Connected [e-commerce]

Recent years have seen a rapid expansion in the use of the Internet for social and commercial purposes. The author outlines some of the main changes and business issues that the connected company may expect to face. The author takes the view that the new technology should be seen for what it is: another communications channel, not a universal panacea for boosting economic activity. The most likely outcome may be that the Internet supplements the existing communications technologies (e.g. mail, telephone, fax, e-mail and radio) rather than making one or more of them obsolete (remember the `paperless office´?). With that view in mind, the article presents a discussion of what some companies have been able to achieve with the Internet and what may be achievable in the near future