2. Business to Business network
• “Arizona-Mexico Small and Medium
Sized Business Connections” -
Thunderbird School findings
• Leverage technology to inform
MAG business community
• Explore development of B2B digital
platform
• Encourage companies to upload
content
• Target: Small & Medium sized
businesses
• Largest sector in SEAGO Region
• 99% employers
• Largest sector in Arizona
• 98% employers
68%
26%
4% 2%
Arizona
5-19 20-99 100-249 250 +
SME’s with 5 Employees or More,
Distribution (%) 2012
75%
22%
2%
1%
SEAGO Region
3. Existing B2B platforms/sites:
• Thomas Net
• Arizona Small Business Association
• www.azaerospace.com
• Alibaba.com & Tradekey.com
• Hecho en México B2B
• Based upon national datasets
• Specific to manufacturing and supply
associations
• Trade/supplier print directories
• Targeted to specific business segment
• Usually membership fee based
Business to Business network
4. Digital Platform Design
• Self-reported database of businesses
that operate in Arizona - Mexico -
Canada
• Regional business databases used to
generate participation - Annual update
to information
• Information on: size, type of activity,
scope of operations, contact
• Customized search – spatial or
parametric
• Encourage development of direct
connection
• Similarities to Made in NY Digital Map
(mappedinNY.com)
Business to Business network
6. Home Page
• Login : For registered users or setup profile
• Search: Do not need login to search
• News/Events
• Links
• About us
• Contact
Login/Register – newly enhanced features
• Registration needed to contact other companies
(Ability to search without profile)
• Companies with business locations in trade-region
will be listed in the search results
Connect BIEN
7. Company Profile
• One user can have multiple businesses with
multiple locations for each
• Address verified against Google geocoding
service (international geocode and address
complete)
• Detailed activity type for each location
(up to 3 activities)
• 22 Main categories and 800 sub-categories - based
on Thomson Reuters Business Classification
• 3 levels for activity selection
• Custom description of company activities may be
added
• Profile required to be reviewed every year
Primary
C1 C2
L1 L2 L1
BA1
BA3
BA2
BA1
BA3
BA2
BA1
BA3
BA2
Connect BIEN
8. Search
• Location (spatial) or attribute search
(name, business activity)
• Search results counted and displayed
by activating category filters
• Built on Google maps
• Display each business location
• Updates with zoom level
• Icons based on primary
categorization
Connect BIEN
9. Next Steps
• Continue improvements based on feedback
• Engage Council of Governments/MPOs
statewide in outreach
• Engage Chambers of Commerce, trade
associations, others
• Expand communications and marketing
strategy (Linked In, Twitter, print, B2B
partnerships
• Develop comprehensive “Business Resource
Map” in cooperation with other agencies
Connect BIEN
BIEN Professionals LinkedIn
10. Questions and Answers
Contact Information
Randy Heiss
Executive Director
SouthEastern Arizona Governments Organization
