Ecommerce Technology Solution - Book Report/Review Example

Introduction The quick explosion of the internet has allowed a lot of corporations to make use of modern and up-to-date technologies to run electronic business to survive in the competitive marketplaces as well as to improve the operational performance. Thus, it is interesting to examine why electronic commerce benefits a number of businesses more than others. The results of adoption of the ecommerce by corporations and industries point out that both industrial characteristics and e-commerce models have important for the corporate performance. In addition, the electronic commerce (carrying out business activities on internet) helps businesses develop strong marketing channel and improve their existing strategic and business operations. PC-Tech1 is a retailer of the personal computers in local markets of the US. Currently, its business is going through the economic crisis due to some economic down term in the international economy. In this scenario the overall profit margin of the business has decreased. Thus, by seeing the benefits of internet technologies, the business management has decided to implement a web based system. This report presents a detailed analysis of the electronic commerce implementation for PC-Tech. In addition, this report will discuss and suggest some of the main e-commerce aspects with respect to PC-Tech and its potential enhancement through the new ecommerce based business arrangement. Business Overview Currently, PC-Tech is running its business through a chain of shops all through the US. Additionally, in the start the business was established as a small retailing company and with the rapid development, it has now become one of the major PC supplier companies and dealing with large size firms, companies, universities and schools. In the scenario of present business down terms PC-Tech is not able to capture and survive in the huge marketplace. There are also some of main business compactors in the market that have established new technology based arrangement to capture new marketplace. Thus, the management of PC-Tech has decided to implement a new technology (ecommerce and web based system) to the business that will offer much better business support and effective business strength to capture huge market in US and also outside of US. Ecommerce Technology Solution This section suggests some of the main technological solutions regarding the implementation of the ecommerce technology at PC-Tech. In this scenario Poulymenakou & Tsironis (2003) outlined that over the past decade; the evolution of ecommerce has focused on quality information as a more and more serious component for organizational accomplishment (Poulymenakou & Tsironis, 2003). Miller (2005) outlined that worldwide reach and rapid speed of electronic commerce environments are presently attracting the corporations. Additionally, the globalization of marketplaces, increasing interpenetration of economies, and augmented interdependence of economic agents are reforming the national as well as international competitive situations. Because of this, businesses can buy raw materials from one country, utilize finances from another country, hire human resources from another nation, as well as put up for sale the completed products anywhere probable in an attempt to attain or sustain competitive advantage in the marketplace. In anticipation of recently adopted e-commerce technology, businesses have been capable to attain these abilities for the most part through the role that information technology (IT) has performed in accelerating and propelling the globalization of business. Additionally, it has been pointed out that current IT developments are transforming and will carry on in transforming the business grounds in the near future (Miller, 2005; Piasecki & Wolnicki, 2004; Rohm et al., 2004). In the scenario of PC-Tech business the new technology platforms will facilitate in effective business handling and exposure to the international market. In addition, the new web based business will offer additional support to the corporate to sell its products to all over the world. And they will also able to market business products in the international marketplaces. Moreover, the new internet technology will open new horizons to PC-Tech to gain a better business competitive edge in the personal computers marketplace. Therefore it can be concluded that ecommerce is the ultimate business technology solution for the PC-Tech. Applications of Electronic Commerce This section discusses some important areas and applications of the ecommerce and new information technologies available in the markets to attain a new market position. In this scenario Rao, Metts, & Monge (2003) stated that the ecommerce technology has offered a new life to traditional business practice. In this regard, businesses all over the world have invested a lot in IT and ecommerce, principally to computerize and automate internal business activities like that selling, accounting, payroll, human resources, finance as well as manufacturing. In addition, the applications of the electronic commerce such as information systems and ecommerce platforms are offering the prospect intended for large and midsize businesses to influence past IT investments as well as essentially reengineer the method in which they carry out business activities and interact and communicate with suppliers, customers and partners (Rao et al., 2003). Moreover, it also helps smaller businesses achieve the efficiencies and cost savings that formerly were afforded by larger businesses. There is a proof that illustrates how SMEs around the globe are implementing electronic commerce as well as spending huge amounts of resources on information technology based platforms (Cho & Park, 2003; Woodside et al., 2004; Kim & Galliers, 2004). In the scenario of PC-Tech business we can use the internet technology for the business development. In this regard we can implement the internet based shopping stores for business to automate the online shopping process. The ecommerce business for the PC-Tech can also be implemented to help the business reach worldwide markets. Thus, the people from all over the world can be able to have an online access to business products. The products can be purchased via online payment process. Moreover, PC-Tech online business platform will also serve as a marketing platform for the business. In this way the business can be able to market new