Time to qet Internet:friendlU

By Gregory Cuke Vice President Advantage Business Computer Systems

*ww.abcsinc.com

I It should be clear to everyone that the Internet is not a passing phase that will go away any time soon. It has very rapidly become a major part of our day to day lives, both personal and professional. E-commerce in the building materials industry is going to play a greater role in the future, but the definition of e-commerce for this industry may change.

We have already seen the collapse of some e-commerce companies that promised to revolutionize the way that builders interact with dealers. Their demise is probably as a result of this industry's reluctance generally to use new technology along with the lack of significant perceived benefits to be derived by the dealers themselves.

I don't believe that e-commerce will play a major part in the actual transaction for a 2x4 any time soon. Where I do believe that e-commerce will have some benefits will be in the simple communication between contractors and dealers. I believe that more open platforms are going to be a requirement as we move forward. Customers are going to want to get on the Internet to look at their accounts, product pricing and availability and be able to at least let the dealer know that they want something, if not create their own order.

Today we can get online to do our banking, pay bills, trade stocks, etc. We are going to have to give customers access to their data, or they will simply deal with someone else who will. I believe that this will define e-commerce far more than the actual purchase and delivery of a product.

Those dealers who are caught with a computer system that cannot accommodate the needs of their customers via the Internet are going to suffer. While this isn't a major issue for anyone right now, I do believe that anyone that has a system that isn't Internet friendly needs to make the change now so that when the demands are made by their customers, they can simply say, "We can do thatl"