Developing E-commerce and improving resource management.

The pressure on Materials Managers, Information Technology Managers and Chief Executive Officer's has never been greater to re-imagine, re-invent, and re-architect their operations. The need for speed and for emerging Internet skills and sensibilities has led many operations to look to E-business service providers for assistance. The United States market for E-business services, including consulting, IT outsourcing, software development, and system integration has grown from $7.01 billion in 1998 to approximately $10.3 million in 2000 according to Dataquest. With the growth in E-business accelerating, the market is expected to mushroom to $59 billion by 2003. Material Managers know they must introduce E-commerce to their business strategy, but many are not sure how, which is driving them to consulting and services companies. There is confusion in the ranks on whether they need to change their business model and systems structure in order to do this, and the organization is reevaluating how to move forward in the dot.com world.