Growth of E-Commerce and the Internet - Essay Example

E-Commerce Over the years, the e-Commerce sector has continued to show unprecedented growth. The growth is triggered by the rapid technology adoption developed by increasing application of tablets and smartphones devices, as well as increased access to the internet on broadband and 3G. This is a leading concept in increasing online consumer base. Further, there are favorable demographics as well as growing user base for the internet that has aided the growth concepts. Growth of E-Commerce and the Internet The growth of E-Commerce shows homegrown aspirations and huge investor interests surrounding the companies as displayed with immense market potential (McGaw 821). The rise of e-Commerce behemoths including Alibaba and Amazon has heightened the level of competition. The international players are linked to deep pockets as well as patience of driving the e-Commerce markets. Further, the strong domain in knowledge as well as best practices is fetched from the international experiences that give additional competitive edge. The companies are part of international markets that are perceived as e-Commerce markets while evolving the awareness of the challenges and strategies of addressing underlying issues. The market factors requiring evaluation prior entering new eCommerce businesses include the nature of the organizational vision. E-Commerce companies need an understanding of the intricate elements of emerging markets as well as the internal limitations and capabilities. The factors to be considered include market size. Prior moving aggressively to new markets, it is critical to making a consideration of how sizable overall opportunities are. E-Commerce Readiness involves a fully understanding of logistical and payment infrastructure, technological developments, consumer behavior and retail opportunity (Ratnasingam 191). The scope of growth looks into the internet penetration levels and the demographics surrounding online buying population as well as understanding the development phase of every market. Barriers to entry allow for players to understand regulatory environments while connecting with solution providers, digital agencies, and content distribution networks. Competition settles on the need of doing in-depth assessments for the competitors’ actions, the online strategy, as well as nature of the offering. External forces affect how e-Commerce firms plan the growth strategies while providing seamless customer experience for onsite as well as post transactions. The market and product strategy in the e-Commerce firms should be dependent on issues that pertain to the rapid evolution of product portfolios and customer segments. The elements of accessing information through market intelligence on the size, share and growth allow for management of multiple platforms in customer engagement (Daniel 121). The approach also focuses on the expansion of new geographies, products and brands through a simultaneous tackle of hypercompetitive pricing environments. The management of proliferation and technologies includes handling of time-to-market new applications. Recently, social media is becoming influential as compared to paid marketing. Payments and transactions allow e-commerce companies to encounter face issues regarding privacy and security breach through the control of all fictitious transactions (McGaw 121). Further, system restrictions among prepaid instruments and e-Wallets are impediments. Transactions perspectives present regulatory and cross-border tax issues as backend service tax coupled with withholding taxes that are aligned along serious implications. Fulfillment of the platforms permits companies to check whether physical infrastructure get affected by internet speed. The absence of integrated logistics on end-to-end platforms reduces the innovation-focus on fulfillment options that cause delivery issues. Challenges in reverse logistics management as well as third-party logistics interactions act as growth barriers. Internal challenges impact the manner in which e-Commerce companies organize systems to sustain and drive growth (Botha, Botha and Geldenhuys 82). Organization scaling allows e-Commerce companies to ensure that organizational design is at a pace with the rapid evolution of business strategies together with strong leadership, management development, and fluid governance. In the growth perspective, the identification and acquisition opportunities allow for fund raising as well as IPO readiness as deemed necessary. From technology perspectives, it is critical to transforming the ICT system as one of the innovation hubs while addressing the shortage of synergy between technology, operations and business functions in the enterprise. Regulatory and tax structuring permits companies to address issues relating to sub-optimal planning of warehouse tax and imbalances between norms ad adequate entity controls. Another area to focus on includes inefficient holding, international tax inefficiencies, and entity structures. Globally, countries are quickly developing and adopting new business models in Ecommerce. The assertion is explained based on overall societal tendencies to collaborate and unite in the nature of consumer behavior and engagement of liberal credit card spending. This limits the ancient fear of exposures and risks inherent through E-commerce. The established role is lead within the IT industry and in superior telecommunications infrastructure (Daniel 92). The Internet is a social tool used in conducting business and information, as well as sharing experiences. Countries are becoming highly social and interactive as evidenced by an emphasis on team-oriented collaboration and consumer social interaction within workplaces. Therefore, any primary point of emphasis for Internet services and products design allows for the capability of facilitating interaction. Databases and E-commerce Databases have had instrumental influence on how businesses use e-commerce platforms. The users of databases include various organizational entities and individuals. The users can be categorized in terms of interests and roles in the access and management of databases. The creation of databases shifts the roles to the database administrator for purposes of decision making on nature