Easier Research

Research is one of the mainstays of marketing, and business users who want or need to access multiple sites for research or other data-gathering functions will find their work made easier by XML-based E-commerce tools. One such product is the Web Automation Toolkit from webMethods Inc. The toolkit wraps XML technology around HTML. Using the toolkit, webMethods created Agent Discovery, an automated procurement and purchasing application that can search multiple Web sites simultaneously and bring back photographs or other information such as data for Excel spreadsheets.
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The photo services group of Discovery Communications Inc., an advertising agency in Bethesda, Md., uses Agent Discovery to query Web sites and retrieve photographs for use in ads. The company has preprogrammed Agent Discovery to query the top 10 stock photography vendors it uses. If the vendors' sites are suitably equipped, they can bill Discovery over the Web as their photos are retrieved.

"We used to have to search individual Web sites and identify the results and bring back the photographs individually," says Pam Huling, senior manager of photo services at Discovery. Now the company's offices around the world use Agent Discovery to find photos they previously wouldn't have been able to access.
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E-commerce technology is being used to overcome the traditional boundaries of time and space, even to create new types of businesses. As E-commerce technology evolves through new products and standards, companies will find ways to reach out further to their customers and suppliers.