Differentiation
The meaning of the term is quite different from that implied in partnership, and it is because of the potential for confusion between the two that widespread use of 'business partner' has been discouraged at times in the past.
A business partner can be:
- A supplier
- A customer
- A channel intermediary (such as an agent or reseller), or
- A vendor of complementary offerings (for example, one party sells the hardware, while the other sells the software)
This is a wider definition than a business alliance.
A Business Partner is becoming more common in HR departments as it represents the employees position, ideally seeing the HR issues from the employers and employees point of view. Small and medium business are often turning to external HR Business Partners to solve any HR disputes.
Read more about this topic: Business Partner