of data stored within the database as well as access policies for further enforcement. The element also allows access to certain database parts (Ratnasingam 182). Monitoring, as well as tuning performance database, determines the success of an e-commerce transaction. On the extremity of user range, there are end users. The users have minimal access rights while requiring minimal technical database knowledge. For example, database end users of reservation system in the airline industry are sales and travel agents. The users of bank databases of are bank tellers and ATM users. The important categories for database user’s focus on the book consist of application programmers. The roles include working within the established database systems using an array of higher-level and query languages in creating various reports regarding data contained within databases. In other cases, there is a need to write general programs dependent on the transaction data. In major organizations, the efforts are towards creating layers of processing where layers of software concentrate data activities from one branch office. This is followed by an organization of communication between the end-user and the data repository. The engagement leads to multi-tier architecture. Such set data can be scattered in data sources that are databases and file systems (Shaw 83). The constituents have lowest architecture tier where the tier bears close data operations. Highest tier includes users act on user applications and interfaces while obtaining responses to queries. Intermediate tiers are inclusive of middleware as well as the roles of serving as mediators between lowest and highest tiers. The middleware is inclusive of data warehouses, web servers, and are considerably complex. The multi-tier architecture has a virtual requirement for global applications. Online feedback consists of changes in visual and verbal information as presented by users. Simple illustrations include the need to highlight selections devolved by users or filling fields on a users pull down list selection (McGaw 92). The other example includes using cash register sounds in confirming that products are added into electronic shopping carts. The completed orders are quick to acknowledge the variations. The instrumentation is done through the fulfillment or acknowledgment page. The time amount taken in generating and downloading the page is the irritation source for various e-commerce users. Users have a quick response to the meaning of events. The major designing issues in e-commerce database environments include BD98, LS98, CFP99, KM00, and SL99. The database manager handles semi-structured and multimedia data and paper catalog translations into standard unified formats through data cleansing. This supports user interface at the database level such as store layout, navigation, and hyperlinks. The schema evolution involves sold-out products, merging two catalogs, new products and category of products. Data evolution involves changes in description and specification for naming and price lists. Handling of meta-data captures customization and personalization data such as navigation data in its context (Peacock 92). The presentation of the value chain view should be based on e-commerce systems as well as association of data within each value chain stage. Companies discuss e-commerce logical components in database systems and present detailed database schema for e-commerce transaction processing systems. The outcomes inform the discussions about database design considerations that are specific to the e-commerce systems. The conclusions drawn inform comments and modification of future developments and roles of database systems in e-commerce. Business rules and software development approaches are concentrated towards finding facilities and ways that support automatic business change propagation for the business environment within the software systems (Shaw 93). The aspect helps in bridging the gap between technology and business while aligning business operation and information systems. The fundamental problem in e-commerce organizations is establishing a balance between the dynamic aspects of performance. Reaching the goal requires that there is a clear alliance of business rules dealt with special software requirements. All software development lifecycle phases are points of consideration. The aspects are considered within the processes of business rules specification, rules identification rules management, and rules implementation (Botha, Bothma and Geldenhuys 92). Implementation strategies of business rules assume the identification of the place and ways of implementing all business rules. The subsequent organizational discussions address challenges and issues relating to business rules and aim at acting as guidelines in the business rules implementation. More emphasis is attached to the rules governing the database information system model and guidelines addressing possible inconsistencies. Security obstacles for cloud computing can be proactively addressed through industries creating partnerships while driving cloud computing standards (McGaw 92). The increase in interoperability informs suitability of cloud computing alliances while forming introduction of innovative technologies that are designed in capitalized insights as provided in cloud computing. This is a production of enhanced cyber security awareness in all IT stack layers. Information Technology and Consumers Behavior Information technology continues to shape the way in which consumers purchase goods and commodities globally. The growth of consumer-packaged-goods industry in the last quarter century is exhilarating. Consumer-packaged-goods companies have introduced innovative products aimed at meeting the ever-growing differentiation of human desires and needs (Shaw 73). The firms are rapidly expanding into burgeoning consumer markets within developing markets. Making this breakneck growth profitable requires aggressively building of global scales across all value chain parts. The strategies along increased margins and portfolios weighting in fast-growing categories are delivered through stellar shareholder returns. However, the past has set pace for the future. In the coming decade, global consumer upheavals and supply markets have