Internet trading

Articles in the press have concentrated on Internet trading directly with consumers - this is the business-to-consumer ("B2C") side of trading.  If your company supplies services to consumers, you will need a web site which provides customers with a means to securely order any of the goods in your catalogue and to arrange payment by credit card.

But the majority of business (92% by value in the UK) is conducted between companies.  This business-to-business ("B2B") sector has quite different requirements and if you supply to other companies you will need to offer an ordering process linked to their methods of working.

So when designing the company web site you will need to decide how to link it into existing business processes and systems, customer tracking, payments and security.  The arrival of mobile or "m-commerce" both offers a new range of opportunities and brings added complexity.

A first step is to define which of your trading partners (customers, suppliers, etc.) to wish to link to, and what transactions (quotations, orders, invoices, support documentation, etc.) are involved.

You then need to review the information that has to flow to support these processes - some of it will come from your web site and other parts from email messages sent between your systems and those of your partners.

Entrelevel can help you to define and document these flows, using a formal description language (UML) which can later be used to drive implementation of your solution.
Next: Your Web site - and your customers needs