Starting out as a government and research network, the Internet became available to the public in the early 1990's attracting millions of users. Since then, the Internet has become the largest and most important network. In 1998, the Internet had 100 million users; that number is doubling every year. The Internet has revolutionized the businesses of today. Instead of having physical stores, companies can sell their products right off of the Web. There are millions of electronic businesses on the Web; some companies have been a huge success and some have been a huge failure. In order for an e-business to survive a company must understand the market in E-Business, the importance of E-Intelligence, understand the failure of other businesses, and develop an E-Readiness plan.
             Electronic commerce enables companies of all sizes and all market sectors to compete on the same stage. The Web slashes through the barriers of geography and time to reduce a company's cost. Terry Hiles, a e-businessman, says, "With about 550 million potential customers using the Internet by the year 2000 the opportunities for electronic commerce will be massive, If you don't wake up to what's happening you'll lose out to companies you've never heard of, based in countries you probably couldn't pint out on a map, offering products you haven't even dreamed of yet. How else will you be able to market 10% of the world's population?" Besides the vast market, e-commerce has other benefits.
             With a single virtual storefront instead of physical stores managing and supplying becomes cheaper and easier. Also setting up a business is inexpensive on the Web. The barriers to enter the market are low; almost anyone can set up an e-business. However, this creates a more competitive market in which companies are forced to fine tune their profit margins and their product supply chains. One way to efficiently optimize product supply chains is to allow business users in external tr...