Easy, e's
Experts debate whether it's time for e-words to kick back and take a breather.
We've said quick goodbyes to many buzzwords after the dotcom
bubble burst. But what about those granddaddies of Web terms,
"e-business" and "e-commerce?" Are these
e-words even relevant anymore? We went to the experts--Marc Pearl,
senior vice president and technology/communications/e-commerce
practice group leader of Fleishman-Hillard Inc.'s Washington,
DC, public affairs/government relations subsidiary, FH/GPC.; and
Michael Drapkin, CEO of XB5 Partners Inc., a business, technology
and management consulting firm in New York City and chair of
e-commerce management for Columbia University's executive IT
management program-and checked up on their vocabulary:
Marc Pearl: "It's
all a question of how you're looking at it. The ultimate goal
is for a recognition that business and commerce are not
distinguished by the modes and channels of distribution. We never
called it 'telephone commerce' or 'telephone
business.' It's simply utilizing a technology in a more
efficient and effective way.
"We're still, at best, at the adolescent stage of
e-business. It is more efficient, but it's not that old. We
need time to get a kind of ubiquitous global enterprise approach to
a lot of issues that are not yet settled in law, not yet settled in
the economy and certainly not yet settled in our culture."
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Michael Drapkin:
"E-business has taken its place as a legitimate and
fundamental form of distribution. I don't think anybody thinks
that any type of electronic business is going away.
"For the most part, the people who make money in electronic
business are the same people who make money in other areas. Rather
than becoming an end to itself, e-business is taking its rightful
place with direct sales, catalog, telesales and whatever else you
use to reach customers.
"E-business is a subset of business. It's just a
particular way of doing business that happens to be very
technology-dependent."
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