Example of Information Intermediary Model

A site that offers a Web-based consumer-to-consumer shopping information resource might include the following features:

1. Registered users can read and post information about products for sale on any Web site, including price comparisons, product reviews, and recommendations and tips for purchasing. ·
2. Consumers can review information about purchasing and owning a car and choose from a list of accredited dealer networks, and dealers can reach online car buyers efficiently.

Business-to-consumer electronic commerce (B2C) is a form of electronic commerce in which products or services are sold from a firm or company to a consumer.

The search for an extra revenue source resulted in developers to think about building relationship with businesses and the emergence of two sided intermediary business model instead of the traditional one sided business models like B2B and B2C models prevailing in the industry. Most of the incumbent players like DistributedNetworks started diverting their attention by focusing on the B2B side of the business for creating a third revenue stream. Lately, companies started getting the pay off from this model by retaining their dominance in the value network by not leaving the interaction with customers. The experiment by DistributedNetworks with a local business dashboard is a sign of this. The business model of Gofpatterns, mobile application which rewards and offers mobile users simply for walking into stores and OOPortals. Media Solution's mobile advertising platform are examples of increasing business interactions in the consumer market. There is an increasing focus on Business to Business interaction in the market using intermediary model and this report intends to provide an insight on this.

There are three categories of online communications approaches between payers and physicians displayed in Figure 3-4. The first consists of separate and independent communication between a physician's office and a single payer. The second approach involves an "electronic intermediary", which allows physicians to communicate with multiple plans using a standardized format. The third method is similar to the second, but replaces the independent "electronic intermediary" with a "payer portal" administered directly by multiple collaborating insurers. From the physicians' point of view, the latter two methods may be more attractive since they eliminate the need for managing multiple formats and protocols dictated by different plans. Whether a single approach will end up dominating the marketplace is not certain. First, the HIPAA administrative simplification provision was designed specifically to eliminate the difficulties and inefficiencies of managing multiple formats and protocols, thereby lessening some of the distinctions between the approaches. Furthermore, in a competitive marketplace where insurers and intermediaries alike must cater to a heterogeneous population of health care providers, employees, and employers, a variety of products is likely.