a higher likelihood of producing many losers and winners among e-commerce companies (Daniel 92). For instance, countries from the East are overtaking the West as a major consumer market. This is because of the demand and new value and innovation levels from the e-commerce players. The increase in Internet penetration is upending traditional sales systems and models. Globalized natural-resource and trading shortages are combining with the goal of ushering in new supply chain volatility ages. To begin with, the sectors are relentless on new-product innovation. The American grocery channel has various SKUs that have grown by close to 50 percent in the past decade. Constant innovation together with knack to pass on input-cost increments is allowing the industry boost its margins above significant measures. E-commerce companies are rapidly expanding past the traditional Western bases. The emerging markets are bestowed on the contribution of more global revenue for companies such as Coca-Cola from 2006 (Peacock 722). Further, PepsiCo’s revenue is mostly generated away from the home production plants. Similarly, e-commerce companies are aggressively shaping their portfolios towards increasing proportion of fastest growing and profitable categories through creation of considerable growth momentum. Nestlé’s recent purchases of high-growth food products such pet food (Purina), as frozen pizza (from Kraft), and baby food (Gerber). Making the expansion profitable requires that e-commerce players invest heavily in the building of global scale based on a different value chain parts such as manufacturing, R&D, distribution, marketing and procurement, and sales. The ice-cream business by Unilever is also a salient example. The undertaking has spiraled up the fragmented brands through the “heart” brand. This has established single global ice-cream within the Italy headquarters. The last decade has seen the company consolidate manufacturing plants across the world. The tumultuous years among e-commerce companies have continued to perform through the larger investments in the diversified exposure while facilitating faster-growing and emergence of markets. This is also coupled with longer-term scale and efficiency pursuit (McGaw 81). While technology plays critical roles in growth of consumer goods industry, e-commerce is truly disruptive to support activities. Figuring out the manner in which the new digital world alters major strategic questions involves valuation of successful business on online retail channels. The built categories and brands are socially networked and exploit opportunities that are technology-driven for purposes of understanding consumers deeply and connecting more often. Capturing fair share of the rapidly growing channel has pushed e-commerce companies into raising their game alongside online retailers. The focus includes working in partnership with the retailers in management of the online shelf space. This includes how prominently the products are perceived on Web listings and run jointly targeted campaigns. The outcome is that it expands the online category (Alghamdi 86). The opportunities for selling directly to the consumers alter the manufacturing through consumer-facing industries and success in shifting e-commerce consumers. It allows them conduct transactions and customizes products for branded sites. Ecommerce companies should consider making strategic choices on ways of following suit. The elements challenge piloting own e-commerce sites and management capacities. However, manufacturers should also weigh trade-offs as well as the economics of introducing branded e-commerce sites against a favorable outcome. The companies that decide to refrain from launching the Web stores, there are online retail platforms that offer direct consumer access such as Alice.com and Amazon.com. For instance, individual patterns of usage are analyzed towards finer levels of detail while supporting various business purposes enhanced by counterintelligence audit and customer experience. Accessing more performance data from the array of devices connecting to the cloud allow for deep analytics in refinement of load balancing and supporting decisions on cache data and best support for end-users (Botha, Botha and Geldenhuys 72). The drive involves efficient cloud resources usage with an improved understanding of the available capacities and real-time performance data. Lastly, customers of cloud require robust collection for metrics in the provision of dashboard views of specific resource consumption while allowing people to pay for what they use. Business To Business and Consumer To Consumer E-Commerce Business-to-business is one of the e-commerce transaction models between businesses. This includes between manufacturers and wholesalers as well as between a retailer and a wholesaler. The contrasting terms include business-to-consumer and business-to-government. The scope of B2B branding as term used in marketing is the introduction of e-commerce detailing. The IT structure design is defined with reference to the process centralization degree and network capabilities that form centralized computing and decentralized computing such as isolated IT structures in different divisions. The alternative is the central processor that maintains control over processes such as hub-and-spoke computing and distributed computing with a direct interaction of the central processor (Manzoor 82). Cooperative Computing uses a client-server structure of computing. Systems are separable through countries or divisions, even though, client-server solutions have a wide application within the efforts requiring tuning and architecting. Research shows that IT structure optimization depends on transaction costs for the processes that are undertaken through electronic support from IT levels. Particularly, decisions relating to the centralization degree within IT structures for geographical units and product divisions use component-based structures depending on levels and structures of costs for transactions electronically mediated. For instance, decentralization continues to increase as communication along multitudes of operating systems is constrained (Ratnasingam 91). The transaction cost theory framework shows that brands are considered as a way of reducing transaction