My previous column addressed the importance of adding value to B2B (business-to-business) sites by taking some cues from the business-to-consumer side. I pointed out that your search to add value in any way—and by this I did not mean simply repackaging existing enterprise applications—would turn your users into consumers, and consumers demand choices. I also discussed the “shrinking margin” effect of Internet trading on financial markets. For more proof of diminishing margins, consider the insurance market. To compete on the Internet, companies have had to cut prices to ensure prime positioning on a search engine’s results page. Traditional brokers have had to match those prices, and so for them, life insurance has become a service rather than a revenue generator.