McKinsey Quarterly

The strategic value of Web services


Before most managers had ever heard of XML or .Net, they knew that important business lay at the fringes of the enterprise, since that is where connections among suppliers, dealers, and customers are made. Those connections are getting easier thanks to Web services technologies that help companies stitch together networks of specialist businesses that collaborate to deliver a product or service. This Reader combines three McKinsey Quarterly articles that together explain Web services, tell where they will first gain traction, and illustrate the type of network where they are likely to have the greatest impact.