Over the past decade, widespread Internet and e-mail access have radically changed the way companies do business and communicate with their employees, vendors, and customers. Consumers and businesses purchase products and services like $2,000 laptops and airline tickets by paying with credit cards via the web without ever talking to a customer representative or salesperson. Many companies allow customers to trace the status of their orders online to work out when their products shipped and after they are scheduled to arrive, again without ever chatting with a customer representative. When companies like Amazon and Priceline emerged, their business models revolved around conducting 100% of their business online, eliminating the necessity for costly bricks-and-mortar outlets. More and more consumers are paying their bills online as they become comfortable with online security, thus eliminating the requirement to pay postage and write checks for every bill using the normal snail-mail method. Today thousands of adults are getting their undergraduate and master’s degrees online without ever attending an actual class or meeting their peers or professors, who teach the classes online. There are few businesses or organizations isolated from this transformational wave of technology and innovation.
