Electronic business, or"e-business", is any business process that is empowered by an information system. Today, this is mostly done with Web-based technologies. The term"e-business" was coined by Lou Gerstner, CEO of IBM.

Electronic business methods enables companies to link their internal and external processes more efficiently and flexibly, work more closely with suppliers and partners to better satisfy the needs and expectations of their customers.

In practice, this involves the introduction of new revenue streams through the use of e-commerce, the enhancement of relationships between clients and partners and improving efficiency from using knowledge management systems. E-business can be conducted over the public Internet, through internal intranets and over secure private extranets.

It is more than just e-commerce. It covers business processes along the whole value chain: electronic purchasing ("e-procurement") and supply chain management, processing orders electronically, customer service and cooperation with business partners. This applies to traditional and virtual organizations. Special technical standards for e-business facilitate the exchange of data between companies. E-business software solutions allow the integration of intra and inter firm business processes.