The complexity of computer applications and systems continues to grow at an exponential rate. In a very short period of time, we have evolved from single applications addressing a specific functionality or set of requirements on a dedicated mainframe to an integrated set of applications representing an enterprise e-business.

What is an e-business? This is a catch-all term for identifying an enterprise that has transformed its business by:

• Leveraging Web technologies to reengineer business processes 

• Enhancing communications and lowering organizational boundaries with its:

  • Customers and shareholders (across the internet)

  • Employees and stakeholders (across the corporate intranet)

  • Vendors, suppliers, and partners (across the extranet)

This e-business transformation is evolutionary and complex. The typical evolution for an enterprise is to move from:

• Providing access to enterprise applications and information

• Through integration of systems and applications in the enterprise

• To an adaptive enterprise that can optimize operations and dynamically adapt to the needs of all its constituents.

We have already embarked on the next wave of change and complexity in e-business and entered the on demand era.