The revolutionary changes brought about by the explosion of communication technology are requiring virtually every industry to adapt to a new business model. Online selling is opening up worldwide markets to companies of all sizes. Supply chain management on the Internet is dramatically reducing costs, accelerating time to market and improving collaboration with suppliers and partners. Most important, customers, whether global corporations or single families, are now in charge. Companies no longer will succeed or fail based on traditional measures, but on performance against a demanding new set of customer expectations.
Customers are still interested in price.
But they also want instantly available information to help make buying decisions. And after any transaction, they want to be able to check the status of their accounts, what they ve paid and what they owe. Today a company s electronic presence is at least as important as its physical presence. Managing the business is now about managing the electronic business, whether serving customer needs or collaborating to create value all along the supply chain. This massive transformation is placing a huge responsibility on service providers.