An online hotel booking / reservation system - Essay Example

Guthery (1996) saw the Internet advantage across corporations as “a matter of opening up previously nonexistent information flows as it is of moving existing flows to a new medium” (p. 164). Thus, it is the new connections established by virtue of the new medium, and not the complexity of using the technology which defined the very essence of the advantage of the Internet for industry. Similarly, but on a larger scale, Malhotra (1997) recognized the role of technology as something which “cannot be underestimated, be it synthesizing operations, control of direct or indirect costs, improvement of productivity, provision of better quality or achieving better efficiency and control on the whole” (p. 287).  The power of the Internet as a tool of advertising and promotion may be gauged from the exponential growth of the number of people using it everyday.

Holden (2010) quantified global Internet usage to have exceeded the one billion mark in early 2009. As of the middle of the year, Holden’s source indicated that there are already 1,966,514,816 or roughly double last year’s figures (Internet World Stats, 2010). Based on the aforementioned figures, Holden (2010) implied that “We have long since reached the critical mass where most people are using the Internet regularly for everyday shopping and other financial activities. The Internet is already becoming a powerhouse for small businesses” .

 In the same vein, Kolb (2006) maintained that websites function for a variety of purposes both for business and non-profit organizations.