products and promotions through this web based platform. Electronic Commerce business models This section outlines some important aspects regarding the electronic commerce business models at PC-Tech. This section will discuss some business models and their emergence in influencing the corporation. Koh & Nam (2005) stated that internet has turned out to be a crucial tool for businesses in less than a decade as it became accessible for public as well as commercial use. Additionally, throughout that short time period, it has been accepted and adopted by all the corporations. A revenue model is a method of generating revenues, for instance charging customers or advertising. In addition, a revenue model describes various revenue streams that a business can set up and how each can help generate revenue. Therefore, if a corporation wants to implement a unique revenue stream then it should demonstrate it clearly as well as it should verify that it has confidentiality forms signed (Obringer, 2010; Sawyer, 2010; Savarese, 2006). There are a lot of ways to produce revenue from the web based business. Below I have outlined some of main online electronic commerce business models (Koh & Nam, 2005; Lee, 2003) & (Samuelsen, 2009): Vanity: A lot of web sites are initiated as vanity websites. These websites are frequently created by people as an outlet of self expression, to promote a cause, to share a hobby, or discover others having similar interests. In addition, these websites are developed with no goals of deriving revenue as well as no illusions of grandeur. In such type of web based business website the revenue is generated by establishing the contract to some altruistic enterprise like that libraries, universities, associations, communities, as well as even businesses. Online Advertising: Radio, network television, and a lot of periodicals follow the advertising model. The entire content and programming is funded through advertising dollars, through customer viewership determining value. In addition, this process is done in form of ecommerce advertising that is available in form of online sponsorships, banners, ads, as well as other promotion methods. Storefront: This is another important electronic commerce business model that is greatly employed on the web. In this electronic commerce business model products are offered at website for sell. In this scenario the website is truly stated as the ecommerce website. A website that presents products or services for online sale is the electronic version of a catalog. Billboard: The online billboard sites (as well known as brochure or information sites) are intended to gain economic advantage in the course of indirect means from reduced cost, referred sales, or both. In such a type of the websites the revenue is generated by developing awareness of its services or products by means of the web, through the actual purchase transaction happening offline (Wang, 2001). Subscriptions: The next online electronic commerce business model that is known as subscription models established by subscribers and nurtured by publishers. In this web based business the subscriptions are not yet broadly accepted by consumers. These websites are frequently specialized through expert content as well as timely information. In addition, the web based business subscriptions fund the maintenance and development of the site. Moreover, the subscription charges can be paid on a monthly, weekly, or annual basis (Liang et al., 2004). According to Koh & Nam (2005), at the present organizations are replacing traditional business practices with the web based business practices. In this scenario the web based advertisement and retailing business models are straightly followed in the web based business. The main advantage of the web based business practice is the automation and wide access to the web based business. In addition, the web based business offers all the traditional business facilities in the web based business. Moreover, the web based business models have also offered more enhanced business practice by adding new advanced technologies into the system. Since, here we have the automated and quality information database that can be used to effectively manage the business activities and customers’ information (Koh & Nam, 2005). As discussed above PC-Tech will use the Storefront web based business model. This web based business model will facilitate in online business promotion and retailing. The web based platform of the PCTech will be aimed at offering better business practice and management. Technologies used in Electronic Commerce This section outlines some of the main technologies that are used in the electronic commerce. In this scenario Power (2005) stated that electronic commerce engages carrying out business activities on the internet such as online banking, online shopping, EDI (electronic data interchange), business to business commerce and a whole group of other stuff that is able to be handled over remote websites automatically without any human intervention. Thus, electronic commerce applications need some sophisticated technologies with effective web based front-ends (Power, 2005). However, it can be an application that is running on our Command Prompt, and communicates with server parts elsewhere, or it can be a usual Windows Application with a graphical user interface (GUI) front-end that can once again communicate to server components elsewhere on a network. Additionally, the web based electronic commerce applications with browser front-ends are acknowledged as Thin-Client applications. Electronic commerce applications that have an Application based on the front-end with the native Windows similar to edit-controls, GUI, list-boxes, buttons etc. are acknowledged as the Fat-Client electronic commerce applications (Jun, 2003; Power, 2005). Jun (2003) stated that developing and implimenting an electronic commerce applications usually engage a lot of interactions and development mechanisms that are distributed all over the network. Additionally, an electronic commerce application can be divided into numerous development and technology based sections or tiers. In addition, these tiers are categorized according to nature of their jobs. However, they are generally categorized into three tiers. The initial tier is about the “presentation services” that is also acknowledged as the user interface tier. The second one is about the business logic and acknowledged as the middleware tier. The last one is