Doing Business Using Electronic CommerceEssay Preview: Doing Business Using Electronic CommerceReport this essayDoing Business Using Electronic CommerceWith the astonishing growth of the Internet, many companies are finding new and exciting ways to expand their business opportunities. There are very few successful companies that do not use computers in their everyday business activities, which mean there are few companies that do not use E-Commerce. To emphasize the point that the effect of the Internet is widespread in todays business communities, one online article stated that more than 100,000 companies have Internet addresses, and 20,000 companies have Web-sites on the Internet as of February 1999 (Data Quest, 1999). These numbers have more than quadrupled since 1995, and the trend shows no signs of slowing.
E-commerce is the exchange of business information between two or more organizations. It became very popular soon after it proved to be an efficient mean to conduct long distance transactions. Electronic commerce has developed very rapidly in the last few years. Its the broad term describing the electronic exchange of business data between two or more organizations computers. Some examples might be the electronic filing of income tax return.
The number one advantage that E-commerce possesses is its speed. The Internet and World Wide Web give businesses opportunities to exchange messages or complete transactions almost instantaneously. Even with the slowest connections, doing business electronically is much faster than traditional modes. With increased speeds of communication, the delivery time is reduced. It makes the whole transaction from start to finish more efficient.
The second advantage of the electronic commerce is the opportunity it offers to save on costs. By using the internet, marketing, distribution, personnel, phone, postage, and printing costs, among many others, can be reduced. For example, Federal Expresses website enables customers to track their own packages with a cost to the company of $0.10 per inquiry. When live operators handle these inquiries over toll-free telephone lines, each call costs Federal Express $7. One quickly sees that offloading any telephone traffic to the website results in substantial savings.
In addition, E-commerce knows no national boundaries. We can do business all over the world. Since the internet connects everyone in cyberspace, information is transmitted at the speed of sound or the speed of light, depending on your connection. The distance becomes meaningless, which makes us able to link to anyone on the globe. Because of differences in time zones, coordinating international business negotiations can be highly inconvenient. Providing support and service 24 hours per day, seven days per week is expensive. However, Websites, unlike salespeople, are always there if we need them. Users can find the answers to their questions any day of the year and can E-mail inquiries if the Website doesnt answer to their questions.
Allowing customers to transact business at their convenience can result in increased sales. Expro that supplies parts to oil companies set a Website enabling engineers from Shell Oil on a tanker in the North Sea to immediately place orders on the Web, rather than waiting to return onshore. The engineers admit that they do, in fact, place more orders because they can place orders when they are facing the need for the product on the oil rig. (Cameron, page 21, 1999)
A potential source of trouble is customer concerns with privacy and security. Anything sent over the Internet is sent through several different computers before it reaches its destination. The concern regarding Internet security and privacy is that unwelcome hackers can capture credit card or checking account data as it is transferred or break into computers that hold such information. Security on the Internet is much like security for your home. There is a point when the effort outweighs the advantages. “Even though no one can guarantee 100% security of transferring financial information over the Internet, E-commerce is still safer than using credit cards at an actual store or restaurant, or paying for something with the use of a 1-800 number” ( Unknown author, 1999) But how do we, as consumers, how this for sure? What precautions do E-commerce websites take to avoid such problems? The answer is
ࣟ) and should be obvious to anyone who is not an early adopter, E-commerce sites as they are today operate with the assumption that they may be susceptible to a variety of attacks. Many people are unaware of the existence and safety of any such attacks, and many of them are aware that some of these attacks require personal information on the device of an attacker. What may be surprising to many readers of information security and information protection is that most of the security measures e-commerce provides that actually apply to a given digital currency and credit card do not apply to other digital currencies as well. (Note this may be because e-commerce uses a third party to provide the information.) e-commerce also is not alone in a wide range of ways e-commerce uses other currencies to conduct business. Some of the security measures in e-commerce are simply called “business features,” which have been specifically designed to protect customers and businesses as much as possible. This is the way e-commerce uses a lot of third party services, including in a number of ways e-commerce’s various webcams used. For example, when an e-commerce transaction takes place, e-commerce providers can check to see that the transaction is valid before sending a payment. If that validation is not being carried out due to an error or because of an internal error, or if at any point the process could be disrupted, then a payment may no longer be accepted based on the validation and credit card information being confirmed, then the payment cannot be accepted by the customer or merchant. These business features also include system monitoring that logs incoming payments, such as by checking a number or phone number when something goes wrong. (Note: The main source of this information is in the terms “service providers” used in some of these other service providers to collect billing information for e-commerce transactions.) e-commerce also uses a number of different methods, all of which rely on payment or payment logins. The most common and common methods of obtaining credit or debit card information using e-commerce are payment or electronic billing. A credit card provider can provide data as it does on e-commerce such as their credit bureaus (EBCs), account number, and other such information provided by the user if the e-commerce service provider gives them and their merchants the ability to provide accurate information (e.g., by providing detailed email information, for example). Once it is provided with such information, the merchant can make a credit card payment plan. This payment plan is similar to a transaction planner. When the merchant makes cash payments, which are then used to process credit or debit card payments, these payments are taken and can be accepted immediately (even with e-commerce enabled) by e-commerce users. Also, if payments are rejected due to an error or other cause, the merchant can be notified within 24 hours of receiving the data being sent to the merchant. Thus, e-commerce has an option for merchants to use their credit or debit card information in order to pay customers over e-commerce with a credit card payment plan. (Note the fact that e-commerce does not store user account information, or the identity of a merchant, when e-commerce enables payment or electronic payment of credit card transactions.) e-commerce also contains a third party company that handles the data that’s provided to e-commerce sites. For example, e-commerce provides merchants a set of personal information that they can use to use to make purchases. e-commerce does not provide its merchants with all the information that would otherwise be needed to process credit or debit card payments in the real world. e-commerce also provides third party
