Role Of E-Business In The New Economy
Role Of E-Business In The New Economy
In context of the electronic revolution taking place in our economy we must recognize these changes take place in a larger economic context. Global competition, interest rates, laws and regulations, social concerns, industry traditions, consumer preferences etc., are all part of environment affecting business activities. Besides, electronic and non electronic businesses share available economic resources including natural resources, equipment, telecommunication employees’ skills etc. E-business, globalization and internet are interdependent. The more global players exist, the more business they want to do which will attract more people to get direct internet access. There are many categories of e-business such as e-commerce, e-marketing, e-mailing, e-auction, and e-supply and so on. The integration of these categories through internet enhances existing business or to create new virtual business.
E- business commonly referred to as “e-Business” or “e-business enable companies to link their internal and external data processing systems more efficiently and flexibly, to work more closely with suppliers and partners, and to better satisfy the needs and expectations of their customers.
In practice, e-business is more than just e-commerce. While e-business refers to more strategic focus with an emphasis on the functions using electronic capabilities, e-commerce is a subset of an overall e-business strategy. E-business involves business processes spanning the entire value chain: electronic purchasing and supply chain management, processing orders electronically, handling customer service, and cooperating with business partners. E-business can be conducted using the Web, the Internet, intranets, extranets, or some combination of these.
Benefits of e-Business
ü Expand Market Coverage E-Business eliminates these limitations of geography and time zones. The whole world is the available market, 24 hours a day,7 days a week, 365 days in a year. Worldwide business professionals, buyers, and decision-makers have access to the Internet, spanning all time zones. The buyer conducts business “where” and “when” they want to without traditional limitations. So, with e-Business a firm creates a global, “365x24x7″ availability to its customers.
The firms can offer complimentary and supplementary products, and add-on promotions as buyers make selections. This leads to a larger volume of ordering, creating a higher revenue stream at a marginally low cost per transaction. It makes previously uneconomical markets attractive. This increases the size of the available market by turning marginal segments into profitable ones. This ability to turn frogs into princes is powered by e-Business’s low variable costs for addressing marginal segments. The power of the add-on products can also be sold into these previously unprofitable segments, turning them into substantially profitable ones.
ü Reduce Costs The major cost-reduction benefit is the promise of changing the distribution of products and services to customers. Products requiring little or no experience in the buying cycle can be purchased by the customer on the Internet and delivered directly without intermediaries. The elimination of various layers of distribution is the major cost reduction benefit to the market.
The National Association of Purchasing Management outlines the following benefits:
Reduction in process variations
Reductions in costs and errors
Vendor sourcing strategy support
Improvements in process capability
Procurement paradigm shift from passive to acti
Elimination of unwanted paper trail
Improved access to information
Reduction in costs and cycle times
ü Strengthen Customer Relationships
The purpose of a business is to find and keep customers. E-Business has the ability to deliver benefits that can address both aspects of this statement, by delivering better purchase experiences to the buyer. Buyers are migrating to Internet buying in situations when it’s faster, better, and cheaper than traditional methods.
Faster e-Business assures faster delivery of products and services by speeding up order fulfillment, and delivering into just-in-time upstream processes, particularly in Business-to-Business environments.
Better Paper and client-server based systems with their “version control” limitations created problems that set limits to their efficiency. The “write-once, read-many” environment of e-Business assures that internal and external audiences see and work with the same up-to-date, accurate data. Additionally, where little customer-vendor interaction is required, e-Business creates an opportunity for virtual self-service counters.
Cheaper The Internet turns every vendor into an equal in a competitive bid. The customer now has more choice in suppliers. The customer has more alternate vendors, and lower prices are anticipated in all e-Business driven markets.
E-commerce is the process of buying, transferring, or exchanging products, services, and/or information via computer networks, including the internet, seeks to add revenue streams, build and enhance relationships with clients and partners and to improve efficiency. E- Commerce that is conducted between businesses is referred to as business-to-business or B2B. B2B can be open to all interested parties (e.g. commodity exchange) or limited to specific, pre-qualified participants (private electronic market). Electronic commerce that is conducted between businesses and consumers, on the other hand, is referred to as business-to-consumer or B2C. This is the type of e- commerce conducted by companies such as Amazon.com. E- Commerce is generally considered to be the sales aspect of e-business. It also consists of the exchange of data to facilitate the financing and payment aspects of the business transactions.
E- mail is a method of exchanging digital messages. E-mail systems are based on a store-and-forward model in which e-mail computer server systems accept, forward, deliver and store messages on behalf of users, who only need to connect to the e-mail infrastructure, typically an e-mail server, with a network-enabled device for the duration of message submission or retrieval. Email advertising becoming widely used as a means of distributing advertising messages to people on internet. Email advertising is being tied to the use of promotions and gimmicks. The main advantage of email advertising is that it is cheap to implement and can include feedback facility.
