There can be a great deal of suspicion with employees, distributors, suppliers and other business partners, who might fear a negative impact from e-biz efforts. A road map can help to alleviate these concerns. Having a vision also helps to keep things on track and provides for more effective project management, ensuring that every potential project is held up against a crystal ball, in order to see if it fits within the grand scheme of things. Without that critical assessment, organizations are doomed to pursue a bunch of projects piecemeal, without ever having a real idea as to why they are doing things or how they fit together. Finally, a vision helps to bring cohesion to overall corporate efforts.
Larger organizations can easily suffer from the problem of multiple projects in different divisions.
The vision at least gets everyone singing the same tune. Certainly, it isn't easy to develop a truly effective and sustainable e-biz vision. The rapid rate of technological change that envelopes us means the vision will need to be modified, updated, and kicked around well into the future. But trying to go forward in the absence of a vision just doesn't make sense. Until a vision is formed, most e-biz projects will remain peripheral side shows.