When your commerce foundation slows you down: 6 smart moves that actually work!

Most B2B organizations today recognize the need to move forward in digital commerce. The question is rarely whether to evolve, but how. In this article, we outline six practical moves that help organizations restore momentum and reduce operational friction.

In many companies, the difficulty is not a lack of ambition. It is friction within the existing setup. Systems that once supported the business are now slowing it down. Integrations become fragile. Even small feature changes require extensive testing. Workarounds accumulate. Manual processes increase.

Over time, this creates several challenges:

• Complex integrations increase operational risk. Changes in one part of the system can unexpectedly affect other components. Testing cycles are growing longer, and releases require extensive coordination among multiple teams.

• Release processes often become a bottleneck. Careful deployment scheduling slows innovation and discourages frequent improvements.

• Customization can also accumulate. Sometimes, to the point where upgrades become difficult or even impossible. Instead of benefiting from platform improvements, organizations remain tied to outdated versions because upgrading would disrupt too many dependencies.

Overall, activity rises, but progress slows. This situation is more common than many leaders expect. In this reality, the key question is not which innovation trend to pursue next. It is simpler and more practical:

What is the next move that restores momentum? Modernizing the commerce foundation is often less about launching a large transformation program and more about addressing structural constraints that prevent the business from moving forward efficiently.

The six smart moves outlined in the B2B commerce playbook help organizations regain this flexibility and restore operational momentum. At the same time, they provide a practical way to assess whether your current setup can still support your business – or whether more fundamental change is required.

Recognizing when the foundation is holding you back

The symptoms of a strained commerce foundation usually appear gradually.

Small feature updates turn into large development projects. Integrations between commerce, ERP, and other systems become difficult to extend. Releases feel risky even when the scope is limited.

At the same time, operational complexity increases. Teams rely on manual fixes to keep processes running. IT maintenance costs are rising, but the business impact of new development is becoming harder to see.

When several of these signals appear together, the issue is rarely tactical. It is structural.

The challenge is to restore flexibility so the organization can move forward without constantly fighting its own systems.

1. Identify where your commerce setup slows you down most

When organizations begin discussing modernization, conversations often jump quickly to platform replacements or architectural redesigns. But the most productive starting point is much more concrete. 

Leaders need to understand exactly where friction appears in daily operations. Pricing logic that requires manual adjustments. Product data that cannot easily be updated. Check out processes that involve unnecessary steps. Customer-specific logic that creates technical complexity. 

Focusing on these real bottlenecks allows organizations to address the areas that create the greatest operational friction. Instead of abstract debates about technology strategy, modernization begins with a clear understanding of where the system slows the business down. If these bottlenecks can only be addressed through deep technical work or repeated workarounds, it may be a sign that the limitations go beyond isolated issues and point to the underlying setup itself. 

Step-by-step to identify where your commerce setup slows you down 

• Map your core commerce workflows (product data, pricing, checkout, orders).

• Identify processes that rely on multiple systems or manual handoffs.

• Ask sales, service, and operations teams where friction occurs.

• Spot tasks that still require manual fixes or adjustments.

• Check how long it takes to implement simple changes.

• List the most common bottlenecks across teams.

• Prioritize issues that impact customers or revenue.

• Turn insights into a focused improvement plan. 

2. Reduce complexity around the platform before adding more 

Over time, commerce environments accumulate layers of customizations, integrations, and workaround solutions. Each new addition may solve a specific problem. Together, they can create an architecture that becomes increasingly difficult to maintain. 

Before introducing new capabilities, organizations often benefit from simplifying what already exists. Reducing unnecessary customizations, clarifying system responsibilities, and streamlining architecture helps stabilize the environment. 

This step may not appear as visible as launching a new feature. Yet it often delivers one of the most important outcomes: reducing operational risk while restoring the ability to evolve the platform. Without this simplification, every new initiative risks increasing complexity rather than creating value. 

Steps to reduce complexity around the platform

• Review existing customizations and integrations. 

• Identify what is still necessary and what is outdated. 

• Remove duplicate tools, workarounds, or unnecessary extensions. 

• Clarify which system owns which function and data. 

• Simplify connections between commerce, ERP, PIM, and CRM. 

• Standardize processes where possible instead of adding exceptions. 

• Stabilize the setup before introducing new capabilities. 

• Make simplification a prerequisite for future growth. 

If simplifying the environment requires disproportionate effort or large-scale redevelopment, this often indicates that the complexity is not just accumulated, but structural. 

3. Make releases and changes predictable again 

In complex commerce environments, release cycles can become major operational events. Teams spend significant time coordinating deployments, testing integrations, and managing dependencies between systems. As a result, releases become infrequent and high-risk. Restoring predictable release cycles is a critical step in modernization. 

When teams can introduce improvements regularly and reliably, the organization regains confidence in its digital channels. Innovation becomes continuous rather than episodic. 

Predictability also improves collaboration between business and technology teams. Instead of planning large transformation projects, organizations can introduce incremental improvements that continuously enhance the digital experience. 

Steps to make releases and changes predictable again 

• Review your current release process and identify bottlenecks.

• Break large deployments into smaller, manageable updates.

• Reduce dependencies between systems where possible.

• Standardize testing procedures across teams.

• Introduce regular release cycles instead of ad-hoc deployments.