about offering the database services and acknowledged as the data source tier (Jun, 2003; Power, 2005). According to Power (2005) rapidly changing demographics, transformations in business technologies, globalization of industries, markets as well as requirements intended for customized products have all united to change awareness on the need to optimize performance of electronic commerce and associated supply chains rather than individual organizations. In addition, corporations are now more and more aware of the fact that the needs of all the stakeholders can be fulfilled through this broader, more strategic technique. Technologies like that bar-coding, electronic data interchange (EDI) and product numbering have been in use for several years, mainly in retail supply chains, like a method of connecting information flows to the physical movement of business products. As such, they stand for technologies that have been developed to help diminish a number of the problems described above, as well as in fact offered a very important link between technology and supply-chain management methodologies (Power, 2005; Jun, 2003). In case of PC-Tech business we will use a combination of technologies to achieve the potential business goals. In addition, these technologies will help PC-Tech business minimize inventory, streamline logistics flows and enhance customer service. Moreover, we will also incorporate an automatic response management system to deal with customers’ requests that will be truly based on PC-Tech trading partners. In this scenario the new technology at the PC-Tech business will help develop affordable, accessible and practical ways through which PC-Tech organization can be able to run business electronically. Risk and security problems in Ecommerce McCrohan (2003) stated that at the present there are a lot of threats associated with online businesses. Additionally, the electronic commerce is threatened by a broad variety of actors comprising criminal hackers, crackers etc. Sometimes there are few flaws in the development of the web based commercial business system. These problems unfortunately produce some critical business problems. In addition, these threats carry on rising because of proliferation of hacker websites, and the lack of serious importance to information security on the main part of business management policy. Moreover, there is need to establish the capability of faith in the technological systems that hold these transactions to workout in a flawless fashion. Aldo, the future of the online and cyber market will rely on large degree on information privacy as well as security. However, by implementing sufficient security parameters we can restrict the unauthorized business network access (McCrohan, 2003; Turban et al., 2005). According to McCrohan (2003) results of a survey on information security shown that 90% of respondents (large size corporations and government agencies) noticed that security breaches within the past few years have increased. These security breaches have caused serious financial losses and theft of business proprietary information. Thus, it is consequently essential for B2B corporations, in particular, to cautiously deal with their information security posture. In the scenario of online business there are various security dangers such as DOS (denial of service) attack, personal or business information theft, business database hacking, cyber terrorist etc. (McCrohan, 2003; Turban et al., 2005). In case of the PC-Tech business we can face a lot of problems regarding the online business security. These problems can be related to online business information hacking and unlawful access to business database. In presence of these business problems we can not effectively manage and run the business. In coming section I will outline some of main business security management techniques. Managing Ecommerce Security McCrohan (2003) outlined that to protect commercial business organizations require tackling their internal and external environments. In addition, externally, this will need not only participating in security solutions intended for integrated information arrangement but also contributing in the community policy arena. Here the main aspect is to initially protect the business from inside security threats. For this organizations need to train, educate, react, detect, restore, repair as well as restrict loss of services inside the business. However, these activities are performed with the internal employees (McCrohan, 2003; Turban et al., 2005). According to McCrohan (2003), to protect from the outside attacks commercial organizations require making sure that they have incorporated the programs as well as exercises that a variety of government agencies accomplish to assess plus get rid of major vulnerabilities to information warfare attack on a nation’s vital information systems. Additionally, this needs collaboration in areas in which both groups appear to be cooperative to minimize security attacks. In this scenario commercial organizations need to play a vital role in the regulatory and legislative process, articulating their concerns to the suitably selecting officials. They as well require recognizing the links that hold up its service providers and their security practices (McCrohan, 2003; Turban et al., 2005). In case of PC-Tech business we need to improve activities and capability of defending against the insider as well as outsider business attacks. In this scenario we need to establish a tight security mechanism by using of network authentication, antivirus systems, illegal security detector, and effective logging system and network firewalls. In this scenario we also need to establish an effective security policy to manage and handle the overall security aspects of the business. In this way the corporation will be able to run and handle the business activities effectively. Conclusions The implementation or adoption of the internet technologies (e-commerce, e-business) has become necessary for almost every kind of corporation (small, medium and large) to survive in ever-increasing competitive world. The basic reason is that the innovation offered by the internet has modernized the businesses and now they have better ways to deal with their customers and carry out business activities. Emergence of the electronic commerce and web based business has offered a lot of business advantages and operational capabilities. 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