Introduction to SAP Business Network

SAP Business Network connects your company to the world’s largest B2B trading platform, where thousands of customers actively seek products and services like yours. Beyond improved visibility, the network offers automation, AI, and analytics to streamline sales and build stronger customer relationships. An IDC study found that companies on SAP Business Network realized a 416% ROI over three years. ¹

Why increasing B2B sales is more challenging than ever

In today's B2B landscape, vendors face mounting pressures to meet the rising standards of buyers. They expect seamless digital experiences and reliable supply partners capable of pivoting rapidly in response to change while delivering quality products on time. For small and medium-sized businesses, achieving these standards can be demanding.

Traditional sales methods used to engage prospects and close deals often fall short. Disconnected CRM or ERP systems and time-consuming processes, such as manually following up on leads, can all prevent a vendor from capitalizing on emerging opportunities. Limited visibility into buyer demand and competitor pricing can also deter sales teams from engaging with potential customers.

SAP Business Network helps vendors overcome these three key barriers to increase B2B sales.
By connecting to the network, your business becomes discoverable to thousands of active buyers with less cost and effort. Built-in tools enable you to differentiate yourself from competitors and analyze performance for continuous improvement.

This network-driven approach not only streamlines transactions but also builds trust and fosters long-term partnerships between buyers and suppliers.

Essential B2B sales tools for driving growth in a digital marketplace

Modern B2B sales require more than phone calls and spreadsheets. To drive the strategies that lead to growth, vendors need digital tools that make it easier to connect with buyers, deliver accurate information, and respond quickly to opportunities. Effective tools offer these capabilities:

• Product catalog management: Centralized platforms that keep listings, prices, and availability consistent across channels.
• Automation of tasks: Workflows that reduce manual effort in order processing and invoicing.
• AI-driven assistance: Generative AI can help sales teams generate quotes, respond to requests, and personalize communications with speed and accuracy.
• Analytics dashboards: Real-time insights into buyer behavior, sales performance, and operational bottlenecks, providing insights that lead to optimizations.
• Secure collaboration platforms: Systems that allow buyers and vendors to exchange documents, contracts, and data with trust and compliance.

SAP Business Network brings these AI, analytics, and CX capabilities all together in one user-friendly platform.

Six ways SAP Business Network can drive your B2B sales strategies

SAP Business Network can transform your B2B sales strategy by enhancing collaboration, increasing efficiency, and unlocking new growth opportunities across your buyer-supplier ecosystem. Here's how:

1. Accelerate time-to-market
   SAP Business Network helps companies launch products and services up to 20% faster¹, speeding up the entire procurement process. By streamlining partner onboarding, order processing, and data sharing, sales teams can respond more quickly to changes in market demands and capitalize on emerging opportunities.
2. Strengthen buyer-vendor relationships
   The platform enables real-time collaboration between buyers and vendors, improving transparency and trust. Vendors especially benefit from improved visibility into demand forecasts, inventory levels, and customer needs—leading to more accurate planning and faster response times.
3. Improve operational efficiency
   SAP Business Network automates key processes like order management, invoicing, and shipping notices.
4. Uncover market trends in advance
   With the improved visibility that comes with access to integrated, structured data, sales teams can identify new opportunities and respond more quickly and accurately to customer demand.
5. Expand market reach
   SAP Business Network includes tools that help sellers create profiles and build credibility by showcasing their capabilities  This can increase visibility in competitive markets and generate new B2B sales leads.
6. Ensure compliance and resilience
   The platform supports compliance with internal and external regulations, such as environmental, social, and governance requirements.
   
   Integrating SAP Business Network into your B2B sales strategy can shorten sales cycles, improve customer experience, and reduce operational costs—everything a business needs to enable scalable growth.

How SAP Business Network helps suppliers increase B2B sales

SAP Business Network empowers vendors to increase B2B sales mainly by boosting their awareness among buyers.

By creating a vendor account, companies gain access to a global marketplace of buyers. These buyers search profiles and product catalogs, and a searchable company profile allows vendors to showcase everything from product offerings to certifications and sustainability ratings. This helps them get discovered by buyers who filter for those attributes.

Vendors can also upload a catalog of their products and services. Since this catalog is searchable by all buyers on the network, it opens up new touchpoints for lead generation. When a buyer finds a product of interest, they can submit a request for information (RFI) directly from the product listing, which appears in the supplier’s dashboard as a lead.

SAP Business Network standard account vs promote subscription

With a free SAP Business Network supplier account, vendors can create a profile, publish catalogs, and transact with thousands of buyers actively searching for products. However, the promote subscription enables vendors to build momentum when it comes to standing out and converting sales and do so in an affordable, cost-effective way.

For example, while free accounts appear in search results, subscribers will rank higher and be more visible with verified profile badges, brand logos, and certifications that convey trust.

Also, the promote subscription includes generative AI features that help vendors write compelling product descriptions and access performance analytics. The latter allows them to learn how prospects interact with their listings so they can fine-tune them.

In summary, a free account is a great place to start—but a promote subscription will get your sales across the finish line.

Choosing the best path to grow your B2B sales

B2B sales should be collaborative, not just transactional. Success comes from connecting buyers, vendors, and all partners through a unified platform that standardizes processes and enables seamless data sharing.

SAP Business Network provides the foundation for this collaboration from the first RFI, giving all parties visibility into the supply chain to ensure consistency, forecast demand, and mitigate disruptions.

While a free account gets your business in the race, the promote subscription gives it a head start. It's a game-changer when it comes to standing out to and building confidence with buyers.

No matter which tier you choose, SAP Business Network empowers suppliers to reach more buyers, streamline operations, and achieve scalable growth.

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