I was looking through my previous column and was struck by two things. First, how there always seems to be a next level - it wasn't too long ago that we were awestruck by the fact that XML could represent actual data with those neat little tags. Now we're talking about representing entire partnerships in XML.

Second, as we plunge forward into this technical frontier there are ample quantities of evolution and revolution at every stage. This is truly remarkable. All facets of business today are poised to be fundamentally changed (revolution) and the industry is investing what it takes to make it practical (evolution). XML is certainly "real" now, but as for how it will digitize business, we're just starting to scratch the surface. The fun is just beginning.

A Vision
When XML burst onto the scene as a universal data language, naysayers were quick to point out that parties still have to agree on many things in advance before there is ubiquitous communication. Skip ahead a few schemas and standards later and look at the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). SOAP (along with UDDI, DISCO, WSDL, and a few others that haven't been invented yet) builds yet another layer on top of individual data transfers that describes how an entire Web-based service operates.

A Web service (a new buzzword for those of you who keep track) is a component that's smaller than a Web site, but bigger than a Java class. It's part of an app that does one specific function such as a credit card transaction or analytics. Web services are all the rage. They allow you to assemble and configure applications using services available over the Web so you can focus on what's core to your business. Using these standards, a service can be accessed across the Web in a standard way making it easy and potentially automatic.

Naysayers will chime in here to point out that partnerships and collaboration can't be completely done electronically; there are security and legal issues to be dealt with. Bah, I say. Those are implementation details that will be solved over time, and besides this is just a vision .

Think of what is possible. You've heard of a friction-free economy, think of a friction-free collaboration - a truly dynamic partner network. The ability to work with anyone, at anytime, for any duration - all on just the whim of a business idea - or even directed by an automated process. That would be revolutionary.

An Example
Many businesses need to execute credit card transactions on their Web sites. These shopping cart components are necessary, but few people are interested in reinventing the wheel to have one. So system integrators and Web site platform providers partner to get them. Consider what they go through.

Often it takes months to acquire a viable shopping cart vendor - a few weeks to choose one, a month pushing it through legal, then finally a month or so to integrate the technology into the rest of the platform. (And we can thank raw XML for the integration period being as short as that.)

Once deployed, the shopping cart component comes into play each time a visitor hits the "buy" button. What if something happens to the vendor supplying that service? The building could burn to the ground, VCs could pull out, or an IT foul-up could render the shopping cart dead. In many cases the Web site would be inoperable until a workaround is put into place.

Instead, imagine a world where the use of outsourced services is friction-free. If you asked a nontechnical business manager what to do if the shopping cart service didn't work, a likely response would be "Use another.... Preferably a cheap one, unless it's right before Christmas in which case..." This person should be able to run the digital business using the same criteria he or she has always used. This can be a reality.

Imagine how this scenario could be handled in the world of Web services. If the "Buy" button is dead, the application can go to a UDDI-based registry to find other suitable partners. Then, with SOAP and related protocols, the app can determine how to do business with that service and the transaction can be handed off and processed. Decisions on who to work with and how can be automated with business process workflow, so the business manager can manage collaboration across a large and highly dynamic trading network.

Let's add up what just happened in this example. In roughly the time it takes for someone to move his or her finger off a mouse button, a failure was detected, a new partner found, a partnership established, and a transaction executed. All automatically - without a single human intervening - and the business manager stayed in control throughout.

How It Will Affect My Life
All this strikes home every time I travel. Personally I prefer smaller hotels because they tend to be better, more interesting, and cheaper to boot. I've stayed in so many large chain hotels that mauve chintz makes me start sniffing for that disinfectant spray with the predictability of a Pavlovian dog. But when I request a smaller hotel, or even offer a specific location, the travel agent often replies, "That hotel isn't in The Computer." Where is this Computer and how do I accidentally drop it out a window?

The problem is, of course, not the computer, but the barriers of entry that surround it. Or in more practical terms, I have money that I'd like to give to a business but am prevented from doing so because of IT considerations. This isn't good, and it's not what e-business is all about. e-business is all about letting organizations work the way they traditionally work, able to take advantage of technology to add reach and scalability to their existing business model.

What e-business should mean - and will mean - to a small hotel is simply that they can be doing what they do today - only more so. They should be able to purchase an inexpensive computer (or rent via an ASP), pull up a simple SOAP-based tool set, and - poof! - be digitally enabled that afternoon. At that point, their hotel service translates directly into a Web service that can be accessed by anyone, near or far. They'll then be able to partner with any agency, complementary business, or e-market, and personally, I'll get the hotel room I want.

Making It Happen
Certainly it will be years before reality catches up to the imagination, but it's not out of sight. Standards, infrastructure, and tools all have to mature, and there will be significant trial-and-error before we get it right. In addition, we have to upgrade the way we think about digital business as a whole.

The overriding theme is that we have to stop thinking about e-business being a wart on the side driven by technologists. Instead, we have to think of e-business as part of day-to-day life (like a phone or a word processor), supported by technologists. In other words, e-FooBar must be controlled by the FooBar manager not the IT manager. e-FooBar has to be integrated top to bottom - from an individual transaction to the business process that controls it. An e-business has to work just like a traditional business, because it is the traditional business.

The mission of e-business technology is to make the time and expense of executing business operations approach zero. This will result in businesses being built out of loosely coupled core competencies instead of tightly coupled compromises, and organizations being able to focus nearly exclusively on those core competencies. Then, of course, I'll be able to find, book, and enjoy a mauve-free hotel room.