Patent ID: 7783521

Claim:
An electronic sales and contracting method, comprising: receiving input from a customer in a secure computer infrastructure, wherein the input pertains to an integrated Information Technology (IT) solution desired by the customer, wherein the integrated IT solution includes hardware, software and services related to the hardware and software, and wherein the integrated IT solution is provided to the customer by at least two distinct providers; receiving a purchase selection of a set of IT components for the integrated IT solution from the customer in the secure computer infrastructure; verifying within the secure computer infrastructure that each of the set of IT components is compatible with one another and of similar quality to one another; determining one or more recommendations to be made to the customer for the integrated IT solution within the secure computer infrastructure, wherein the one or more recommendations is based on the input and a current IT implementation of the customer; finalizing the integrated IT solution within the secure computer infrastructure for sale to the customer; developing a proposal to provide the integrated IT solution to the customer for at least two contracts, each contract being between the customer and a unique one of each of the at least two distinct providers of the integrated IT solution; securing each contract to prevent electronic access by a provider who is not a party to the contract within the secure computer infrastructure; and requesting approval and execution of the proposal from the customer and each provider.