The Business-to-Business e-Commerce Revolution and Its Technology Requirements 

Michael L. Brodie
GTE Laboratories
Sylvan Road, Waltham, MA 02451-1128 USA

ABSTRACT 

   The Internet has triggered the 4th Information Revolution , which is leading to fundamental and irreversible changes in the way we do business and to the requirements for the supporting core technologies. Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce, the Information Revolution driver, is estimated to be a $2.7 trillion market in 2004. This pot of gold is resulting in massive competition in every business sector. Millions of Internet experiments (i.e., dot-coms) are testing hypotheses for more efficient business processes and technology solutions. No one knows which experiments will succeed or which technology requirements or solutions will emerge. 

   At the heart of the revolution are two diametrically opposed forces, convergence and chaos, in both the evolving business processes and the enabling technologies. Technology and business convergence is redefining the entire problem domain while Internet experiments appearing like the chaos in a Gold Rush. For technologists, chaos manifests in the myriad of non-interoperable existing and emerging technologies. B2B chaos will persist as long as the business processes are in flux. The technology chaos may persist longer. 

   How should technologists deal with the revolution and chart their map to the gold mine? What really matters in this revolution are the business processes that will come to dominate individual businesses. For technologists what matters are the resulting technical requirements. These should be derived, top down from the fundamental economic model, economic-chain, and then from specific business models and processes. 

   This talk offers ideas from the now inseparable domains of economics, business, and technology. It examines the revolution, its challenges, and proposes a holistic orientation for Information Technology (IT). The holistic view attempts to provide guidance through the chaos for requirements for core technologies that will underlie the future Internet-connected world.