The B2B platform is the means by which F4F enables you to exchange business documents and related information with your trading partners …securely, reliably, and just a couple of  seconds. A single connection for your business to the F4F B2B platform opens up electronic document exchange with them all, because F4F takes care of delivering and receiving via the most appropriate method for each.

At its core is the eHub, a document routing engine which examines the metadata sent with your files and business documents, and uses it to route the data to its destination.

Surrounding the eHub is the F4F middleware, which manages a whole range of tasks from file reception through file format transformation to encryption and delivery to the required destination. It can be configured either as a shared facility performing a set of services for all companies (which we call a Gateway) or as bespoke service for a particular organisation (which we call an Adapter).

The combination of F4F Adapters and Gateways enables us to offer customers an unrivalled choice and “any-to-any” communication. Most importantly, it lets you offer to your trading partners the means of exchanging business documents with you which is most acceptable to them.

The B2B platform is further enhanced by a suite of web-based Supply Chain Management applications (the SCM Suite), which enable trading partners to work co-operatively in the space between their own back-office systems. One organisation can share information about products, such as codes, prices or stock levels, enabling designated trading partners to view and – if desired – import the data into their own system. As with all F4F products and services, you can choose exactly how much of this to use to suit your business processes.

The final piece of the B2B platform is the Tracking & Alerting engine, which gives you a window via the Web onto exactly what is happening to all of your business documents sent or due to be received via F4F. In addition it can be configured to send alerts to you (and to your trading partners) if there is any delay in delivering your documents.