Companies are negligent if they don't at least evaluate what the Internet can do to improve links with office product vendors, raw material suppliers, channel partners, wholesalers, retailers and end customers. Because Web supply chains, like all electronic supply chains, are a logistical nightmare to set up, especially if you're a small company with limited IT and financial resources, reports senior writer Ted Kemp in his page 1 story. Some 44 percent of U.S. businesses with fewer than 100 employees don't even have Internet access, much less the wherewithal to rejigger their processes for B2B e-commerce. Meantime, once Web supply chains are in place for any size company, they're a pain to manage, notes chief of reporters Tim Wilson in a separate page 1 story. New applications and services promise to help identify problems in supply chain information flows and alert those who can fix them, but any cross-company coordination of this sort is tenuous.
Supply chains are indeed where Internet technology stands to deliver the greatest financial returns.
The supporting evidence is clear. Internet supply chain investments are for the long term. Value investments typically are. Robert Preston is editor in chief of InternetWeek.