Advantages for e-commerce technologies exist and just need to be exploited, Bill Rowland, chief executive officer of First Mid-Illinois Bank, said Friday at the E-Business Revolution in Central Illinois conference sponsored by Eastern’s School of Business.

“Central Illinois is a good place for businesses because of the location, available work force and it’s cost efficient,” Rowland said.

E-commerce is when businesses or customers use computer based networks to buy or order goods or services, Mike Messmer, director of e-commerce at Kimball International, said.

The conference included four presentations highlighting recent e-business technologies and how they can help businesses in central Illinois as well as presentations on recent survey results.

Rural businesses benefit from electronic technologies because they can communicate and interact with distant suppliers and customers, Rowland said.

“E-commerce revolution is better described as an evolution because it is always changing,” he said.

Rowland presented results of a recent study of advantages of e-business for central Illinois, and students were interested in what they learned.

“It was interesting that they are trying to bring all these jobs to Illinois,” Billy Son, a sophomore business major, said. “There was a lot of good points brought up during the presentation.”

Messmer’s presentation, titled “Going Digital at Kimball,” focused on how the company uses the technology for their customers.

Joseph Allen, manager of Marketing Support and e-Business Services at Caterpillar Engine Products Division, provided an overview of how Caterpillar and the Engine Products Division uses e-business in his “E-Business is Business” presentation.

Courtney Spooner, e-Commerce Business Analyst at ADM presented “A New Face to Customer Service in Agriculture,” which discussed how ADM uses the Internet for customer service.

After the presentations, people had the opportunity to meet the speakers to ask questions and talk about topics discussed during their speeches.

“The presentations were very informative, and we got to learn what was going on in the e-commerce environment,” said Bob Guinn, from ASL Solutions.