What is B2B Application: 2024 Guide for Your Business Growth
January 24, 2024
As a business owner, you may find the term “B2B apps” familiar. As we step into 2024, understanding B2B applications is crucial for your business aiming for growth.
So, what is B2B application, anyway? This guide is your answer and more.
In this guide, Designveloper (DSV) will help you dig further into the world of B2B apps with the key topics as follows:
- The differences between B2B and B2C apps;
- The various types of B2B apps;
- The latest trends in B2B apps.
And finally, we’ll discuss B2B app development from DSV’s viewpoint. This will equip you with practical insights that could prove beneficial as you embark on your B2B app development journey.
So, are you ready to dive in and learn about B2B applications? Let’s get started!
What is B2B Application?
B2B (Business-to-Business) refers to the transaction of goods, services, or information between businesses, rather than between a business and an individual consumer (B2C).
B2B applications, or B2B apps, are digital tools specifically designed to facilitate these B2B transactions. They connect businesses with others, streamlining communication, collaboration, and operations between them.
Some B2B apps are accessible for public download, while others are designed only for internal use. Whether free or paid, these apps help your business streamline workflows, handle niche industry requirements, and address challenges in areas like sales and marketing, supply chain and logistics, etc.
The Benefits of B2B Applications for Businesses
B2B apps are transforming the way businesses interact.
According to Gartner, 80% of sales interactions between suppliers and buyers will occur in digital channels by 2025.
This highlights the increasing importance of B2B apps for businesses looking for more efficient operations, improved communication, and economic growth. Here’s how:
Increased Operational Efficiency
B2B applications can automate many processes, thereby streamlining workflows. This has direct savings in manual labor costs and boosts productivity. According to a study by BCG, top B2B technology companies have reported 10% to 20% increases in sales productivity by using B2B applications.
Improved Communication and Collaboration
By establishing a standardized platform for data exchange, B2B apps allow your business to easily share critical information with others in real-time. This leads to better visibility and decision-making. This is particularly beneficial in supply chain management, where timely and accurate information is crucial for smooth operations.
But B2B apps not only improve communication and collaboration between businesses but also enhance internal communication within organizations.
Also according to BCG, using B2B apps can lead to 15% to 20% increases in internal employee satisfaction. This is because these apps – for instance, project management software – provide a platform for employees to track their tasks and communicate effectively, hence leading to improved outcomes.
Enhanced Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty
In the B2B sector, customer loyalty is not just about repeat business, but also about building strong relationships that lead to long-term partnerships. Loyal customers are more likely to spend more with your business, refer you to other customers, and give you the insights you need to improve, drive innovation, and increase revenue.
Understanding this importance, B2B apps enable your seamless connection with clients. Accordingly, your business can instantly meet their ever-changing needs, resulting in improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.
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B2B vs. B2C Apps: Understanding the Differences
Having grasped the fundamentals of “What is B2B application”, you might now be intrigued about how it stands apart from B2C applications. To quench your curiosity and enhance your understanding, let’s delve deeper into their definitions, and explore the distinguishing factors through the table below:
| Key Differences | B2B Apps | B2C Apps |
| Definition | These apps are designed to facilitate interactions between businesses. | These apps are designed to engage individual consumers. |
| Target audience | Individual consumers | Businesses |
| Features | These apps often prioritize features that improve business processes, like task automation or real-time collaboration tools. | These apps often have features that enhance the user experience, such as personalized recommendations or social sharing options. |
| User needs when using apps | B2B app users require robust features that support their business operations, such as data analysis tools or advanced scheduling features. | B2C app users typically seek convenience, speed, and simplicity. |
| Examples | Some typical B2B apps include project management tools like Asana and communication platforms like Slack. | Some typical B2C apps include eCommerce apps like Amazon and entertainment apps like Netflix. |
The B2B App Ecosystem: Types & Examples
So, what is B2B application type you should invest in for your business? To help you answer this question, DSV will lead you through a diversity of B2B app types, coupled with their outstanding examples.
B2B eCommerce Apps
These apps are designed to streamline and automate the process of selling products and services between businesses. They often include features such as product catalogs, customer management, order management, pricing and discount management, and integrations with other business systems.
Example: Shopify Plus is a modern, flexible eCommerce platform that serves both B2B and DTC customers from one central place. This app enables B2B businesses to manage large catalogs, handle complex pricing, and offer personalized customer experiences.
Procurement Apps
These apps help your business streamline the purchasing process, automate approvals, and manage supplier relationships.
They manage the e-procurement lifecycle, from purchasing materials and managing inventory to generating purchase orders and overseeing bills and payments.
Further, they help identify inventory shortages before they impact your bottom line, gather data to help improve profitability, and automate reminders about purchase orders or cancellations.