E-mailing Postal services and telecommunications companies are losing market share to the electronic communication, especially, e-mail. It combines the strength of a phone call is its immediacy and th3e letter has the advantage that everything is in written form. The internet enables instant communication in written form, either by e-mail or on line chat. More and more businesses are talking digitally to each other. Other than a phone call, e-mails can contain more than just a text. It is possible to attach files like formatted documents, presentation, images or sound. Information can be shared much more easily-mail does also change the way to people communicate. Instead of writing down every aspect in a single letter; thoughts may be spread over multiple e-mails.
E-procurement The registered users look for buyers or sellers of goods and services. They may specify costs or invite bids. Transactions can be initiated and completed. Ongoing purchases may qualify customers for volume discounts or special offers. E-procurement software may make it possible to automate some buying and selling. Companies can control inventories more effectively, reduce purchasing agent overhead, and improve manufacturing cycles.
There are seven main types of e-procurement
ü Web-based ERP Creating and approving purchasing requisitions, placing purchase orders and receiving goods and services by using a software system based on Internet.
ü E-MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) same as web-based ERP except that the goods and services ordered are non-product related MRO supplies.
ü E-sourcing Identifying new suppliers for a specific category of purchasing requirements using Internet.
ü E-tendering Sending requests for information and prices to suppliers and receiving the responses of suppliers through Internet.
ü E-reverse auctioning Using Internet to buy goods and services from a number of known or unknown suppliers.
ü E-informing Collection and distribution of purchase information both from and to internal and external parties.
ü E-market sites buying communities can access preferred suppliers’ products and services, add to shopping carts, create requisition, and seek approval, receipt purchase orders and process electronic invoices with integration to suppliers’ supply chains and buyers’ financial systems.
The e-procurement value chain consists of Indent Management, e-Tendering, e-Auctioning, Vendor Management, Catalogue Management, and Contract Management. Elements of e-procurement include Request For Information, Request For Proposal, Request For Quotation, RFx (the previous three together), and eRFx (software for managing RFx projects).
E-shopping is the process of purchasing products or services over the Internet. An online shop, e-shop, e-store, internet shop, web shop, web store, online store, or virtual store evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a bricks-and-mortar retailer or in a shopping mall. The metaphor of an online catalogue is also used, by analogy with mail order catalogues. All types of stores have retail web sites, including those that do and do not also have physical storefronts and paper catalogues. Online shopping is a type of electronic commerce used for business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions
E-auction is a type of auction in which the roles of buyers and sellers are reversed. In an ordinary auction which is also known as a forward auction, buyers compete to obtain a good or service, and the price typically increases over time. In a reverse auction, sellers compete to obtain business, and prices typically decrease over time. A buyer contracts with a market maker to help make the necessary preparations to conduct the reverse auction. This includes: finding new suppliers, training new and incumbent suppliers, organizing the auction, managing the auction event, and providing auction data to buyers to facilitate decision making. Reverse auction is a strategy used by many purchasing and supply management organizations for spend management, as part of strategic sourcing and overall supply management activities.
The prices that buyers obtain in the reverse auction reflect the narrow market which it created at the moment in time when the auction is held. Thus, it is possible that better value – i.e. lower prices, as well as better quality, delivery performance, technical capabilities, etc. – could be obtained from suppliers not engaged in the bidding or by other means such as collaborative cost management and joint process improvement.
The buyer may award contracts to the supplier who bid the lowest price. Or, a buyer could award contracts to suppliers who bid higher prices depending upon the buyer’s specific needs with regards to quality, lead-time, capacity, or other value-adding capabilities.
Reverse auctions are used to fill both large and small value contracts for public and private commercial organizations. Buyers, sellers, and market makers should adhere to auction rules and industry codes of conduct for the use of reverse auctions, if they exist. Problems arise when one or more parties fail to conform to auction rules. Buyers should not assume that reverse auctions will, in every case, deliver savings – either on a unit price or total cost basis. Reverse auction savings can range from negative to neutral to positive savings.
