THE REVOLUTIONARY EFFECT of electronic commerce on corporate business models has been well-documented, to say the least. The prospects of eliminating supply-chain inefficiencies, communicating more directly with customers, and collecting more market data than ever before have made even the stodgiest executives curious about the potential of Web-based commerce.

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But although the changes are already under way, the real IT revolution may not be seen until after the millennium. Overburdened IT departments have had their hands full with a variety of problems, notably the year-2000 nuisance.

That, in turn, has kept many IT managers from thoroughly dealing with electronic-business needs, if at all.

"The move to e-commerce among our [Fortune 1,000] clients is being driven more by people in marketing and sales," says Trevor Fagerskog, managing partner of e-commerce at USWeb/CKS, a consulting company in Cupertino, Calif.

But that constraint will vanish next year, leaving the IT staff to adapt to the Web-based world themselves.

"The current situation will radically change in the year 2000 when IT departments have the bandwidth to focus on it," Fagerskog says.

Corporate IT looks ready to change in many ways because of e-business. However, industry observers say that one major force will underlie those changes: The Web is turning companies inside out, exposing more of their internal processes to the world outside.

As that continues to happen, IT organizations and employees will need to hone their business acumen and interpersonal skills as much as their technological skills.

"IT is getting sucked out of the enterprise," says Tom Koulopoulos, president of The Delphi Group, a technology consulting and research company in Boston. "Rather than responding to just the internal needs of the company, technology people will be used as more of a peripheral sensory organ."

That will mean more contact with customers and business partners and greater emphasis on business knowledge.

The new face of IT

Light-fixture manufacturer Lithonia Lighting has already started to experience the trend. The company's IT staff has shifted from technocentric managers and developers to business-savvy strategists with technological leanings.

"I now find my people in front of customers a lot, helping deploy solutions," says Jeff Kernan, vice president and CIO of Lithonia, in Conyers, Ga. "They need to talk to customers, communicate well, and understand the business implications of their work."

Not surprisingly, Lithonia has seen the number of programmers in its 184-member IT department drop from 40 percent to 20 percent.

The new face of the company's technology department comes from more than just recruiting and hiring. Regardless of educational and occupational history, new employees must go through a training program that immerses them in the company's departments. IT workers do "rotations" in areas such as marketing, manufacturing, and sales to give them a better appreciation for and understanding of Lithonia's line of work.

"It used to be more of a technical sell," Kernan says. "Now we've developed a more business-oriented program."

The strategic requirements of e-business may also lead to the creation of new types of jobs within the IT department, according to industry watchers. Already companies are installing strategic leaders -- usually reporting to the CIO -- who can articulate an e-business vision and serve as liaisons between IT and other departments.

Those types of people may come from inside the company, as connections within the company and perhaps the industry might facilitate communication and negotiation. These people can be either IT professionals with business sensibilities or more business-focused workers who understand technology and command the respect of IT, according to observers.

"CEOs struggle with e-business because they need someone who they can talk to about the transformation but who is also well-grounded in technology," says Bruce Weber, partner in charge of e-business strategies and solutions at Clarkston-Potomac, a consulting and integration company in Atlanta. "This is a new model, especially for midsize companies, where IT managers usually report to the [chief financial officer]."

The speed of e-business may also necessitate this new strategic leader because old project time lines will require quicker, clearer communication between IT and other departments.

"IT departments don't have the luxury of operating at the same speed as they did in the past," says Preston Dodd, an analyst at Jupiter Communications, in New York.

For example, IT groups that carry out projects originating in other departments may take months to develop a plan, says Dodd. Adjustments and planning may take several more months until everyone involved is satisfied.

On the other hand, e-business plans must move at the speed of light. And as e-business seeps throughout a company, coordination and communication among the different departments will be paramount.

"Organizations sometimes have problems among their different divisions," Dodd says. "Internal groups can be dismissive of each other and develop rivalries. In Internet time, that can cripple a company."

On the job

As for more traditional IT jobs, experts say that beyond the obvious Web-development skills, IT professionals who want to succeed in the new economy would be wise to consider other caveats as well.

Many projects related to e-business call for expertise with database and legacy applications as much as, if not more than, those skills specific to the Web, says USWeb/CKS' Fagerskog.

"Database skills are extremely relevant to the Web," Fagerskog says. "What companies will really need are people who understand databases and how to move data around."

That's been the case at InsurQuote, a Provo, Utah-based provider of data and information services to the insurance industry. The company has become more reliant on database and database-management tools as it has moved into a more Web-oriented realm for the insurance companies it supports.

InsurQuote uses a SQL-based server to keep track of information being submitted by Web users and to pass that on to the appropriate systems that will process that data.

"Data is transient over the Net, and we need the database to create some permanence," says Rick Jones, chief technology officer at InsurQuote, in Cleveland.

Besides being able to maneuver around the various systems that manage the influx of data caused by Web initiatives, IT professionals will prove invaluable if they have the ability to link and integrate databases with legacy systems, which will continue to play a key role in corporate data management, according to Fagerskog.

InsurQuote's Jones adds that he has started looking for people who understand other ingredients of the Internet-development environment, such as communications protocols and multithreaded applications.

"We need programmers who can develop client/server apps that are more robust," Jones says. "We have to have multiple instances of an application running simultaneously."

Other new areas of technological expertise that IT managers will look for on their staff include personalization, data capturing, and collaborative filtering, Fagerskog says.

That is, someone has to design and manage the systems that allow Web users to input very specific data, move that data to the back end, and interpret that data and relate new information back to the user in a tailored, personalized way.

This is where real-time data mining typically comes into play. "It's a real event-driven environment," says InsurQuote's Jones. "There's a certain mind-set associated with that programming environment, and we look for that when we hire new employees. It's something we can't train [on] very easily."

But beyond the strictly technologically inclined, those with business acumen and strategic planning skills will find the most interest from potential employers.

"IT organizations will be looking for people who understand the business process," says Clarkston-Potomac's Weber. "Anything to do with the Web is relationship-oriented. IT organizations are going to get more interactive and work to maintain relationships with business partners."