In the early 2000 era, companies were happy just to have a website. Then the emergence of cloud-based applications driven by web browser technologies brought about SAAS (software as a service), and the business environment underwent a paradigm shift toward digital infrastructure—one that could improve production and increase profit.
As the web evolved further with a virtually free supply of Linux servers, cloud storage, and large-scale database support, companies introduced e-commerce systems that required real-time access to manufacturing data (current inventory levels that customers could query, work in progress status, B2B supplier transactions, shipping services).