The Internet Is Big Business

First came the dot-com explosion, with most “old economy” companies rushing to put up an electronic retail storefront. This business-to-consumer (B2C) marketplace quickly mushroomed into billions of dollars in value. Most recently, ferocious competition has made it tougher for “old economy” companies to maintain their advantage. Today, the strategic shift for most companies has been to the business-to-business (B2B) marketplace in which companies can partner in a “virtual village”—and thereby increase sales, lower costs, and increase productivity. Instead of just being another sales or communications vehicle to the end consumer, the Internet has become integrated into the corporate infrastructure. Coinciding with this increased technological integration of the Internet, the value of the average transaction has also increased dramatically.