B2B trading pushes through the tech downturn

NEWS This is according to Gartner, which has been forced to downgrade forecasts in line with the reduction in B2B transactions anticipated by the economic slump. Lauren Shu, director for ebusiness at Gartner, believes the economic downturn will enable a reprieve for those enterprises that were previously being left behind by ebusiness leaders. She said: "This is not a time to retrench, but rather an opportunity to get your house in order, work on internal adoption of ebusiness and associated change management and prepare to take advantage of the profit from the massive changes that will play out by 2005." In 2000, worldwide B2B online orders surpassed $433bn and are projected to reach $919bn in 2001, $1.9tr in 2002, $3.6tr in 2003 and by the end of 2004 global transactions are forecast to reach $6tr.