Then it created an integrated, collaborative network to develop and manufacture its products. The savings are enormous. Every one of us can generate those kinds of savings once we begin to redesign and redeploy how we do business. Efforts to establish an e-commerce technology infrastructure, which allows companies to automate relationships with customers, have occurred on the procurement side. Oracle, i2, Ariba, RightWorks and NetVendor are beginning to see enormous traction there.
Horizontal services enable e-commerce.
In the B2B world, ordered goods must arrive on time and undamaged, so logistics, finance, credit, insurance and risk management need to be in place. So we're just at the inflection point. There are two types of vertical marketplaces, which bring buyers and sellers together to facilitate transactions. In fragmented marketplaces, there are many buyers and sellers, and in between, lots of confusion. An e-marketplace brings these buyers and sellers together in a more organized, coherent and efficient fashion.