As an enterprise software user, you’re tired of hearing about “Web 2.0” because, despite all of the buzz it has generated for the last few years, and all of the “value” it has delivered to consumers through Amazon, Google Apps, and Facebook, it hasn’t done a single thing for you. And it’s good that you’re sick of “Web 2.0”. Software is supposed to serve you — you’re not supposed to serve it.

That’s why Sourcing Innovation is proud to announce the release of the second white-paper in its 5-part B2B 3.0 series. B2B 3.0 (Business-to-Business 3.0) is the next generation of technology for the enterprise that not only generates value for you as a buyer, but also generates value for your supplier as it helps you both save time and money — the way enterprise software should. Enterprise software should free you from the mundane and allow you to spend your time conducting commerce instead of fighting with primitive interfaces that force you to do everything but accomplish your goal.

B2B 3.0 is the first generation of enterprise software technology that puts business users on the same footing as consumers (who have had “3.0” technologies at their fingertips for years). It enables true commerce in the global marketplace. Returning to the fundamentals of e-Commerce, that have been lost for the last decade or so, B2B 3.0 gives us connectivity that is open and free to all, content that is managed once in a non-redundant fashion by the content owner, and an open community where buyers and sellers can come together for short periods of time through virtual networks that allow them to conduct the business they need to conduct — when, and how, they need to conduct it. No “technical” strings attached.

B2B 3.0 is also the first technology to level the playing field between buyers and suppliers and put them both on the same footing. Previous generations of B2B technology focused primarily on the buyer, the target customer, under the fallacy that ‘streamlining’ the process for the buyer would lead to the greatest cost savings. The reality is that this ‘streamlining’ resulted in increased work, and thus increased cost, for the supplier who had to ultimately increase their prices to cover their costs. The technology should have focused on ‘streamlining’ the process for the supplier, because this not only results in cost and process savings for the supplier, but it results in cost and process savings for the buyer as well. True commerce is simple for all.

In Simplifying B2B for Suppliers Enables Buyers, we walk through the B2B 1.0 to B2B 3.0 revolution and illustrate how B2B 3.0 actually saves both parties time and money, whereas suppliers, like buyers, were lucky to break even in B2B 2.0. and, like buyers, usually lost their shirts in B2B 1.0. We end with some examples of B2B 3.0 in action, giving you a glance into the B2B 3.0 future and some companies that might very well be the leaders of tomorrow.