The Internet creates almost unlimited possibilities for integrating previously dispersed and independent business processes. What was once the “bane” of enterprises – the logistical impossibility of meeting individual customer needs given the scale of operations – can be overcome with the development and fuller application of the network. Thanks to effective web tools that enable very fast and flexible configuration of the logistics chain, enterprises and their partners can increase the degree of individualization of their product and service offerings without losing their complexity. Consequently, day by day, issues related to supporting collaboration are becoming increasingly important. This is a new challenge for logistics, whose scope of interests and activities must evolve from deliveries towards network-supported collaboration of business partners.
The purpose of this article is to present information technology solutions designed to arrange and facilitate cooperation processes between business entities and to discuss the benefits resulting from their application in logistics.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 2003/6.