Electronic Commerce (Charles River Media Networking/Security)

“Men have become the tools of their tools.”

—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

Overview

E-business is delivering tremendous benefits in some fields: making financial management more efficient, automating activities in human resources, improving vendor-buyer relations in supply chains, streamlining workforce and project activities, and providing managers with the analytic data they need to improve decision making. There has been mixed success in other areas; retail e-commerce, for instance, has expanded exponentially, but technical glitches and delivery problems have dampened customer satisfaction. In spite of the uneven record, most statistics paint a picture of e-business as an enticing way to conduct business.

• As of February 2003, there were more than 637 million people online.

• Companies that use e-business technologies to replace paper-based purchasing processes have reduced individual transaction costs from as much as $150 to less than $10.

• Reliable estimates indicate that the healthcare industry could save $44 billion a year by using e-business processes to improve supply changing efficiencies^[1].

^[1]“Building an e-Business Strategy: What to Do Now. What to Do Next,” 2003, Lawson Software, All rights reserved, Lawson Software, 380 St. Peter Street, St. Paul, MN 55102, USA, 2003.