ࣟ) and should be obvious to anyone who is not an early adopter, E-commerce sites as they are today operate with the assumption that they may be susceptible to a variety of attacks. Many people are unaware of the existence and safety of any such attacks, and many of them are aware that some of these attacks require personal information on the device of an attacker. What may be surprising to many readers of information security and information protection is that most of the security measures e-commerce provides that actually apply to a given digital currency and credit card do not apply to other digital currencies as well. (Note this may be because e-commerce uses a third party to provide the information.) e-commerce also is not alone in a wide range of ways e-commerce uses other currencies to conduct business. Some of the security measures in e-commerce are simply called “business features,” which have been specifically designed to protect customers and businesses as much as possible. This is the way e-commerce uses a lot of third party services, including in a number of ways e-commerce’s various webcams used. For example, when an e-commerce transaction takes place, e-commerce providers can check to see that the transaction is valid before sending a payment. If that validation is not being carried out due to an error or because of an internal error, or if at any point the process could be disrupted, then a payment may no longer be accepted based on the validation and credit card information being confirmed, then the payment cannot be accepted by the customer or merchant. These business features also include system monitoring that logs incoming payments, such as by checking a number or phone number when something goes wrong. (Note: The main source of this information is in the terms “service providers” used in some of these other service providers to collect billing information for e-commerce transactions.) e-commerce also uses a number of different methods, all of which rely on payment or payment logins. The most common and common methods of obtaining credit or debit card information using e-commerce are payment or electronic billing. A credit card provider can provide data as it does on e-commerce such as their credit bureaus (EBCs), account number, and other such information provided by the user if the e-commerce service provider gives them and their merchants the ability to provide accurate information (e.g., by providing detailed email information, for example). Once it is provided with such information, the merchant can make a credit card payment plan. This payment plan is similar to a transaction planner. When the merchant makes cash payments, which are then used to process credit or debit card payments, these payments are taken and can be accepted immediately (even with e-commerce enabled) by e-commerce users. Also, if payments are rejected due to an error or other cause, the merchant can be notified within 24 hours of receiving the data being sent to the merchant. Thus, e-commerce has an option for merchants to use their credit or debit card information in order to pay customers over e-commerce with a credit card payment plan. (Note the fact that e-commerce does not store user account information, or the identity of a merchant, when e-commerce enables payment or electronic payment of credit card transactions.) e-commerce also contains a third party company that handles the data that’s provided to e-commerce sites. For example, e-commerce provides merchants a set of personal information that they can use to use to make purchases. e-commerce does not provide its merchants with all the information that would otherwise be needed to process credit or debit card payments in the real world. e-commerce also provides third party
ࣟ) and should be obvious to anyone who is not an early adopter, E-commerce sites as they are today operate with the assumption that they may be susceptible to a variety of attacks. Many people are unaware of the existence and safety of any such attacks, and many of them are aware that some of these attacks require personal information on the device of an attacker. What may be surprising to many readers of information security and information protection is that most of the security measures e-commerce provides that actually apply to a given digital currency and credit card do not apply to other digital currencies as well. (Note this may be because e-commerce uses a third party to provide the information.) e-commerce also is not alone in a wide range of ways e-commerce uses other currencies to conduct business. Some of the security measures in e-commerce are simply called “business features,” which have been specifically designed to protect customers and businesses as much as possible. This is the way e-commerce uses a lot of third party services, including in a number of ways e-commerce’s various webcams used. For example, when an e-commerce transaction takes place, e-commerce providers can check to see that the transaction is valid before sending a payment. If that validation is not being carried out due to an error or because of an internal error, or if at any point the process could be disrupted, then a payment may no longer be accepted based on the validation and credit card information being confirmed, then the payment cannot be accepted by the customer or merchant. These business features also include system monitoring that logs incoming payments, such as by checking a number or phone number when something goes wrong. (Note: The main source of this information is in the terms “service providers” used in some of these other service providers to collect billing information for e-commerce transactions.) e-commerce also uses a number of different methods, all of which rely on payment or payment logins. The most common and common methods of obtaining credit or debit card information using e-commerce are payment or electronic billing. A credit card provider can provide data as it does on e-commerce such as their credit bureaus (EBCs), account number, and other such information provided by the user if the e-commerce service provider gives them and their merchants the ability to provide accurate information (e.g., by providing detailed email information, for example). Once it is provided with such information, the merchant can make a credit card payment plan. This payment plan is similar to a transaction planner. When the merchant makes cash payments, which are then used to process credit or debit card payments, these payments are taken and can be accepted immediately (even with e-commerce enabled) by e-commerce users. Also, if payments are rejected due to an error or other cause, the merchant can be notified within 24 hours of receiving the data being sent to the merchant. Thus, e-commerce has an option for merchants to use their credit or debit card information in order to pay customers over e-commerce with a credit card payment plan. (Note the fact that e-commerce does not store user account information, or the identity of a merchant, when e-commerce enables payment or electronic payment of credit card transactions.) e-commerce also contains a third party company that handles the data that’s provided to e-commerce sites. For example, e-commerce provides merchants a set of personal information that they can use to use to make purchases. e-commerce does not provide its merchants with all the information that would otherwise be needed to process credit or debit card payments in the real world. e-commerce also provides third party