costs for both companies and customers. Efficient branding architecture and management includes distribution of the transaction costs across the firm and customers in ways that minimize overall transaction costs. The transaction costs that are customer-based are inclusive of ex-ante information costs for search and thinking with respect to dividing image-related and product-related components. The ex-post costs are attributed to operations risks such as the risks of the firm availing poor quality. The opportunistic behavior risks are extensive parts of the firm in developing the customer’s need to bound complex services. Transaction costs for companies comprise external transaction brand communication costs while maintaining and building B2B brand awareness and image. The costs involved in availing detailed product information conclude that contracts and settling the transactions costs of operation opportunism and failure for the consumer. The firm’s transaction costs are inclusive of internal transaction costs for coordinated brand positioning on the products, target markets, and target groups. The areas are exempted in company fellowship and strategy of mixed branding coupled with costs involved in coordinating brands in the portfolio of prospective brands. Transaction-cost perspectives allow the effects to exert influence on organizational structure while the existing structures fit internal transaction levels and structures of costs prior introduction of e-commerce. Research shows that realization of such potential reductions in transaction costs is one of the sphere influences of IT structure requiring the entire organizational structure’s reorganization (Daniel 251). The processes in which electronic mediation is presented need re-engineering. Falling the variables of internal transaction costs have a beneficial approach to organizational structures with association to high transaction costs such as functional and cooperative structures as compared to the organizational structures. The elements of the internal transactions have low separation of product divisions and geographic units. On the other hand, C2C e-commerce foster emergence of organizational structure focusing on customer relationships (McGaw 82). This transcends borders of country groups or product groups. Higher fixed costs among internal transactions alter optimal organizational structure without benefiting from existing economies of scale. The requirement is that the internal cooperation mechanisms and hierarchical coordination is developed among the organizational divisions. C2C e-commerce faces radical changes on the structures and levels of the external transaction costs in a company arising from customer interactions. Even though the Internet influence on sustaining and building brand awareness and image is a controversial discussion, it is a communication channel making information searches faster and easier (Alghamdi 87). This reduces the costs of the company in providing customers with sufficient product advice and information. It makes it possible to make replacements on a face-to-face basis for all information collected from the qualified sales personnel while self-service information is availed on the Internet. In turn, this reduces the fixed external transaction cost on each brand along sales staff and the bricks-and-mortar outlets. The system varies for external transaction costs for each customer. The cost reduction approach may benefit brand architecture through higher brand separation numbers because the branding strategy type is inherently sensitive to levels of various external transaction costs (Peacock 821). Limited empirical research within the consumer area for non-durables, as well as arguments, seems in favor of stronger brand architecture integration. The ICT managers should make predictions on the direction that changes of B2C e-commerce can trigger brand architecture while enhancing relative impacts to effects as discussed within the weight consumers attached to factors and ease of information trust, gathering, or price. Therefore, organizations confine their market survey to prediction of influence that C2C e-commerce models exert on the degree of brand architecture change. Cloud Computing and Network Security Metrics Security is a critical obstacle to cloud computing adoption for most federal agencies and businesses. Public cloud solutions have been perceived as vulnerable options in the security realm (Manzoor 42). This leaves more federal customers seeking private alternatives in overcoming security challenges. The deployment model that is selected along the public, private, hybrid, or community conquers the security concerns through requirements for cloud computing and need to achieve full potential for subsequent IT architecture generations. Trends within the cloud computing aspect demonstrate architecture of maturity while offering distinct advantages in cyber security defense. Lessons acquired are emerging along the areas of focus as described through collaboration, workforce enrichment, and visibility. Cloud computing access to services in traditional classified environments as well as in modern environments allows for the provision of numerous opportunities for gaining visibility and retrieving security data points on the platforms, applications, and infrastructure. Collection of pulse points within high-speed networks is used in connecting certain clouds with insight to threats that breach the infrastructure perimeter. Global location and remote devices access are detected based on alternative data points that trigger requirements for increased security authorization and access controls even as they provide real-time security status knowledge for end-user devices. The consistent applications and platforms monitoring offer more data collection points in the discovery of vulnerabilities among applications that are used in infiltrating existing infrastructure. Moreover, the merger between metrics and measures in co-located environments and other cloud locations allow the global enterprise to add other layers of data into the collection (Botha, Bothma and Geldenhuys 142). Establishment of robust network and administrative management consoles takes the design of collating the numerous metrics and measures resulting higher levels of