E-forecasting: challenges and opportunities

The major advantage of electronic markets over nonelectronic traditional market places is that trading partners use more sophisticated methods, rules and systems of information exchange. The internet has inevitably boosted this advantage over the last decade, making electronic markets the dominant 'playing field' for various industrial and business activities. Forecasting is one of them; it is important to firms because it can help ensure that resources are used effectively. In the market there are a number of off-the-self system products that provide forecasts. The new trend of moving traditional software packages to web services has pushed forecasting to a new dimension – e-forecasting, as called by the authors. In this paper we explore the challenges and opportunities arising from e-forecasting. Two very fertile e-areas for possible application are discussed in detail: e-government and forecasting community portals.