E Commerce and its Usability - Essay Example

Running Head: E-commerce E-commerce [Institute’s E-commerce Essay An operation that has to be carried out needs a feasibility report in the beginning so that clear directions and objectives are well defined that could greatly direct the operation not only towards success but also towards achieving the desired results. A good standard of usability is the key to success for any business especially for the business where users are directly interacting with any computerized or machine automated system. According to the research conducted by Nielsen on E-commerce and its usability, around 90% of the end users of E-commerce technology prefer that the system they operate for their transactions is easy to use and remains user friendly (Raisinghani, pp. 69-74, 2000). In fact, when discussed about web based e-business system, the same concept of usability is highly considered. All e-business systems rely solely on technology and the more users friendly they turn out to be, the more people are certainly going to interact with such technological systems giving a sound positive feedback to the business. In terms of improvements in such e-business systems, constant individual surveys must be conducted to gather response/feedback of the end users so that the collected data could be analyzed for improvements and betterment (Fingar et al, pp. 39-44, 2000). The other step for improvements in usability of such e-business systems is to establish and come up with a research and development team that could analyze the pro’s and con’s of such system and come up with new and innovative ways that could help the business transform its e-business systems into more user friendly mode. Essay 2: Long ago when the technological advancements had not yet stepped into existence and reality, individual scientists and scholars used to come up with variety of their thoughts that did make a lot of sense. However, due to lack of technology, those thoughts and quality plans remained unexecuted but since the technology gained rapid boom, those ideas were soon brought into implementation and execution (Khosrowpour, pp. 51-57, 2004). Mowshowitz is considered one of those highly intellectual scholar who long ago came up with the thought that a virtual organization would once be the ideal form of an organization and after many years, this idea of Mowshowitz is now not only considered as a most successful idea but is widely being implemented all over the world. Businesses today have started going virtual with no physical offices or premises to carry out their business activities but instead have strongly implemented the idea of going virtual that has greatly reduced the cost of the business and brought more efficiency and profitability for the businesses. A company like Dell is the best example that has followed Mowshowitz proposal of going virtual (Raisinghani, pp. 19-22, 2000). Dell computers does not have any outlet where its laptops and PC’s are being sold but all of its orders are placed over the internet and delivered on the doorsteps of the customers. This clearly explains that organizations no matter small or big have applied the concept of Mowshowitz in becoming virtual organizations. This concept has not only become reality but it is now being desired by the businesses all over the world to maximize their profits and reduce their expenses. Essay 3: The concept of E-business is unique and carries utmost potential for the entrepreneurs interested in carrying out their business over the internet and other computer-automated channels. Unfortunately, the concept of conducting and operating e-business has not yet received wide acceptance from the governments of various countries and the plot/outlines of operating online or e-business remains like a barren land where little or no body is willing to pay attention. It is only in advanced nations of United States, Great Britain and other European nations where the use of internet has been maximized and the concept of e-business has greatly flourished (Schneider, pp. 41-47, 2008). Other developing countries and their governments have come up with endorsements and further plans to launch e-business to observe the response and later on implement the concept on the wider scale. When the concept of promoting E-business is discussed, the initiatives of the governments of different nations with regards to developing e-businesses around their countries has not much received success and their policies have not been succeeded as expected due to various reasons such as lack of interest in conducting e-business and lack of finance to establish e-business. In general, the governments of various nations must draft lenient policies that can assist the individuals in setting up e-businesses (Fingar et al, pp. 39-44, 2000). The governments should be find solutions for those entrepreneurs facing difficulty in setting up e-businesses and assist them with finance and other necessities that can lend help in establishing an e-business. Essay 4: Every system, brought into implementation has its strengths as well as its weaknesses. Strengths are more likely to attract large number of individuals towards that system where as weaknesses and flaws are more likely to drift away the individuals and users of that system resulting in spreading negative word of mouth to the other individuals. Similarly, e-business not only has its strong points to attract the customers towards the business but it consists of various flaws and loopholes that can leave an adverse image of the business towards the potential users. Among those flaws identified by individuals in E-business, lack of security is mainly on top and the most highly concerned area for the individuals willing to indulge and involve in e-business. Yes, it is true that e-businesses when started to emerge into the markets were not as safe as they are today (Greenstein & Vasarhelyi, pp. 19-25, 2002). Hackers and other intruders in the past had been involved in money and credit card thefts over the internet but as with the passage of time this concept of e-business flourished, the e-space for doing e-business became more and more secure. It is said that the e-businesses have come up with a secure environment on their sites where such thefts cannot take place at all. Today, internet users still perceive E-business as one of the most insecure area where the business activity can take place. In order to change this perception of the people, more safety measures should be taken place to ensure e-environments remains secure and safe for the business and its customers. Essay 5: E-commerce and e-business not only sums up the argument that electronic business are just limited