DHL Middle East has launched a new e-business website www.dhlmasterclass.com which is built to provide practical business intelligence for small and medium business establishments in the region.

It will help to guide them in their transition from traditional brick and mortar business into electronic business, said DHL Middle East area sales director Ali Sarrafzadeh.

The site shares DHL's global experiences of addressing the challenges of the Internet. It aims to assist businesses in their integration of new technology and processes into their business functions, he said.

"DHL Masterclass.com is its commitment to bridging the knowledge gap between the old and new economies. As the world's leading air express and logistics management company, we want our expertise and leading edge technology in IT to be shared by all our customers who are making this transition," Sarrafzadeh said.

"DHL is geared to meet these challenges as the GCC region does an estimated $250 million business-to-business deals over the web and Internet spending is expected to hit $1 billion by 2002. Those companies in the region that don't switch over soon enough will miss the opportunity to pick a slice of this highly lucrative business proposition," he added.

The e-business site has been launched in conjunction with DHL's 2000 corporate report unveiled earlier in May. The DHL global e-commerce report 2000 and the DHL corporate report 2000 are also available online at DHL Masterclass.com

"DHL Masterclass.com is a wealth of useful information and tips on e-commerce, it is an invaluable tool for traditional "brick-and-mortar" companies who want to develop e-commerce capabilities in order to thrive in the new economy," said DHL Middle East/Asia-Pacific chief executive officer Charles Longley.

"The Middle East and global economies are changing rapidly with the advent of information technology. Knowledge is a most critical factor to a company's survival in the fast-changing new economy," Longley added.