The Issue According to Forrester Research, online business-to-business transactions are expected to reach $327 billion a year by the end of 2002. Most organizations know about the web and have taken steps to be part of the E-business marketplace, but at what price and to what degree are they being successful? Organizations must not only survive E-business initiatives, but they must also benefit from substantial cost savings and improved lines of business/market-share. To accomplish this, organizations must strive to understand and deal with E-business Technology by asking the following questions: What is E-business Technology? Is E-business Technology right for the organization? How does the organization get involved with E-business Technology? What is an effective strategy for the organization? How is the strategy implemented? How is a winning solution measured and maintained? How are our financial systems affected and integrated? How are corporate savings increased? How is productivity increased? E-business Technology goes beyond providing corporate websites and product offerings; it also delves into improving productivity gains, promoting the organization and its products, creating new lines of business and promoting corporate growth. In electronic commerce, technology and business have become inseparable. E-business Technology encompasses: 1. E-marketing - website, e-mail, banners, site usage reporting, newsletters, customer accounts, product listings, 2. E-business - merchandising, corporate knowledge, supplier accounts. 3. E-commerce - self-service data access, and the delivery of business intelligence. 4. Collaborative enterprise - an organization that establishes a close partnership between its stakeholders, employees, customers, and suppliers. 5. Technology Leveraging - an approach to minimize the distance between its business and its partners to automate transaction processing, strengthen relationships and reduce costs. 6. Document Management - a shift from modeling, recording, managing, and maintaining fundamental business processes in paper document form. 7. Online storefronts and Web-based order entry - online ordering, shopping carts, the reach of sales systems to millions of Internet consumers and business markets. 8. Self-service applications, providing employees and business partners with easier access to information access and enhances customer service.   The Solution E-business Technology has revolutionized traditional business processes and laid the foundation for making employees more productive by allowing software to perform tasks best suited for electronic business so that employees can focus on tasks better performed manually. E-business Technology provides the organization with the ability to: Distribute business information and documents electronically Participate in business process workflows electronically Deliver information on-demand and proactively, rather than reactively Rely on systematized business knowledge Reduce human interaction to handling information exceptions rather than overload Provide electronic transaction workflows that cost less to process than paper-based workflows. This can add up to huge savings in a high-volume transaction processing business. The Harrington Institute E-business Technology Approach Knowing that businesses that take advantage of the Internet are enjoying more success can create more questions than answers and lead to E-business Technology strategies that do not obtain the most effective results. The difficulty lies in knowing where to start, what the key success factors are, and how success will be measured and maintained. The Harrington Institute is ready to support organizations in their E-business endeavors, whether this is in developing new E-business Technology or overhauling existing strategies and initiatives. Partnering with organizations, learning their business and providing continuous improvement in these endeavors the Harrington Institute takes a pragmatic and structured approach in providing E-business Technology solutions. The Harrington Institute will: Learn who and what you are, What market places you wish to reach, Listen to your goals and ideas, Brainstorm with you to generate tailored E-business solutions and approaches, Present realistic and pragmatic strategies, Install and Implement selected solutions, Provide monitoring tool and methods to measure success, Measure the impact on the organization, and Provide ongoing improvement strategies The Harrington Institute employs a structured approach to develop your E-business Technology solutions. You'll know what is going to be done, when it will be finished, what you have to do, and what it will cost in advance. There will be no surprises and no vague terminology. By mapping out every step with cost, technology, dates, strategies, responsibilities and expectations, the organization will be fully aware of what to expect and what the end result will be at every milestone. By partnering with top industry professionals, the Harrington Institute keeps abreast of new techniques and technologies, so that we may align them with your business, giving you a competitive edge. A company's financial management system is one of the most important and, surprisingly, the most overlooked aspect of E-business Technology strategies. The Harrington Institute ensures that, with these new E-business strategies and implementations, the organizations financial systems are aligned and prepared for the onslaught of electronic transactions. The Harrington Institute is always concerned with the change and effect the new E-business solutions will have on the organization. We will ensure that proper change management plans are developed and executed. Although E-business Technology implementation will have a positive effect on the organization, the implementation must be monitored to measure the effect and ensure continuous improvement. The Harrington Institute will provide the tools and templates to monitor the implemented E-business Technology impact and benefits and provide ongoing re-alignment strategies to ensure the organization realizes the best possible benefits from their E-business Technology initiative.