Example: Coupa is such a B2B app. It offers a platform for businesses to request quotes, track orders, and manage invoices efficiently.
Collaboration and Communication Apps
These apps are primarily used to enhance teamwork and communication within and between companies. They often include features such as instant messaging, video conferencing, file sharing, and more.
Example: Microsoft Teams is a typical example. It provides a centralized hub for communication, file sharing, and project management.
Supply Chain and Logistics Apps
These apps allow your business to optimize logistics operations, track shipments, and improve visibility into inventory.
Some of their key features include supply chain collaboration, inventory & warehouse management, logistics tracking, and more.
Example: Oracle SCM Cloud unifies supply chain planning, execution, and collaboration within a single cloud-based platform. It then enables businesses to enhance visibility, control costs, and adapt to change quickly.
Sales and CRM Apps
Sales and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) apps are designed to streamline and enhance the sales process and customer relationships.
In terms of sales, they offer features like automation or workflow management to manage the entire sales cycle, including sales leads, sales processes, and sales teams.
Meanwhile, as for CRM, they capture all touchpoints – calls, emails, chats, web visits, social connections, and more – to help you learn from every customer interaction.
Example: Salesforce, coupled with AI integration, offers a comprehensive platform for sales automation, marketing campaigns, and customer relationship management.
Project Management Apps
As the name states, these apps help you manage projects more effectively. By providing numerous features like project planning and scheduling, they organize and track projects, assign tasks, and collaborate with team members seamlessly.
Example: Asana helps teams plan projects, manage tasks, communicate effectively, and stay on track.
Data Analytics and Reporting Apps
These apps are helpful for your business to analyze data and generate reports. They also integrate with other systems, allowing you to pull in data from different sources for analysis.
Besides, these apps often include data visualization tools, which help you understand data by presenting data in a graphical format. For this reason, you can effectively conduct predictive analytics and make data-based decisions.
Example: Tableau provides a visual platform for data exploration, reporting, and dashboard creation.
Financial Management Apps
These apps are designed to manage finances, track expenses, and automate accounting processes. Some of their key features include financial planning and analysis, accounting, invoicing, and reporting. Such features help you plan, budget, track, and forecast financials effectively.
Example: Xero is a cloud-based app that helps your business to manage invoices, payroll, and financial reporting.
Learning and Development Apps
Companies often use these apps to train their employees, improve their skills, and foster professional development.
They cover various topics relevant to the business, such as product knowledge, industry trends, compliance training, and soft skills development. Besides, these apps also offer a range of features to support learning, including course creation, progress tracking, interactive learning experiences, and more.
Example: Docebo is a B2B learning platform that helps your business create and deliver online courses, manage training programs, and measure learner engagement.
Industry-Specific Apps
These apps are developed to cater to the unique needs and challenges of specific industries. They’re beneficial in streamlining your operations, improving efficiency, and enhancing productivity within your specific industry.
Example: Aptean offers a range of industry-specific ERP software solutions for sectors like manufacturing, retail, and healthcare.
B2B App Trends to Watch in 2024 and Beyond
In the wake of COVID-19, 96% of B2B businesses changed their operating model to digital operations. To stay competitive in the new normal, organizations have increased their adoption of digital solutions.
As we step into 2024, the digital revolution continues to blaze a trail in the B2B arena. Riding this wave, B2B applications have emerged as an unstoppable force, charting an impressive growth trajectory.
So, what is B2B application’s direction in 2024 and beyond?? Let’s delve into the trends that are set to shape this landscape:
B2B eCommerce on the Rise
According to McKinsey, eCommerce has emerged as the leading sales channel (35%) in the B2B sector. This digital transformation has outpaced traditional methods such as in-person sales (26%) and video conferences (12%).
Market leaders in the B2B space not only offer digital self-service options through their websites but also provide comprehensive eCommerce offerings. This shift towards digital platforms is a direct response to the changing preferences of business clients, who are increasingly comfortable making large purchases online.
The global B2B eCommerce market is experiencing robust growth, with a projected CAGR of 20.2% from 2023 to 2030. This upward trajectory is fueled by several key factors, including the outbreak of COVID-19, the rising popularity of web apps and cloud services, and favorable consumer protection regulations.
So, what is B2B application’s role in this rising trend of B2B eCommerce?
B2B apps serve as the backbone of this digital revolution. They provide the necessary infrastructure and tools for businesses to engage in eCommerce effectively and efficiently. From facilitating seamless transactions to providing robust security measures, B2B apps play a pivotal role in enabling businesses to leverage the power of eCommerce.
As the trend of B2B eCommerce continues to rise, we can expect B2B applications to evolve and adapt, offering more sophisticated and tailored solutions to meet the changing needs of businesses.
