Anatomy of a B2B process: 4 bottlenecks that are quietly holding back your growth

In our private lives, we have become accustomed to full transparency of delivery. We can see where the package is, when it will arrive, what happens along the way. In B2B, this standard often disappears.

After placing an order, the customer falls into an information "black hole." He doesn't know if production has already started, if the goods have left the warehouse, when he can realistically expect delivery.

The result? An information ping-pong ensues between the customer, the salesman and the ERP system. The customer asks: "When is the delivery?" The merchant pauses, logs into the ERP, checks the status, writes back. In a moment, the situation repeats itself.

Click to zoomImage > Brak widoczności procesu zamówienia

This is not real customer service, but manual reading of data that already exists in the system. The problem is that this data is inaccessible to the customer.

Companies that implement an "automotive-like" view of statuses - from production to transportation - along with automatic notifications, can significantly reduce the number of status queries. The team regains time and the customer regains a sense of control.

Lost emails. Attachments stopped by spam filters. Requests for duplicate invoices, WZs or certificates. This is a daily reality for many B2B companies.

In the traditional model, the customer has to write or call, and the service department starts manually searching for documents and sends them back as attachments. At this point, a highly skilled team turns into an expensive filing service.

In the self-service model, the customer has access to documents 24/7, and payments are processed in a timely manner.

This bottleneck generates two major impacts:

A waste of time
The team is doing the work that the system should be doing.

Payment congestion
The absence of a document becomes a convenient excuse for withholding payment. Every hour of delay in providing a duplicate is frozen company cash.

The complaint process in many organizations still functions like an analog island in a digital world.

Requests go through various channels: phone to salesman, email to service, photos via instant messenger. Information is scattered, statuses recorded in notes or Excel. The quality department doesn't have full documentation, the warehouse doesn't know about the scheduled return, and the customer has no idea what's happening with the case.

The result? Duplicate requests, lost data and no single process owner. The customer calls every few days, and customer service conducts internal investigations instead of simply checking the status in the system. In addition, the lack of linkage to the order in ERP means manual, error-prone work.

A structured, digital e-RMA process reduces processing time, automates the case workflow and provides full transparency to the customer.

The growing number of inquiries should be gratifying. In practice, when they hit the general email inbox or directly to salespeople, they create another bottleneck.

The lack of systemic support means:

Lack of clear attribution
It is not clear who is handling the inquiry

Incomplete data
Trader has to go back for details

Lack of history
After a month no one remembers the findings because the offer was lost in the mails.

Offer preparation time extends from minutes to days. And in modern B2B, whoever prices the fastest wins. A too-slow response often ends with the customer buying from a competitor. Digitizing the RFQ process eliminates manual control, organizes inputs and speeds up customer buying decisions.