The 'five Ws' of ebusiness

Consider the following headlines from another ordinary week in the extraordinary world of 'e' - 'Andersens dips toe in e-procurement waters' 'Web retailer in discount sales spat' 'Scottish doctors work on their Web site manner' 'Parcelforce extends hours to meet ecommerce demand' 'IOD attacks B2B Net start-ups'.

Welcome to the digital economy, the knowledge economy, the new economy or just simply the e-conomy. (Perm anyone from these four.)

This is a world of 'dot-com envy', of 'I told you so' when the market goes down and 'have you seen our Net strategy?' when it bounces back up. In this world we're all Netizens, perhaps even digerati. Some of us are Web masters, maybe even a chief Web officer, more likely cyber junkies. And who doesn't want to be considered an e-vangelist?

If that sounds familiar, you probably work for a dot-com or a cam (clicks and mortar) - did someone say dot-cam? Whichever, let's hope it's not a dyed-in-the-wool bam (bricks and mortar).

Your business is ebusiness, be that B2B, B2C or etail and you practice any one of the following business processes - group buying, reverse bidding, one clicking.

All these terms may collectively represent the biggest rape of the English language to date. Equally, it seems to suggest a vibrant, young industry where existing descriptions no longer apply.

Whichever, there is little doubt a major change is taking place within the business of technology. High-tech has gone mainstream and while it may still emanate from the IT department, every other department wants a piece of the action too. The emphasis has altered irreparably from a reliance on technology in order to cut costs to the use of technology to drive the business forward. Indeed many UK businesses from Direct Line to QXL.com cannot exist without it.

The enlightened within the IT department have already recognised this change and know that managing relationships - internally and with suppliers - has become just as important as understanding the value of a particular technology.

Meanwhile, ebusinesses are being directed by an ad hoc team drawn from IT, marketing, business development and finance. Throw in the MD or the chief executive and you have all the major players in any given organisation.

You also have a fair impression of who is currently the anything-but-average silicon.com viewer. To take into account the changes (and imminent changes) in focus, personnel and readership within this world of 'e', you are about to see exciting content and design changes at this Web address - starting with the introduction of our new logo and strap line today.

Put simply, silicon.com is now the who, what, when, where and why of ebusiness.