E-Business: The Emerging Significance

Web has changed every aspect of life. However, no area is going through a significant and rapid change like today’s business world. Businesses start to achieve real business value as they integrate Internet Technology into their core processes. Today, major corporations are rethinking their businesses in terms of the internet and its new culture and capabilities. Companies are using the Web to buy parts and supplies from other companies, to communicate with their partners, to collaborate on sales promotions and to transact commerce. This is e-business, where the strength and the reliability of traditional information technology meet the Web. E-business isn't about re-inventing "the wheel" of your business. It's about streamlining current business processes which improves operating efficiencies, which in turn will strengthen the value you provide to your customers. It is the powerful business environment that is created when you connect critical business systems directly to customers, employees, vendors and business partners using Intranets, Extranets, e-commerce technologies, collaborative applications and the Web. This paper examines the role of e-business on business processes and will also emphasize on the emerging importance of e-business.

 

1. Introduction: In today's competitive business environment, company workforces are in a continual state of flux - skill sets and job requirements as well as the regulatory environment change at such a rapid pace that the staff needs of tomorrow are very different to those of today. The essential element of an e-business is a company that can adapt to constant and continual change. To manage transitions smoothly you have to remember two important ideas: Start simple, but plan to grow very fast and build on what you now have. E-business derived from such terms as "e-mail" and "e-commerce," is the conduct of business on the Internet, not only buying and selling but also servicing customers and collaborating with business partners. E-business is fast becoming an important initiative for companies to consider, one that impacts every aspect of how a business is run. Implementing e-business applications will require process redesign, organisational restructuring and alignment, new job descriptions and reviewed and revised policies. The true benefit of e-business is achieved through the digitization of the entire value chain. For a successful e-business implementation it is important that decision-makers understand the nature of these changes, their potential impact, make plan for them and manage the entire process in such a way as to ensure buy-in of all the relevant stakeholders. 

E-business is about using Internet technologies in business to provide superior customer service, increase sales, and reduce costs. Today E-business is growing at a very fast rate. Any business which makes use of computer and related electronic devices is known as electronic business. E-business mainly uses internet as a communication network. E-business mainly stands for internet enabled business. The enabling process is based on applications of internet technologies and its standards such as CORBA, HTTP etc. E-commerce is that part of e-business which involves buying and selling goods and services. According to Agarwal, e-business is any net enabled business activity that transforms internal and external relationships to create value and exploit market opportunities driven by new rules of the connected economy. Furthermore, e-business involves the continuous optimization of an organisation’s value proposition and value-chain position through the adoption of digital technology. E-Business module is simply the approach a company takes to become a profitable business on the Internet and it gives customers the configure products, check prices or availability, place orders or review their receivables. It indicates how a company will create and adapt to new markets and technologies. An E-Business module is shown in figure 1:

2. Objectives

5. To acquire knowledge of E-business.

6. To study the role of e-business in business processes.

7. To study the emerging significance of e-business.

3. Methodology

The literature related to the research paper was collected, collated and analyzed for the purpose of this study .The methodology adopted was going through the literature which consist of books, newspapers, journals, websites and other sources offline and online. Discussions were held with the persons connected with e-business and their views are also inculcated in the paper. 

4. Role of e-business in business processes 

E-business has impact on every part of organization such as sales, applications; infrastructure etc. e-business at last is beginning to deliver profits. It is the phenomenon that is simultaneously legitimizing the internet as a main stream communication medium and revolutionizing a new commercial business reality. E-business can benefit all types of businesses. It is not limited to technology-related products and services; companies in every field are doing business online. In today’s competition in certain industries is not company against company but supply chain against supply chain. The companies that can build or that can tear down electronic business to business relationships very quickly and efficiently are the winners. E-business is providing access to data, infrastructure, and services very openly. 

Hecker [10] defines e-business as any process that a business organisation conducts over a computer-mediated network. It includes buying and selling, as well as a wide range of customer-, production- and management focused processes carried out by for-profit, government or nonprofit entities. E-business is based upon the processing and transmission of digitized information, including text and visual images from one computer or some other electronic device to another.

The e-business model transforms internal processes to easy-to-use online services, using Internet technologies. For instance, no one needs talk to a bank’s employee any more to open a new account; customers request an account online and the process is completed automatically. In outline, new frontend applications verify data from the customer’s web browser, and start the bank’s business services. The new frontend Web applications and the existing backend applications that actually drive the business have to be tightly integrated. Using workflow technology, these business services are explicitly described in processes or, more precisely, in process models. Workflow makes the process and business logic highly visible and therefore easy to understand and to change. Compare this with process implementation today, where process logic is hidden in application code and cannot be changed fast and easily.