E-auctioning benefits include
Helps to reduce prices up to 35%
Shorten the negotiation process
Comprehensive dynamic pricing engine
Multi attribute multiproduct, multi language and multicurrency
Several auction timing models to fit our needs on an auction basis
Full support of total cost of ownership calculations
Free training support tools
Customizable to suit our company image
E-banking means any user with a personal computer and a browser can get connected to his bank -s website to perform any of the virtual banking functions. All the services that the bank has permitted on the internet are displayed in menu. Any service can be selected and further interaction is dictated by the nature of service. Once the branch offices of bank are interconnected through terrestrial or satellite links, there would be no physical identity for any branch. It would a borderless entity permitting anytime, anywhere and anyhow banking. The network which connects the various locations and gives connectivity to the central office within the organization is called intranet. E-banking facilities include
Access accounts round the clock, even on weekends
See balances online and find out clearance of cheque deposit
Transfer funds between accounts
Download information directly into personal finance software
Receive or pay bills online
The Reserve Bank of India constituted a working group on Internet Banking. The group divided the internet banking products in India into 3 types based on the levels of access granted. They are:
ü Information Only System General Purpose information like interest rates, branch location, bank products and their features, loan and deposit calculations are provided in the banks website. There exist facilities for downloading various types of application forms. There is no interaction between the customer and bank’s application system. No identification of the customer is done. In this system, there is no possibility of any unauthorized person getting into production systems of the bank through internet.
ü Electronic Information Transfer System The system provides customer- specific information in the form of account balances, transaction details, and statement of accounts. The information is still largely of the ‘read only’ format. Identification and authentication of the customer is through password. The application systems cannot directly access through the internet.
ü Fully Electronic Transactional System This system allows bi-directional capabilities. Transactions can be submitted by the customer for online update. This system requires high degree of security and control. It comprises technology covering computerization, networking and security, inter-bank payment gateway and legal infrastructure.
Automated Teller Machine (ATM) It is operated by plastic card with its special features. The plastic card is replacing cheque, personal attendance of the customer, banking hour’s restrictions and paper based verification. ATMs used as spring board for Electronic Fund Transfer. It can provide information about customers account and also receive instructions from customers .It is capable of handling cash deposits, transfer between accounts, balance enquiries, cash withdrawals and pay bills. It may be on-line or 0ff-line.
Credit Cards/Debit Cards The Credit Card holder is empowered to spend wherever and whenever he wants with his Credit Card within the limits fixed by his bank. Credit Card is a post paid card. Debit Card, on the other hand, is a prepaid card with some stored value. Every time a person uses this card, the Internet Banking house gets money transferred to its account from the bank of the buyer. The buyers account is debited with the exact amount of purchases. The customer can never overspend because the system rejects any transaction which exceeds the balance in his account. The bank never faces a default because the amount spent is debited immediately from the customers’ account.
Smart Card Banks are adding chips to their current magnetic stripe cards to enhance security and offer new service, called Smart Cards. Smart Cards allow thousands of times of information storable on magnetic stripe cards. In addition, these cards are highly secure, more reliable and perform multiple functions. They hold a large amount of personal information, from medical and health history to personal banking and personal preferences.
E-stock trading Companies such as e-trade, datek.online allow us to trade stocks, bonds, mutual funds etc .on the internet. These companies offer to trade at a small cost compared to discount brokers. The steps involved are-place a request to trade-the system responds with current prices on the web-confirm trade or cancel.
The benefits of such trading are
-Reduced cost
-Convenience of trading from anywhere
-Access to variety of information in different sites
E-employment Several kinds of services are provided here
-sites give advice on developing our resumes and to post our resumes on the web
-recruiters use website to post available jobs
-match making facilities for jobs and jobseekers based on a specifications
-use of agents to do the search
E-retailing offers the following benefits
-Provision of online catalogue to browse different categories of goods
-Provision of search engine
-Provision of shopping cart
-Personalization of store layouts deals, promotions
-Distribute digital goods directly
-Online salesperson to help customers to navigate through the site
-An order status checking facility
A mechanism for creating and submitting order
Secure e-payment facility for purchases
Decide suitable distribution mechanism
E-stores and e-malls sell a large number of product lines rather than very few. In an e-mall, cyberspace is rented out to cyber e-stores that wish to sell their goods. Several product lines can be present in a single e-mall in an e-mall; each store is under its own management. Mall management is responsible only for creating the cyber sites that- can be rented and can support services and marketing of the mall. It provides webhosting services. They also provide software tools, which can be utilised by a prospective e-store-to create and maintain its e-store. The advantage is that it is grouped together with other stores in a well known e-mall site.
E-brokers Brokers provide comparison shopping, ordertaking and fulfillment and services to a customer. The models of e-brokers include
-Provide registration service
-Directory search facilities-payment facilities
-Ascertain requirement such as price
-Provide comparison -shopping between products.
E-CRM solutions can be deployed and managed to provide increased revenues and reduced costs. E-CRM goals can be achieved with internet business strategies, web based CR M specification development, web system design and project management electronic publishing and interactive interface.
