Digital Readiness, Part 1: Uncovering Operational Inefficiencies That Stall B2B Growth

Launching an eCommerce site isn’t just about what your customers see – it’s about how efficiently your business operates behind the scenes and what that means for your bottom line.

For mid-market B2B manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors, digital transformation can feel risky. Budgets are tight. Teams are already stretched. And the fear of disruption – or failure – can stop momentum before it starts.

But operational inefficiencies are one of the biggest sources of cost, delay, and customer dissatisfaction. And they’re also one of the biggest opportunities.

This is Part One of our Digital Readiness Series – a five-part guide for a smarter, more scalable B2B eCommerce business.

In this first article, we focus on operational efficiency – the foundation of every successful transformation. If you can reduce waste, automate intelligently, and streamline the way your business runs, you’ll not only save time and money – you’ll free up capacity to drive revenue.

What Are Operational Efficiencies?

Operational efficiency is your ability to deliver with speed, accuracy, and profitability – without burning out your team or bloating your cost structure.

In practice, it looks like:

Replacing redundant manual tasks with automation
Integrating systems for real-time visibility
Reducing costly fulfillment or invoicing errors
Giving employees time to focus on higher-value work

These back-end improvements don’t just help your ops team. They improve the customer experience, reduce overhead, and unlock growth potential.

Companies that successfully adopt business automation can increase productivity by up to 20% and reduce operational costs by 10% to 15%.

Step One: Identify the Friction

Start by mapping your full customer lifecycle – from order placement to fulfillment, invoicing, support, and reordering.

Then ask each department:

Where are we duplicating work?
What gets manually copied from one system to another?
Where do most delays, exceptions, or complaints occur?

In B2B organizations, especially in distribution and manufacturing, legacy workflows are often held together by “institutional knowledge.” These processes slow you down and create risk every time a key employee is out of office.

Step Two: Prioritize What to Fix First

Not every process needs an overhaul. Many companies find success by identifying just 5 to 10% of their operational workflows that offer the highest payoff for customer experience, cost, or revenue if optimized.

Prioritize based on:

Time saved
Risk or compliance exposure reduced
Revenue acceleration
Employee satisfaction

You don’t need to automate everything. Fixing a few high-friction areas can significantly increase operational capacity without major system changes.

Step Three: Automate and Integrate

Efficiency doesn’t mean removing people – it means giving your people better tools.

Key automation opportunities for B2B companies include:

Digital order intake (eliminate re-keying from emails or PDFs)
eCommerce-ERP inventory syncs
Quote-to-order self-service portals
Automated invoicing and follow-ups
Tracking updates and notifications triggered by system status

Today’s B2B buyers expect fast, accurate service and a frictionless experience from order through delivery. Automating key touchpoints helps teams meet those expectations at scale, without sacrificing the personal touch.

Here’s where automation can make a difference:

Processing (move from manual entry to automated flows)
Invoicing and accounts receivable
ERP and inventory sync with ecommerce storefronts
Customer self-service portals for quotes, reorders, or support
Email-based processes (e.g. order confirmations, receipts)

Build a Scalable Tech Foundation

To truly optimize, your technology stack must support:

Secure, API-based integrations
Cloud-native infrastructure
Role-based dashboards and reporting
Real-time inventory and order status visibility
Mobile access for front-line teams

As digital maturity increases, mid-market companies often progress from basic integrations to more intelligent workflows using AI-assisted recommendations and predictive data.

AI can help with forecasting, order prioritization, and even smart routing – but only when layered on top of clean, connected operational systems.

Efficiency = Competitive Advantage

Why is operational efficiency more important than ever?

Because the ecommerce landscape is evolving fast.

Global ecommerce sales are projected to grow from $5.8 trillion in 2023 to $8.1 trillion by 2026. That growth will be captured by businesses who can fulfill faster, operate leaner, and scale without friction.

If your competitors are automating, and you’re still running fulfillment from spreadsheets, you won’t just fall behind. You’ll bleed margin and lose repeat business.

Operational efficiency isn’t just a back-office initiative. It’s a business survival strategy.

Final Thoughts: Start Small, Scale Smart

You don’t need to blow up your systems. You just need to start asking better questions:

Where are we wasting time?
What are we manually doing that software could handle?
What processes break when volume increases?
How can we give our teams more time to do work that matters?

Start with one area. Make it better. Then do it again.

Digital transformation doesn’t happen all at once. But every step you take toward more efficient operations increases your capacity to grow, adapt, and compete. Optimizing even one part of your operational flow can deliver immediate ROI – and give you the momentum to keep going.

In Part 2 of our Digital Readiness Series, we’ll explore how to keep your best customers engaged during your platform transition and why customer retention should be baked into your eCommerce strategy from day one.

Ready to transform your B2B eCommerce experience?

Let us help you align your technology with your business goals.
Reach out to learn more, or check out our blog for insights on digital transformation and eCommerce trends.