ers' customers often complain that though they can submit orders and trouble tickets, wholesalers do not police them well, and do not offer much in the way of status reports. This occurs because back-end processes are manual and often undisciplined. Plain and simple, people are busy filling orders and resolving troubles. They do not take the time to record every event that occurs for every pending request. Furthermore, the LEC interconnection procedure remains rudimentary at best. Most of the supply chain depends on LEC networks, and it is this foundation that is often the hindrance to competition and eBusiness advancement. The lack of communication and response most often results in more phone calls, more requests, more penalties for failing to meet SLAs, and more angry customers - the antithesis of the business case for moving customer facing processes to the Web. Web portals, with the integration to back them, will be powerful enablers. They will provide the basis for open, competitive Internet infrastructure service exchanges and trading communities. They will allow customers to help themselves to the services they want, greatly reducing the need for huge call centers and paper pushers that cut into margins. Integration will also help IICs reach out to customers, letting them know a problem is being fixed before the customer knows there is a problem, as well as announcing when an order has been filled while highlighting the fact that it happened without any delays. Internet infrastructure services change constantly, and their complexity is confusing to most customers. An integrated Web portal will allow IICs to say, "Here is what you seem to need, here is how you can get it, and here is how our price compares to our competitors." Service is thus personalized, proactive and prompt. That makes for loyal, happy customers who are free to spend on Internet infrastructure services at will, which, in the end, is really what all of this integrated OSS and eBusiness is supposed to be about. 8.2 Defining eBusiness for 