Intranet, e Business and e Commerce

Uttam Kumar Patra

IntranetAn

Intranet is a network built within a corporation, using the Internet and World Wide Web standards and software. The Intranet is a secure and internal implementation of the Internet. All Internet technologies, including the Internet Protocol (IP), the World Wide Web, and the browsers, are protected by corporate firewalls.

Types of intranet The

collaboration platform.

The

This type is very big on two-way publishing. This type is based on one-way publishing. People who interact with it are divided into two groups: consumers and publishers. In larger organizations, users intranet very quickly becomes decentralized.

internal Web site.

The

distributed intranet.

Components of an Intranet's

Applications of IntranetsCommunications Collaboration Knowledge

Management Common Functional Applications

Benefits

An Intranets provides the following benefits for corporate information access: It is easy to learn and use; It is consistent; It is sophisticated; It is cross platform; It is secure; It is standardized; It has a bright future; It is harvestable; It is not expensive; It is scalable. It is cost effective

Disadvantages of IntranetsNumber

of users Infrastructure Continuous growth and change Scalability Manageability Loss of skilled webmasters and designers On-going maintenance

e-businessElectronic

business, commonly referred to as "eBusiness" or "e-business", may be defined as the utilization of information and communication technologies (ICT) in support of all the activities of business. Louis Gerstner, the former CEO of IBM, attributes the term "e-Business in 1996

Applications Internal business systems: customer relationship management enterprise resource planning document management systems human resources management Enterprise communication and collaboration: VoIP content management system e-mail voice mail Web conferencing Digital work flows (or business process management) electronic commerce

Classificationbusiness-to-business (B2B) business-to-consumer (B2C) business-to-employee (B2E) business-to-government (B2G) government-to-business (G2B) government-to-government (G2G) government-to-citizen (G2C) consumer-to-consumer (C2C) consumer-to-business (C2B)

Three primary processes are enhanced in e-businessProduction processes: which include procurement, ordering and replenishment of stocks; processing of payments; electronic links with suppliers; and production control processes, among others; Customer-focused processes: which include promotional and marketing efforts, selling over the Internet, processing of customers purchase orders and payments, and customer support, among others; and Internal management processes: which include employee services, training, internal informationsharing, video-conferencing, and recruiting. Electronic applications enhance information flow between production and sales forces to improve sales force productivity. Workgroup communications and electronic publishing of internal business information are likewise made more efficient

Electronic Commerce?e-commerce

use of electronic communication to do business Specifically, the transfer of information (transactions), over the Internet

is the

Some

people use the term e-business to refer to all the categories of e-commerce E.g. IBM defines e-business as:

Business

The transformation of key business processes through the use of internet technologies

application:

Email, Enterprise content management, Instant messaging, Newsgroups, Online shopping and order tracking, Online banking, Online office suites, Domestic and international payment systems, Shopping cart software, Teleconferencing, Electronic tickets, etc.

How are Businesses using E-Commerce?Business

can implement new sales and marketing through the use of WWW The WWW provides electronic means for organizations to display materials such as product catalogs, price lists, Internet security issues are resolved, businesses are selling more and more product online, direct to their customers

EC EnvironmentVast

amount of multimedia data; autonomous, and

Distributed,

heterogeneous information sources;Supports The

decision making;

Internet as an infrastructure.

From Traditional to E-commerceElectronic Funds Transfer (EFTs) Wire transfers - used by banks

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)

Businesses transfer electronic data - data not re-keyed - high implementation cost, thus excluded small businesses

Internet

On-line shopping

E-commerce CategoriesThere

are five general e-commerce categories:oBusiness to Consumer (or B2C) e-commerce oBusiness to Business (or B2B) e-commerce (sometimes called e-procurement) oBusiness processes that support buying and selling activities oConsumer-to-consumer (or C2C) ecommerce oBusiness-to-government (or B2G) ecommerce

Advantages of E-commerce?Increases

Provides

purchasing opportunities for buyers (businesses can identify new suppliers and partners) Increase speed and accuracy for exchanged information, thus reducing cost Business can be transacted 24hrs a day Tax refunds, public retirement and welfare support costs less when distributed over the Internet

Allows small businesses to have global customer base Reduced cost through electronic sales enquires, price quotes and order taking

sales, decreases cost

Disadvantages of E-commerce?Inability

to sell some products (e.g. high cost jewelry and perishable foods, although supermarkets like www.Tesco.com delivers to your home) Many products require a large number of people to purchase to be viable High capital investment Difficulty in integrating current databases and transaction processing systems into ecommerce solutions Cultural and legal obstacles Transmission of credit card details Some consumers resistant to change Laws are unclear

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