Increased Use of Advanced Techs
Investing in innovative technologies in B2B applications is a strategic move that many organizations are making.
These advanced technologies are leveraged to connect the end-to-end marketing and sales funnel, optimize the supply chain, track the delivery of orders from start to finish, and more. As a result, B2B companies can automate mundane tasks, enhance the customer experience, and boost online sales.
According to an analysis by McKinsey, companies can achieve a 30% revenue growth by implementing new technologies (e.g., augmented and virtual reality) and data-based tools powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.
Integrating advanced techs into B2B applications is more than just a passing trend. It represents a substantial shift in the way B2B organizations operate.
As we move forward, this trend is expected to gain even more momentum. The continuous advancements in technology promise an exciting future for B2B applications, transforming the way businesses operate and interact with their customers.
Increased Focus on Hyper-Personalization
Hyper-personalization is the act of delivering ultra-detailed, per-client messages based on real-time client data from multiple sources. As eCommerce is increasingly popular in B2B apps, the ability to offer super-personalized recommendations to business clients is a must.
In response to this trend, many companies are integrating advanced tech stacks, analytics, and prescriptive insights into B2B apps. These tools, accordingly, enable salespeople to deliver unique offers on a one-to-one basis.
The development of B2B applications that can deliver client-centric messages and recommendations is a trend that we can expect to continue in 2024 and beyond. It allows your business to better understand and meet the unique needs of your customers.
Accordingly, you can build stronger relationships with business customers, improve their satisfaction, and ultimately drive growth. As technology continues to evolve, the ability to provide hyper-personalized experiences will become even more critical, making it a key trend in B2B applications.
B2B App Development: Insights from DSV’s Practical Example
Once you’ve grasped the basics, you then may wonder: “How can I seamlessly develop a B2B app?” To answer this, let’s discover the real-world B2B app development process at Designveloper (DSV).
One of our standout projects in this realm is the “Lumin for BlackBerry” app. Built on the BlackBerry Dynamics platform, this app enhances collaboration and productivity for organizations and businesses utilizing the BlackBerry system.
What is B2B Application Development at DSV?
Our typical process to develop Lumin for BlackBerry includes the key steps as follows:
Step 1: Gathering Customer Requirements
In this project, our client, a company in electronic component manufacturing, required the ability for employees to handle PDF documents with editing tools and send documents via BlackBerry Work for email.
Step 2: Preparing Technical Documentation
Our Business Analysts then prepared technical documentation (product specifications). This documentation details customer requirements, app deployment methods, and security standards to be met.
Step 3: Develop the App
Developers used the prepared documentation to initiate the development of the Lumin for BlackBerry app.
Challenges Faced In B2B App Development
During the app development process, we faced several challenges:
- BlackBerry’s documentation on BlackBerry Dynamics was infrequently updated and not comprehensive.
- Accessing data from BlackBerry Secure Container differed between iOS and Android, requiring research for platform-specific handling to ensure data readability and importation for the Lumin for BlackBerry app.
Despite these challenges, our team proactively engaged with BlackBerry representatives, sought support from technology forums, and conducted self-testing with various methods to find suitable solutions within a short timeframe.
Unique Methods to B2B Apps
B2B apps often have high demands for security, availability, and scalability compared to other app types. That’s why we had to devise unique techniques for B2B app development.
For Lumin for BlackBerry, we utilized the BlackBerry Dynamics SDK for React Native, inheriting robust security features such as end-to-end data encryption, secure data storage, and access control.
Integrating this SDK allows users to utilize Lumin’s features while ensuring the absolute security of their enterprise data.
Lessons From DSV’s Practical Example
This practical example illustrates our approach to B2B app development, providing a real-world perspective on the process. Like other mobile apps, B2B ones also require a meticulous development process, proactive problem-solving, and a strong focus on security.
For those embarking on a B2B app development journey, our advice is to thoroughly understand customer requirements, prepare comprehensive technical documentation, and be prepared to tackle platform-specific challenges.
Remember, the key to successful B2B app development lies in ensuring robust security features while enhancing productivity and collaboration for businesses. With these insights, you are well-equipped to navigate the complexities of B2B application development.
Final Words
In wrapping up our guide on “What is B2B Application: 2024 Guide for Your Business Growth”, we’ve explored the basics of B2B, the differences between B2B and B2C apps, and the latest trends in B2B apps. We’ve also given you a glimpse into the world of B2B app development from the viewpoint of DSV.
B2B apps are a revolution that is shaping the future of business. Embracing this revolution is not just an option, but it’s a necessity for your business to achieve long-term growth.
And remember, you’re not alone in this journey. With DSV by your side, you have a partner who can guide you, support you, and help you navigate the complexities of B2B app development.
So, are you ready to take your business to new heights with B2B apps? Contact DSV for your start.
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