Based on the success of the internet in reducing cost, I developed a strategy paper called "Whirlpool Web World Interactive Network", in short "W³IN". It took me the better part of a month to develop a vision of how the internet could enrich all communication avenues that Whirlpool had. I included consumers, customers (trade partners), supplier and employees in this concept. Based on the vision, I then developed strategies to implement the vision, both for the USA and globally.

This paper became the nucleus of the Virtual Commerce Group. Greg Rogers, a fellow team member, was director for Sales and Marketing at that time. He convinced Greg McManus, the VP of S&M, to support and finance the creation of a team that would drive the use of the internet. Greg R. was the director, and I was the technical brains of the operation.

We developed several project portfolios over the course of the next 6 months. I was still formally assigned to the SAP project, which had split into two regional inplementation projects. From September 1997 until Januar, I worked on at least 6 different projects, all bundled together into the W³IN program. I remember vividly that I flew home for the first time for Xmas 1997 and spent the hole holiday preparing business cases and project proposals to be decided on between Xmas and New Year. In the end, we managed to go ahead with two rather important project, the actual centerpieces of my strategy: Whirlpool Web World (the collaborative platform) and W³IN.order, the self-service order processing system.

The paper was also the base for a common system architecture as the key enabler, which I started to implement through the resistance of the IT departments.