• Improve coordination between business and IT teams.

• Monitor release outcomes and learn from each iteration.

• Build a rhythm of continuous, incremental improvement. 

If predictable release cycles cannot be restored without major coordination overhead or risk, it may suggest that the current architecture is limiting how the organization can evolve.

4. Stabilize commerce-critical integrations 

B2B commerce platforms rarely operate in isolation. They connect with ERP systems, product information management systems, CRM platforms, and numerous operational tools. These integrations are essential for delivering accurate pricing, product data, and customer information. 

But when integration structures become unclear or overly complex, even small changes can create cascading issues across systems. Stabilizing these connections is therefore a central part of modernization. 

Organizations benefit from simplifying integration logic, clarifying system responsibilities, and ensuring that critical data flows are reliable and transparent. When integrations are stable, extending customer-facing capabilities becomes significantly easier. 

Steps to stabilize commerce-critical integrations 

• List all systems connected to your commerce platform (ERP, PIM, CRM, etc.).

• Map how data flows between these systems.

• Identify integrations that frequently cause errors or delays.

• Simplify overly complex connections where possible.

• Clarify which system owns each type of data.

• Standardize integration logic and interfaces.

• Monitor critical data flows regularly.

• Ensure integrations are stable before expanding capabilities. 

If stabilizing core integrations becomes a high-risk or large-scale initiative, it is often a signal that the issue lies not only in the integrations themselves, but in the platform they depend on. 

5. Align leadership and ownership across the organization 

Technology alone rarely determines whether digital initiatives succeed. Many modernization efforts stall because ownership and leadership alignment are unclear. Digital commerce often spans multiple departments, including IT, sales, marketing, and operations. 

Without clear sponsorship and cross-functional accountability, initiatives struggle to scale beyond isolated projects. Successful organizations treat digital commerce as a strategic capability rather than a technical system. 

Executive sponsorship ensures that modernization efforts receive consistent direction. Clear ownership helps teams coordinate priorities and move initiatives forward without unnecessary friction. This alignment is often one of the most important enablers of sustainable progress. 

Steps to align leadership and ownership 

• Define digital commerce as a strategic business initiative.

• Assign clear executive sponsorship for the program.

• Clarify ownership across IT, sales, marketing, and operations.

• Establish shared goals for digital commerce performance.

• Create cross-functional teams to coordinate initiatives.

• Align priorities and budgets across departments.

• Define clear decision-making processes.

• Ensure accountability for delivering measurable outcomes. If alignment repeatedly breaks down despite clear ownership efforts, it may indicate that complexity within the system is reinforcing organizational friction. 

6. Reassess whether your platform still fits what comes next 

For some organizations, addressing structural issues within the existing environment may be sufficient. For others, accumulated constraints eventually raise a more fundamental question: Does the current platform still support future priorities? 

Digital commerce continues to evolve. Organizations increasingly rely on automation, advanced data capabilities, and intelligent systems that support decision-making. 

If the existing platform cannot realistically support these priorities without disproportionate effort, modernization may require a deeper technology change. 

Replatforming is not always the first step, but it can be the logical next move when the current system no longer supports the business's direction. In many cases, the signals uncovered in the previous steps make this decision clearer. The goal is not technological perfection. It ensures that the commerce foundation can support what the organization needs to achieve next. 

Steps to reassess whether your platform still fits what comes next 

• Review whether your current platform supports your business goals.

• Evaluate how easily new capabilities can be added.

• Identify limitations that slow innovation or scaling.

• Assess the effort required to introduce automation or data-driven features.

• Compare the cost of maintaining the current setup with the cost of modernizing it.

• Determine whether constraints come from architecture or processes.

• Explore modernization options, including optimization or replatforming.

• Choose the path that best supports future growth and flexibility. 

CASE STUDY 

Isero: Modernizing an outdated webshop and integrating core systems 

Isero, a hardware wholesaler in the Benelux region, replaced its outdated webshop and built a digital customer portal integrated with its ERP and PIM systems. 

The modernization initiative required investing not only in a new platform but also in data organization and internal processes. 

After modernization: 

• Customers gained access to order history, invoices, and services through the portal

• The website became the primary digital entry point for customers

• Multiple business processes were integrated into one digital environment.

Modernization as a strategic enabler 

Modernizing a commerce foundation is sometimes perceived as a purely technical exercise. In reality, it is a strategic enabler. When systems become easier to change, organizations gain the flexibility to adapt to evolving customer expectations, expand into new markets, and introduce new capabilities more quickly. 

This flexibility also prepares companies for future developments such as automation, advanced analytics, and data-driven decision-making. 

A strong foundation ensures that innovation initiatives can move forward without being slowed by structural constraints. 

What’s your next move? 

Digital commerce does not evolve through a single universal roadmap. Every organization operates within its own context: existing systems, available resources, and the pace of change the business can absorb. 

For some companies, the next move is simplifying an increasingly complex environment. For others, it means stabilizing integrations and restoring predictable release cycles. And in some cases, it may require reassessing whether the current platform still supports the company’s future direction. 

What matters most is choosing the step that restores momentum. And understanding whether that step is incremental improvement – or a more fundamental change. Because when the commerce foundation becomes flexible again, the path to future innovation becomes much clearer. Are you ready for your next smart move in B2B e-commerce?