They are valuable to companies face the following circumstances
-Business is driven by mission-critical customer service requirements
-Current costs for crm run high
-Large volume of information is distributed
-A complete customer care solution is required
E-directories Telephone directories with white pages for private telephone numbers and the yellow pages for the businesses is essential to locate a person of business. Now the telephone companies allowed people to call in and ask for information. The data base is located in a single place providing a centralized functionality, offering to anyone at anytime, thus making a decentralized solution. The internet facilitates replication of phone directories without hassles. The internet makes the retrieval easier as well as more difficult.
E-engineering has also changed dramatically in the recent years.Internet changed the speed of the design. It enabled electronic collaboration to much a higher degree than n before. The location of the engineer s has become easier. The internet changed the speed of the design. It enabled electronic collaboration to a much higher degree than was possible ever before. The location of the engineers does not play a role anymore. Everyone with an internet connection is able to take part in the development. New tools concurrent development has been developed to support the possibilities of the internet. Through the internet has also become possible to develop continuous engineer ring by letting engineers participate from all overt the world. Open source development is done that way very efficiently. Anybody is able to take part and can donate a piece of code whenever there has been some time to programme it. This will vary for every person involved.
E-franchising The re-sellers are called franchising partners. By offering a set of products and brands the franchising company guarantees a certain success for the retailer as people tend to like buying these products, as the brands are well known. The advantage of the franchising companies is that they do not need to invest in shop personnel, for example, the franchising g partners is responsible or the employees and financial success of the single outlet. Electronic franchising works very similarly. It has become much easier on the internet. Moving digital products, processes and brands is extremely easy. The affiliation programmes of the large book sellers on the internet have their own store. But they allow franchising partners to exclusively distribute their products on the partner’s websites. The advantage of this system is that there is no distribution costs involved. It is possible to link to the original products without letting the customers know.
E-gambling Although there is a moral issue about gambling, it is one of the most profitable businesses on the internet. In the real world gambling is restricted by many laws, making it difficult to access the casinos. The owners of the games often need to pay high taxes to the state, which makes it so difficult to create competition. Gambling is still not legal in some states and the taxes are still high in these states, but the business has moved to places where gambling is legal and only low taxes need to paid. The companies who operate the gambling websites are able to provide the full program of games, without any restrictions. As the owners have their companies in countries where gambling is legal, they are able to operate without fearing the intervention of the state. But other than the real world casinos which are restricted to the geographical location, online casinos are able to attract gamblers from all over the world with a mouse click.
E-learning is a revolutionary way to empower, a work force with the skills and knowledge it needs to turn changes to on advantages .It is faster chapter and more productive then class room instruction .Electronic learning educating employees using web enabled materials deployed via the net offers in its most sophisticated incarnations such bells and whistles as streaming audio and video, built –in power point presentation, hot links to related information the web, animation, flipbooks and self-running screen-capture display programme. E-learning is a significantly cheaper and more protective and can be delivered with more timeliness than either classroom learning or traditional computer-enhanced teaching.
E-Marketing is a traditional marketing using electronic methods affecting traditional marketing in two ways. It increases efficiency in established marketing function and transforms many marketing strategies. Internet serves as efficient marketing tools for both secondary and primary data collection. In addition electronic technologies affect the 4ps.
Product Internet technologies spawned a variety of innovative product for creating, delivering and reading messages as well as services such as reverse auctions, business to business (B 2 B), market exchanges and interactive games.
Pricing The net turned pricing strategies upside down .Bartering, bidding, dynamic pricing, and individualized pricing are now quite on line.
Place The e-marketers used the net for direct distribution of digital productsand for electronic retailing.
Promotion The net assists with two way communication; one to one web pages-mail conversations, and e-main conferencing via news group and mailing lists.E- marketers also use the net for promotions, and sending electronic coupons and digital products samples directly to consumers.
E-Operational Resource Management Beside the goods that are needed for production, companies need to buy operational resources, these are the non production goods are services that are required and managed on a daily basis to run the day- to –day business. Operational resources allow companies to manage operational resources more strategically, by using the internet and its connectivity to provide a communication infrastructure, where buyer and supplier can together on a direct basis without losing control over the spending.
E-Supply Manufacturers, logistics companies, senders, receiver and retailers all work together to co-ordinate the order generation and order taking. The order fulfillment and the distribution of the products, services, or information are organized together by the supply chain management. By digitalizing the products, the processes and the communication the internet has a great potential linking and managing this organization.
E-Trading Before the internet, buying and selling stock war restricted to people with access to financial network. The internet has changed the way stocks are traded. E-trading also called E-brokering offers the real –time stock price to every desk throughout the world. People are able in real time to change in the stock market. Every one with on internet bank account is able to buy and sell stock. This enables anyone to participate in the stock market and earn money by investing.
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