The growth of the Internet in the past 10 years has been phenomenal. Companies large and small have embraced the Internet as a tool that can potentially expand their business beyond the traditional boundaries, which can give them a competitive advantage in the market place. The Internet and E-business websites seemed to many companies in the mid nineties as an elaborate, expensive and unnecessary company brochure. But the rapid evolution of e-business and Internet usage has seen their opinion dramatically change. In fact, companies now realise that they must participate in the e-business revolution to succeed in the modern and complex business environment. In 1996, Forrester Research Institute, a major E-commerce industry analyst, predicted that Business to Customer sales would be a $6.6 billion business in 2000, up from $518 million in 1996. In 2000 Business to Customer sales in the United States were actually about $18 billion, or 1% of total retail sales. In addition to that it is predicted that total e-commerce transactions in the US is predicted to reach between $3-$7 trillion in 2004 alone. Using the figures as a yardstick it is easy to see how far e-business has come and how much people have embraced it in such a short period of time.

It might be fair to say that the BBS Marketing and E-Business degree program which I am currently studying is an indirect product that was created on the back of the E-business revolution.

There's an old saying: Be careful what you wish for--because you might get it. Many IT managers have aspired to a greater role in the strategic business decisions of their organizations--and thanks to electronic business, they're getting that wish. That's one of the conclusions of a recent survey of 375 senior business and IT executives conducted jointly by Information Week and Business Week to gauge the impact E-business is having on companies. Other conclusions of the survey also illuminate the increased pressure on IT: E-business is causing IT departments to re-engineer, and it's making greater demands on all workers in terms of job responsibilities and expanding skills.

Technology managers feel the pressure. "We're expected to be more aware of the alternatives and opportunities for change and to enlighten business people about what we see evolving," says Arnold Testa, VP of IT at Siemens Information and Communications Network, a unit of $26 billion Siemens AG that manufactures telecommunications equipment.

More than 70% of the 250 IT managers surveyed say E-business has thrust their departments into a business decision-making process, and almost 60% say E-business has forced IT to lead business-process re-engineering.

The imperative for IT departments to help their companies with business strategy and organization is just one of the ways in which E-business is driving change throughout the enterprise. Other key findings of the survey:

* E-business is having a significant impact on IT structure and function. In all, 60% of IT executives surveyed say E-business has significantly changed the role of their IT departments; 61% say E-business has forced their IT departments to re-engineer.
* E-business is having a significant impact on most employees: 80% of surveyed sites say employees are burdened by new skills requirements, and 73% say that E-business has spurred additional employee training. Also, 55% of respondents say E-business has forced individual employees to take on more responsibilities.
* E-commerce sites have yet to pay huge dividends. Only 28% of respondents with Web retail sites say their online sales have increased significantly as a percentage of total sales in the past 12 months; 42% say sales have increased somewhat, and 29% see no change (see chart, right).
* But IT and business executives from all industries agree that generating new sources of revenue isn't the main goal of deploying E-business applications. In fact, that ranked well behind creating or maintaining a competitive edge, improving customer satisfaction, and keeping pace with the competition (see chart, below).
* Companies are not meeting all their goals. When asked which E-business goals were set prior to deployment and which have been achieved, 84% of respondents say E-business applications are helping their companies keep pace with the competition, and 80% say the apps are creating and maintaining a competitive edge, but only two-thirds say the applications are helping them establish brand awareness or reduce operational costs.