Distributors and other business-to-business companies can capitalize on the pandemic-fueled shift to online buying by making sure their websites are focused on customers, sales, search, conversion and results, writes Bob DeStefano, a B2B digital marketing strategist. "Every page of your website should have a clear goal to move customers to the next step in their buyer's journey with you," DeStefano writes.

Business-to-business e-commerce will face several massive changes next year, including customer behavior and expectations, according to a McKinsey survey. One major change will be the adoption of "NeXT commerce," which is "an approach to [e-commerce] that needs a big upgrade grounded in a commitment to become indispensable to the customer through an exponentially deeper level of engagement online and offline," the consulting firm said.

Amazon Web Services has introduced AWS Supply Chain, a cloud-based application that combines data from sources including warehouse management and order management systems, increases visibility and "delivers actionable insights" to mitigate product shortages and disruptions at specific locations, AWS CEO Adam Selipsky says. AWS joins other software providers that have developed supply chain management tools, including Blue Yonder, Manhattan Associates and Microsoft.

Cybercriminals' increased targeting of supply chains will be the second-largest cybersecurity concern next year, behind only "fileless malware," according to NordLocker. The encryption technology company predicts "employees will be the weakest link in corporate cybersecurity," ransomware will be more targeted toward individual entities and cloud security will become more critical as businesses increasingly use the technology.

Hope Morley, chief operating officer at Umault, talks in this podcast about the importance of creativity in business-to-business marketing and why brand-building is essential. "We all respond to creativity, we respond to emotion and we respond to good branding, and so those are things B2B companies really need to start thinking about in their marketing in order to really start moving forward into this new phase of B2B marketing," Morley says.

Growth goals, data infrastructure and meaningful metrics can help companies decide how much of their marketing budgets should support digital efforts, marketing executive Ross Denny writes. For business-to-business marketing, Denny suggests allocating 10% to 20% of the revenue goal toward the digital campaign.

As the economy slows, corporate travel managers could pull back on travel budgets. Other factors are also affecting the situation, including continuing staffing challenges at hotels and airlines and travel disruptions that were especially common earlier in the year.

Ensuring the principles of servant leadership are firmly embedded within company culture is an essential way employers can retain and attract talent, write Ken Blanchard and Randy Conley. "Leaders who emphasize that serving and leading with trust is the answer to today's challenges," the pair write.