But to achieve their goals, companies optimize the use of resources. The traditional assets of the company are land, labor and capital but, recently, a new asset has assumed increasing importance: information. As well as data about its services, customers, partners and internal procedures, information also includes all the company’s knowledge of how the business is run. To exploit this information, it has not only to be known to the company, but has to be structured and formatted. Electronic business methods 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. There are four important stages in this process. They are: 

 

Transforming core business processes 

Building flexible, expandable e-business applications 

Running a scalable, available, safe environment 

Leveraging knowledge and information you've gained through e-business systems Processes 

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. Special technical standards for e-business facilitate the exchange of data between companies. E-business software solutions allow the integration of intra and inter firm business processes. E-business can be conducted using the Web, the Internet, intranets, extranets, or some combination of these.

5. Emerging significance of e-business

Electronic business is utilization of information and communication technologies so as to support the business activities. By implementing e-business strategies, companies aim at exploiting the availability, convenience and worldwide reach of Internet. With their help, it is possible to work more closely with suppliers and partners, better understand the needs of customers and satisfy them, as well as link external and internal data processing systems much more effectively. E-business has created new activities and features that consumers and businesses alike can participate in. These activities include: shopping twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, from the comfort of your home; gathering information to be a more informed consumer; visiting a variety of "stores" to see who has the best price; creating the appearance of a relationship with the customer; and stream lining business to business ordering to reduce prices for the consumer.

A second activity that consumers are familiar with is the ability to gather large amounts of information that may not have been easily accessible prior to the emergence of e-business. The ability to gather information changes the consumer from a less informed shopper to a much better informed shopper. The consumer can find information about different models of an item, doing their comparisons before leaving the house. This means they will know what they are looking for when they enter a store and not spend the time deciding in the store. They can also visit web sites like the Consumer Product Safety Commission's and review safety and recall information for items before purchasing them. While much of this information was available prior to the e-business boom, it took more time and energy to compile it. Another advantage of the emergence of e-business is the ability for consumers to compare shop from home. They no longer have to physically drive to several stores to compare the prices of items they plan to purchase. They can log onto a companies web site and check the prices, then move on to the next company to see how they compare. There are several sites out there that are designed with this comparison shopping in mind. For computer retailers, there is a site called Price-watch. Companies register items with the web site and the site displays the items to the user based on price and other search criteria. In the travel industry, there is Priceline that performs a similar function.

The emerging significance of Electronic Business to a company’s growth, development and survival cannot be ignored in light of the current dynamism of the technological environment. Electronic Business can benefit all types of businesses. It is not limited to technology-related products and services, companies in every field are doing business online. Networking through e-business can be applied to any part of a company's operations, including marketing and sales, purchasing and logistics, production, design and engineering. The most effective use of e-business is when several of these functions are combined.

Generate additional Revenues: - Its main advantage is the fact that it is not constrained by time nor physical facilities. Business can be conducted anytime, any day. Due to this flexibility and convenience.  E-Business helps in generating additional revenues.

New markets: - We can reach New Markets worldwide; the internet offers exciting ways of reaching new markets that could only be dreamed of in the past. There are methods of promoting our products online that allow us to precisely target the customers whether they are in our own town or on the other side of the world.

Reduce Costs: - The most easily measured benefit from E-business is the cost savings associated with allowing customers to serve themselves.

Process efficiency: -We can streamline the ordering process by taking orders online. Implementing an online ordering system allows us to eliminate manual paper work or telephone order taking. It also offers the possibility of integrating our sales order system with order fulfillment and delivery so customers can be up to speed on the progress of their orders at all times.

Customer Retention: - We can reach local customers and prospects more effectively until recently, companies offering a product or service to local customers could not see the benefits of having an online presence. But as more and more people become comfortable with using the internet instead of traditional advertising sources like classified ads or yellow pages, having an aggressive web presence makes better business sense even for local companies. 

6. Conclusion

Information is the key component of the modern economy. While pure knowledge is disembodied, transferring, storing, and processing information is costly for firms and consumers. E-business has such a great impact on today’s economy be-cause ICT lowers the costs associated with information. Companies that use E-business show significant increase in revenue per employee, increase in gross profit margin, return on assets, and return on investment. But, e-business systems naturally have greater security risks than traditional business systems; therefore it is important for e-business systems to be fully protected against these risks. Customers, suppliers, employees, and numerous other people use any particular e-business system daily and expect their confidential information to stay secure. Hackers are one of the great threats to the security of e-businesses. Some common security concerns for e-Businesses include keeping business and customer information private and confidential, authenticity of data, and data integrity.

Today, all the companies are trying to make use of the advantages that e-business offer. Moreover, without this e-business security, it is often impossible to stand the competition and be successful in the majority of fields. Fortunately, the developments available in the field of e-business make its integration affordable and optimal. If highly qualified experts are employed to handle this aspect of business, the company is sure to attract many customers and create successful and interesting image. So, we conclude that E-business is not just for business-to-consumer markets, but is also widely used in business-to-business markets to streamline processes and reduce costs. Thus, e-business will reduce operational costs and foster closer and more productive relationships between providers of products and services and their customers. Indeed it may even be a stimulus to re-engineer organizations themselves.

Refrences

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