What to tell the CEO about web services.
Web services are important to business because they enable systems in different companies to interact with each other, more easily than before. With businesses needing closer cooperation between suppliers and customers, engaging in more joint ventures and short-term marketing alliances, pursuing opportunities in new lines of business, and facing the prospect of more mergers and acquisitions, companies need the capability to link up their systems quickly with other companies. Thus Web services give companies like ours the capability do more business electronically, with more potential business partners, in more and different ways than before, and at reasonable cost.