers throughout the 53 countries Inovis covers in Asia!

Q: How do you see AsiaB2B impacting trading relationships and B2B integration?

A: AsiaB2B will paint the roadmap for B2B in the future.  AsiaB2B is not about one standard or one technology.  We discuss EDI and RosettaNet; OAGi and  XML; JEITA and Zengin.  You could be interested in in-house or out sourced,  SaaS or DIY.  This organization shows a conglomerated view of how companies are doing business today.  On our blog we recently explained how we split our offerings into three buckets for MFT.  The only difference at AsiaB2B is you get to see several companies buckets side by side and learn what is inside.

Q: Who can join AsiaB2B?

A: Anyone interested in B2B topics related to Asia can join.  AsiaB2B is not limited to one vertical or country.  At our  Inaugural Meeting in Taipei we had companies from automotive, hi-tech, retail, solution providers,  and electronics.  We also had participation from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, and Vietnam.  I look forward to meeting you and connecting at our next meeting.

For more information, visit AsiaB2B’s website, or leave any questions or comments you may have here.