Even the most slow-moving companies are now aware of the immense opportunities being opened up by the Internet to reshape their businesses.
But how do they go about translating their ambitions into reality? The technology is there to do almost anything they want, whether it be opening up new sales channels to customers, streamlining and extending supply chains, collaborating with partners or shedding non-core activities.
Executives can, therefore, look beyond the technology and concentrate on what it can achieve. Foremost now in their minds should be the strategy to be pursued in an e-business age which is fast-moving, if less frenetic than during the heyday of the Internet boom. IT can then be fitted to suit the real business purpose.
"Businesses now have no excuse," says Michael De Kare-Silver, head of e-business at PA Consulting. "Before, they could say it (e-business implementation) was too expensive or not proven, but now it can be done. It doesn't have to be perfect. Nor does investment have to be a three-year exercise."
For all the hoopla and upsets of the Internet, the new e-commerce companies spawned by it did at least show what could be achieved online. They brought a creative spirit to the often staid business world and shook up established companies, many of which thought that their whole existence would soon be undermined.
In the reflective aftermath of the Internet boom, it is clear that the real benefits will come not from snazzy new front-end links to the consumer but from more fundamental changes both within and beyond the enterprise.
"E-business is no longer being seen in terms of dotcoms prevailing over 'old' traditional businesses, but in terms of a transformation of business models throughout the supply chain in every business sector," says Digby Jones, director general of the Confederation of British Industry.
His comments are in the foreword to a survey on e-business in the UK called The quiet revolution, produced with KPMG Consulting. It talks of "an emerging but clear consensus that business should be e-enabled at every level".
The sectors feeling the greatest impact of e-business are currently telecoms/utilities and financial services, with retailing, professional/ consulting and travel not far behind. But all businesses are likely to be transformed in the next two or three years.
The survey's findings showed that 21 percent of UK businesses could be called "e-pioneers", while 43 percent were "e-followers" and 36 percent were "e-laggards". It concluded: "Implementing advanced e-business is a complex task that requires not only a change in business strategy, but collaboration with customers, suppliers and employees."
Pamela Taylor, the CBI's e-business policy adviser, says that improved customer service must be to the fore in any company's e-business strategy. This does not just mean having a smart Web site. Companies must develop customer relationship management (CRM) policies and overcome many people's suspicion of the web.
"Companies are sometimes scared of losing contact with customers," she adds. They fear losing the personal touch. The Internet won't take off if it is seen as a tool which is not in touch with customers."
But for those companies which grasp the e-business challenge wholeheartedly, the rewards - not just in cost savings, but also in added revenues and market penetration - are likely to be considerable.
"Corporations have got to accept that e-business transformation is going to be the single biggest opportunity for them over the next three to five years in terms of improving shareholder value," says Mr De Kare-Silver.
But behind the vision, companies must focus hard on the process of implementation. They have to overcome initial hesitancy, as well as the temptation to go it alone and exclude outside expertise or to invest heavily in systems which are too complex and specialised for their needs.
"It's a journey," says Mr De Kare-Silver. "Companies can be shape changers or surface scratchers."
Whichever category they fall into, careful planning and project monitoring are vital, as are robust IT systems on which to build new applications. "There has to be a plan and risk assessment as with any major IT project," says Irfon Watkins, vice-president of sales and operations for the UK at US-based CommerceQuest, which provides e-business integration software.
Companies have to ensure that their data flows smoothly throughout the business, can be easily retrieved and is totally secure. Systems must be tested to the limit. "A lot of companies put in systems without testing," says Harry Harris, senior solutions architect at CommerceQuest. "Then these break down when they're really needed. End-to-end testing is critical."
Crucial to companies' e-business performance is strong commitment by the board. Formulating a coherent strategy and then carrying it out across varied and scattered operations is as much a question of people as of policy and technology.
"It has to be championed by the board as there's so much politics involved," says Geoffrey Codd, managing partner at InterChange Associates, a consultancy which works with the UK's Institute of Directors. "Part of e-business success is to garner all the experience in the business which can be relevant."
Without the involvement of the chief executive and other key directors, e-business initiatives can lose their impetus. "It's all about joined-up thinking," says Charlie Blackburn, vice-president of Scient Europe, part of the California-based Scient consultancy. "Clients are getting much smarter."
Mark Reece, a partner at the Capital Markets Company (Capco), an e-business solutions provider for the financial sector, believes companies generally now have a much more mature attitude to online activities.
"They understand the advantages and drawbacks better," he says. "The Internet will not go away - it will revolutionise business and services," he adds. "But past the hype, companies have got to identify how it takes the business forward."
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