The transformation of key business processes through the use of Internet technologies. The Web is changing every aspect of our lives, but no area is undergoing as rapid and significant a change as the way businesses operate. As businesses incorporate Internet technology into their core business processes, they start to achieve real business value. Today, companies large and small are using the Web to communicate with their partners, to connect with their back-end data-systems, and to transact commerce. This is e-business — where the strength and reliability of traditional information technology meet the Internet. This new Web + IT paradigm merges the standards, simplicity and connectivity of the Internet with the core processes that are the foundation of business. The new killer apps are interactive, transaction-intensive, and let people do business in more meaningful ways.

E-commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services on the Internet, especially the World Wide Web. In practice, this term and a new term, "e-business," are often used interchangeably. For online retail selling, the term e-tailing is sometimes used. E-commerce can be divided into:

• E-tailing or "virtual storefronts" on Web sites with online catalogs, sometimes gathered into a "virtual mall"

• The gathering and use of demographic data through Web contacts

• Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), the business-to-business exchange of data

• E-mail and fax and their use as media for reaching prospects and established customers (for example, with newsletters)

• Business-to-business buying and selling

• The security of business transactions