Using the Internet for business - Web oriented routes to market and existing IT infrastructures

Abstract

The rapid expansion of the WWW is well known and has huge potential for enabling companies, large and small, to gain new marketplaces globally at low cost, or to be disintermediated by others doing so. A totally new competitive environment opening up new opportunities is upon us. However, to exploit this companies must make better use of their existing IT infrastructure and integrate their Web oriented routes to market with those same systems supporting more traditional ones. The issues involved are complex but solutions are becoming available which address both the world of electronic commerce and intranets. However, the issues are not simply technological but include how businesses deliver value, gain or lose competitive edge and impact the use, deployment and evolution of their business processes and infrastructure to maximum advantage. © 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.