Wide area networks that link a company’s employees, suppliers, customers, and other business partners in a secure, electronic online environment for the purpose of conducting business.
Published in Chapter:
Business-to-Business Networks
Sean Eom (Southeast Missouri State University, USA)
Copyright: © 2008
|Pages: 8
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-885-7.ch016
Abstract
Business-to-business networks in a broadest sense are inter-organizational systems (IOSs). In the literature, the term IOSs and inter-organizational information systems (IOISs) are often used interchangeably. An inter-organizational system (IOS) is an information and management system that transcends organizational boundaries via electronic linkages with its trading partners to share data, information, and business applications. It provides the capabilities of electronic transactions including buying and selling goods and services, and also facilitates communications and decision making to increase efficiency, effectiveness, competitiveness, and profitability for participating organizations. The electronic linkage is established by the Internet, extranets, intranets, groupware, electronic data interchange (EDI), workflow systems, mobile communication technologies, and other information and communication technologies.