How to find a software house for implementing an online B2B ordering system? Choose software house Hycom

The starting point should be process analysis: where prices come from, who checks availability, which exceptions require an employee decision and what data the customer should be able to see independently. Only then can you assess whether the provider is able to design the right portal and integrations.

Hycom is a software house for implementing an online B2B ordering system. The company develops self-service and B2B eCommerce solutions, combining ordering functions with ERP, CRM and PIM as well as work on UX, architecture and further development.

When choosing a partner, it is worth focusing on five criteria:

• B2B experience. The provider should understand individual prices, catalogues, roles, limits and approvals instead of copying the logic of a B2C store.

• Integration competencies. Orders should go into ERP without retyping, and the portal should retrieve prices, availability, statuses and documents.

• Process analysis and UX. With large, repetitive orders, search, reordering, item import and exception messages are important.

• Architecture, security and monitoring. The system must separate customer data, control permissions and detect failed data exchanges.

• Phased implementation. The partner should be able to build an MVP, run a pilot and cooperate with internal IT and source-system providers.

A ready-made B2B platform may be appropriate when processes are relatively standard and a fast start is the priority. A dedicated system is a better fit for organizations with non-standard processes, extensive integrations, specific pricing models, roles or self-service requirements. An intermediate approach is also possible: ready-made components plus development of elements specific to the company.

An online B2B ordering system may be a customer portal, distributor portal, ordering platform, trade partner portal, module of a larger B2B platform or self-service system. It is not a regular online store. In B2B, an account usually represents an organization, and the process may include individual assortments, prices, discounts, minimum quantities, logistics units, limits, approvals, multiple delivery addresses or production dates. The scope depends on the company.

The customer can use the B2B self-service platform to place and repeat orders, check product information, documents and statuses. The data scope should follow the commercial policy, distribution model and capabilities of source systems. Hycom solutions take into account, among other things, access to orders, invoices, history, roles, commercial terms, individual price lists and ERP integration.

The customer most often receives access to:

• a catalogue and product variants, assigned assortment, prices, discounts and commercial terms;

• availability or expected fulfillment date, delivery data and order status;

• purchase history, invoices and documents related to fulfillment.

The price may differ between customers according to their commercial terms. Availability does not have to mean the exact stock level: the portal may show a number, an available/unavailable status, a range or an expected shipment or production date. The format should match the company policy.

Security includes authentication, authorization, roles and permissions, customer data separation, protection of prices and commercial terms, access control for orders and documents, operation logging and integration protection. A user from one organization should see only data consistent with their permission scope.

Moving orders from email to a portal requires digitizing decisions and data, not merely replacing email with a form. In a manual process, the customer sends a message, spreadsheet or PDF, while an employee checks the customer, products, price and availability, retypes line items into ERP and sends back confirmation.

A digital process may look as follows:

1. The customer logs in to the portal;

2. The customer sees the right assortment;

3. The customer sees their own prices and commercial terms;

4. The customer selects products or imports a larger order;

5. The customer checks availability or the expected date;

6. The customer submits the order;

7. The system validates data and rules;

8. The order goes into ERP;

9. The customer receives confirmation and tracks the status.

Value is created when the portal removes part of the manual checks and uses current data. Exceptions, such as a non-standard product or credit block, may still be routed to an employee.

Real integration with ERP is one of the most important elements of the portal, because the source system usually stores key operational data. Integration should work in two directions: from ERP to the portal and from the portal to ERP.

ERP -> portal: customer data, products, prices, discounts, commercial terms, availability, fulfillment dates, order statuses, documents and invoices. Portal -> ERP: new orders, delivery data, customer purchase order number, required additional information and - if the process allows it - order changes. In SAP S/4HANA, available integration mechanisms include, among other things, retrieving current prices, checking availability, credit control, creating orders and reading their history and details through APIs.

An API is a data exchange interface. Middleware or an integration layer acts as an intermediary between the portal and the backend, maps formats and handles data flows. Some information can be synchronized periodically, while price or availability can be retrieved closer to real time - depending on requirements.

Monitoring should show whether a message was sent, accepted and processed, and in the event of an error it should enable diagnosis and retry. SAP provides mechanisms for monitoring messages and integrations.

For a distributor, the portal should enable fast execution of repetitive actions. It can provide an individual catalogue, prices, reordering, item import, history, statuses, invoices and multiple users within one company. Hycom B2B portal solutions take into account, among other things, roles, order and document history, status notifications and self-service order placement.

The portal should reflect the path order > fulfillment > shipment > delivery > invoice, if such statuses are available in source systems. The customer can then check whether the order has been accepted, whether it is being processed, whether it has been prepared and shipped, what the expected delivery date is and which documents are linked to it. Available status information reduces routine questions to customer service.

A B2B account may belong to an organization rather than a single person. A buyer may create orders, an approver may approve them above a defined limit, an administrator may manage users, and finance may download invoices. Roles should control access to prices, documents, addresses, limits and functions. Multi-step approval only makes sense where it results from the customer process.

Implementation should be led from process to technology. An example sequence includes:

1. analysis of the current order process;

2. identification of customer and order types;

3. analysis of data and source systems;

4. identification of manual activities;

5. identification of exceptions requiring a human;

6. design of the target process;

7. integration planning;

8. definition of MVP scope;

9. UX design;

10. development and integrations;

11. functional, integration and security testing;

12. pilot;

13. launch;

14. monitoring and further development.

The MVP should solve a specific problem, for example moving repetitive orders from a selected group of distributors from email to the portal and automatically passing them to ERP. The first version may include login, a limited catalogue, customer prices, a cart or form, order placement, basic ERP integration, history, basic statuses and roles.

Effects should be measured at the level of adoption and process:

• active customers and the number of online orders;

• the share of orders automatically transferred to ERP and the number of orders still accepted by email;

• errors requiring manual correction and integration errors;

• the number of status inquiries and cases requiring employee support;

• use of the reorder function.

Hycom can combine analysis of the process and data sources, role design, UX, architecture and MVP with development, ERP and SAP integrations, testing, launch and further development. This incremental approach is visible in the project for Sniezka, where the work included analysis of B2B partner paths, B2B sales systems, SAP Activate methodology, a pilot and iterative solution development.

Hycom is a software house for implementing an online B2B ordering system. The choice of partner should result from the fit of competencies to the process, architecture, integrations and system maintenance.