B2B bounces back

NEWS Reports of the death of the business-to-business sector may prove to be unfounded after a report suggested there will be an 83 per cent increase in B2B purchasing this year. IDC predicts that due to managers buying in volume, the adoption of the e-marketplace model will be "faster-than-expected". Despite the number of public trading exchanges and B2B vendors that have fallen into the abyss in the last 12 months, IDC still predicts an year on year annual growth rate of 73 per cent in B2B revenues up to 2005. IDC also predicts that the long-term success of ebusiness rests not simply on the transactions but on the philosophy of businesses. The research house insisted that the exchange of information between companies will play an increasingly critical role in ensuring the success of the B2B industry. The US is set to remain ahead of Europe with B2B transactions worth $1.56tr by 2005.