security and insight to the previously achieved cloud computing systems. Data points within routers, load balancers, end-user devices, applications, storage networks, firewalls, and switches together with terrestrial, wireless access, and satellite methods permit absolute security knowledge on an end-to-end basis. This identifies, isolates, and eradicates breaches in the event of preserving mission and minimizing the impact. New forms of IT service and cyber security management products have emerged for purposes of providing real-time and deep insight for metrics gathered within cloud computing infrastructure (Ratnasingam 82). The element of visibility provides new analysis and exploitation of products that have significant enhancement and prevention of cyber intrusions. The utilities of migrating applications to a given cloud provide alternative forms of visibility in terms of application baseline and security management. The migration practices recommend complete application analysis and inventory. Visibility acquired from the inventory is used in streamlining legacy applications, accelerating implementation common services while confirming organization’s compliance with existing continuity (Peacock 92). The focus is also based on legal reporting requirements and disaster recovery. Migration processes in the structured virtualization approach involve code baseline inspections that are used in identifying assurance vulnerabilities from legacy applications (Manzoor 86). The use of disciplined approaches in the implementation of cloud computing makes an optimized application baseline through the improvement of overall security posture. More benefits acquired from the ability of the cloud in supporting robust metrics collection is analyzing and parsing of data for alternative purposes. Cloud computing promotes new partnerships between governments and industry to achieve enhanced national interests protection. Knowledge acquired through the improved visibility status is rapidly shared across stakeholders to widen the scope of overall security protection. The quick identification process of potential breaches through government and industry allow for faster communication as well as broader information dissemination on attack, exploitation, or infiltration efforts. Wide application of information sharing appreciably improves the depth and speed of the defensive responses while enabling broad spectrum protection for unclassified and classified information (Daniel 98). Current levels of computing architectures limit visibility as well as sharing capacity between industry and government that results in the delayed reactions for breaches. The unfortunate events have extensive cyber security incidents occur within government and industry while more data collection from clouds is used in advancing government-industry agenda. Inspection of massive information amounts is stored and availed through accelerated understanding of events within the consequences and the proper response (Botha, Bothma and Geldenhuys 82). The stakeholder partnerships encourage validation and comparison of operating assumptions with regards to cyber security breach intrusions and attempts. Therefore, this enhances progress to the advanced defensive implementations. The gains of most public-private partnerships go past improved visibility availed. Collaboration of stakeholders within the industry translates into greater influence for compliance and regulatory requirements. The overwhelming scope of the establishment allows for non-cloud computing progress. Working in togetherness allows private and public organizations to drive policies in ideal directions while promoting future mission and business needs. This offers a safeguard to information and infrastructures (Alghamdi 87). Additionally, such partnerships identify technical limitations within current capabilities of cloud computing irrespective of performance, security, or utility while driving improvements in architectures and products as well as overcoming possible limitations. Conclusion Digital and customer experiences allow companies to avail rich, simple and fresh customer experiences that are not geared towards the discovery and management of inconsistent brand experience of the platforms. The Ecommerce society ascertains the nature abound online communities of Yahoo, Geocities, and Excite while focusing on shared information and experiences, social buying forums of Amazon.com. The data plethora availed through sensors as presented above produces overwhelming information landscape that should have a quick analysis and isolation to avail real-time responses for all IT teams. The merging of IT and IS disciplines together with implementation and development of informal and formal training programs has a quick increment of IS skill sets among IT professionals with absolute relevance in the future. All academic programs are shaped in line with creating a blended workforce. References Alghamdi, Abdulhadi. The Law of E-Commerce: E-Contracts, E-Business. New York: AuthorHouse, 2011. Print Botha, J. C., Bothma, H. and Geldenhuys, Pieter. Managing E-commerce in Business. New York: Juta and Company Ltd, 2008. Print Daniel, Ian. E-commerce Get It Right!: Essential Step-by-Step Guide for Selling and Marketing Products Online. Insider Secrets, Key Strategies and Practical Tips - Simplified for Start-Ups and Small Businesses. New York: NeuroDigital, 2011. Print Manzoor, Amir. E-Commerce: An Introduction. New York: Amir Manzoor, 2010. Print McGaw, James. Beginning Django E-Commerce. New York: Apress, 2009. Print Peacock, Michael. PHP 5 E-commerce Development. New York: Packt Publishing Ltd, 2010. Print Ratnasingam, Pauline. Inter-organizational Trust for Business to Business E-commerce. New York: Idea Group Inc (IGI), 2003. Print Shaw, Michael. E-commerce and the Digital Economy. New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2006. Print Zappalà, Salvatore., and Gray, Colin. Impact of e-Commerce on Consumers and Small Firms. New York: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2012. Print Stephen Errol Blythe E-Commerce Law Around the World: A Concise Handbook. New York: Xlibris Corporation, 2011. Print Zheng Qin Introduction to E-commerce. New York: Springer Science & Business Media, 2010. Print Read More