Web portfolio based electronic commerce: the case of transtec AG

While the Internet promises to radically change businesses in all industries, European companies have not yet embraced electronic trading with the enthusiasm of their North American counterparts. Only a few pioneers have successfully established Web services that are fully integrated into the enterprise’s business processes and hence create business value. One of these pioneers is transtec, a German medium‐sized manufacturer and direct distributor of computer systems, storage solutions and computer accessories. The transtec case is an example of a successful Web‐portfolio based electronic commerce application. It illustrates how essential it is to create transparency by integrating the entire system architecture with internal and external communication and business processes. Having started with a general corporate information system and a comprehensive electronic product catalogue, transtec’s Web presence evolved to become one of the best performing online order‐systems in Germany.