When talking about e-business development, it is very important to know how to use information. A computer is the perfect tool for working with information. Fifty years ago a business might have employed a small army of clerks, accountants and errand boys to process facts and figures and pass them around an organization. Today's technology can do the same kind of work faster, more efficiently and, when wisely chosen and properly installed, more cheaply.

To a computer, information can be almost anything that is not a physical object. Words, photographs, faxes, sounds, mathematical formulae, video clips, musical compositions and financial summaries are just some of the kinds of information with which a computer can work.

A computer also makes it possible to store very large amounts of information in a small space, which is crucial for e-business development. In business use, computer systems sometimes pay for themselves by removing the need for large amounts of paper storage, thus allowing lower premises costs. It can also be much easier and quicker to find information inside a computer (if it has been filled correctly) than it is in a paper-based filing system.

Computers are very good at distributing information which is essential for development. A useful way to look at them is as the successors to the humble telephone handset. Where a handset is used to transmit one kind of information--the sound of the human voice--a computer connected to a telephone line or some other electronic link can transmit any kind of information almost anywhere in the world very quickly.

In an office environment, this kind of technology can help save paper, make communications more efficient and sometimes even lead to new ways of working. Internal phone directories, newsletters and even technical or business help (including answers to frequently asked questions) can be made available on demand on screens, rather than printed pages in binders.