to ebay.com and amazon.com but e-business has even much longer roots that are even inter related to mobile banking and mobile payment. With the use of internet and mobile technologies, today customers can operate their personal bank accounts through the help of their hand phones and can make payments and transfer funds from one account to another by using their hand phones. This means that customers no longer need to travel to the bank to carry out such transactions. In many countries, the use of mobile banking and mobile payment has been allowed to only those individuals that have the financial ability and capacity to involve in such actions and activities (Schneider, pp. 23-25, 2008). However, due to restrictions in this field, the poor people of the nation are not allowed to engage in mobile banking and mobile payment probably for the fact to increase the security level and reduce the chances of frauds or money theft. With countries tightening the banking regulations, the impact can directly be seen on mobile banking as only limited number of individuals can actually use and avail the facility. With only few people left to bring into use such mobile banking system there are even chances of such systems to be winded up due to the reason of more chances of frauds and less involvement of individuals in the m-banking system. Essay 6: Online communities and online forums have been two specific platforms where online users can come and leave their comments on any specific topic or field so that other online users not only view their comments but also leave their comments. Due to this, a chain of responses is set up which can be used by other viewers to increase their knowledge on any specific aspect that is normally being discussed on the forums. Normally, forum discussions are based on new and hot topics that can be pretty helpful and handy for online users with various regards (Elliot, pp. 66-70, 2002). Today, social networking sites like facebook.com, twitter, orkut, friendsters, and many others are increasing awareness of e-business. Such social networking sites not only turn out to be a place where certain members can come up and discuss on a specific topic but such social networking sites are capable of spreading video’s that can simply give a massive boom to e-business. For instance, Telenor a telecommunication company from Norway just launched an e-business system model in which the subscriber of Telenor can easily transfer airtime from one handset to another and can be able to pay the utility bills through the Telenor mobile service (Khosrowpour, pp. 51-57, 2004). This message was sent viral on such social networking sites making it so common all over the country. This clearly shows that such social networking sites can have a massive impact in promoting e business in best possible manner. Essay 7: E-commerce and E-business have numerous benefits that are known to a very percentage of people around the world and those who have a clear picture of E-business are well aware of the fact that e-business not only increases efficiency but greatly reduces the operating cost driving the business towards more profitability (Greenstein & Vasarhelyi, pp. 11-13, 2002). If a deeper look is given to e-business, many businesses in the past have practically adopted this approach and have been successful. Ebay.com is the pioneer of e-business that started its business operations as a B2C business. With no physical operations being performed at any of the premises, the business is solely based on a website where customers and potential prospects come and bid for the goods they want to either purchase or post their items if they are willing to sell their goods. Such approach of doing business has been very successful and fruitful and its idea can be taken from the fact that today ebay.com has one of the highest number of visitors visiting its site 24/7 and due to this ebay.com has earned the Google page rank #8 within few years since it started off its business. Amazon.com is another e-business with no physical shop or premises and it operates well enough by selling books online and delivering them on time to its customers all over the world (Becker, pp. 10-14, 2007). To conclude, it is pretty much a fact that e-businesses have gained popularity and with no involvement with buyers and suppliers gives e-businesses a strong edge over other businesses that physically exist. Essay 8: It is without any doubt that technological advancements keeps on taking place from time to time and once individuals are done with using one type of technology for some time, they intend to have something new to use so that can bring innovation and creativity in their lifestyle. E-businesses that were not at all famous or being known by any person in the past but with the passage of time and with technological advancements, the concept of e-business began to shape up and yet came into implementation stage (Awad, pp. 73-75, 2002). The future of e-business and all other electronically mode of businesses will be unique and more user friendly making it widely being used by every single individual of the society. In the present times, blogs and wiki’s are truly the modes that are being used to promote e-business all over the world but in future there are likely to be better technology to spread the concept and usefulness of e-business. With these present technologies being rapidly used in future, the prospect of e-business in the future will be stronger and plenty of people who would start opting for e-business would surely know its awareness and worth rather than doing business that is carried out physically on premises (Applegate & Gogan, pp. 20-29, 1995). With technology spreading and prospering more and more from time to time, the concept of e-business will definitely receive more recognition and demand all over the world. References Applegate, L., and Gogan, J. (1995). Electronic Commerce: Opportunities and Trends. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing. Awad, E. M. (2002). Electronic Commerce. New Delhi: Prentice Hall. Becker, Annie. (2007). Electronic Commerce: concepts, methodologies, tools, and applications. Idea Group. Elliot, Steve. (2002). Electronic Commerce: B2C strategies and models. John Wiley & Sons. Fingar, P., Kumar, H and Sharma, T. (2000). Enterprise E-Commerce. Florida: Meghan-Kiffer Press. Greenstein, M., & Vasarhelyi, M. (2002). Electronic commerce: Security, Risk Management, and Control. New York: McGraw-Hill. Khosrowpour, Mehdi. (2004). Innovations through Information Technology. Boston: Idea Group. Raisinghani, Mahesh S. (2000). Electronic Commerce. Idea Group. Schneider, Gary. (2008). Electronic Commerce. Cengage Learning. Read More