Transcript No Slide Title

E-Commerce
Areas
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Definitions
Needs
Technical Infrastructure
History
Benefits
Limitations
Security
Definitions
• New way of conducting business – electronically
using networks and the Internet
• Networked communications is the infrastructure
• Kalakota and Whinston (1997) define EC from
these perspectives:
–
–
–
–
Communications perspective
Business process perspective
Service Perspective
Online perspective
Definitions
• Communications perspective
– Delivery of information/products/services over
telephone lines, computer networks or any other
electronic means
• Business process perspective
– Application of technology toward the automation
of business transactions and work flow
Definitions
• Service Perspective
– Tool that addresses the desire of firms, consumers, and
management to cut service costs
– While improving the quality of goods and increasing
the speed of delivery
• Online perspective
– Provides the capability of buying and selling products
and information
– On the internet and other online services
Definitions
• Turban (2002) adds
• Collaborations Perspective
– The framework for inter and and
intraorganisational collaboration
• Community Perspective
– Provides a gathering place for community
members to learn, transact, and collaborate
E Commerce
• IT has become the major facilitator of business
• Networked Computing - Business transactions
take place via telecommunication networks
– Business-to-customer (B2C)
– Business-to-business (B2B)
– Consumer-to-business (C2B)
• Most popular platforms
– Internet/Intranet/extranet
Internet, Intranet and Extranet
• Internet
– Public and global communication network that provides
connectivity to anyone over a LAN or ISP
– Public network that is connected and routed over
gateways
– Most common platform for B2C EC
– Lack of control that may result in an unruly
proliferation of information
– Need effective and efficient search engines to navigate
Intranet
• Intranet
–
–
–
–
Corporate LAN or WAN
Uses internet technologies (TCP/IP)
Secured behind firewall (access control server)
Links various servers, clients, databases and application
programs
– Most common platform for corporate internal
management
– Used to enhance the communication and collaboration
among authorised
•
•
•
•
Employees
Customers
Suppliers
Business partners
Extranet
• Extranet (extended intranet)
– Links intranets in different locations
– Link using the internet
– Improvement of security of connection portions of the
internet required
– Done using cryptology and authorisation algorithms
(tunneling technology)
– The internet with tunneling technology is known as
virtual private network (VPN)
– Most common platform for B2B EC
– Provide connectivity between an organisation and
business partners, materials suppliers, financial
services, government and customers
– Allows companies to collaborate, share and exchange
information
Needs for E Commerce
• Supporting information
• Organisational infrastructure
–
–
–
–
–
People
Policy
Technical standards and protocols
Network infrastructure
Interfacing infrastructure
• Systems
• Applications
Systems
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Electronic data interchange (EDI)
Extranets
Electronic Funds transfer (EFT)
Electronic Payment Systems
Electronic forms
Integrating messaging
Shared Databases
Applications
• More than just a website
–
–
–
–
–
–
Home banking
Online shopping
Buying stocks
Finding a job
Conducting an auction
Collaborating electronically
History
• Early 1970s
– Limited to large corporations
• 1990’s
–
–
–
–
Rapid growth of internet
Dependibility of networks
Development of protocols/software/specifications
Rapid expansion in EC – telecommunication
applications
• Late 1990’s
– Innovative applications
– Advertisement to auctions to virtual reality experiences
– Dramatic increase in business web presence
Benefits to Organisations
•
•
•
•
•
Expands the marketplace
Decrease cost of distributing information
Can provide competitive advantage
Initiates business process reengineering
Improved image, customer service.
Benefits to Consumers
• Shop/other transactions 24 hours a day form any
location
• Provides more choice
• Frequently provides less expensive products
• Receive information in seconds
• Participate in virtual auctions
• Interact with other communities in electronic
communities
• Facilitates competition, which results in
substantial discounts
Benefits to Society
• Enables individuals to work from home
– Less traffic, lower air pollution
• Less affluent people can buy more and
increase their standard of living
• Enables Third World countries/rural areas to
enjoy products and services (college
degrees)
• Anything else?
Limitations - Technical
• Lack of system security, reliability, standards
• Insufficient telecommunication bandwidth
• Software development tools evolving and
changing rapidly
• Difficult to integrate internet and EC software
with some existing applications and databases
• Some EC software might not fit with some
hardware, or may be incompatible with some
operating systems
Limitations - nontechnical
• Cost and Justification
• Lack of trust and user resistance
• Other Limiting factors
–
–
–
–
–
Legal issues
Evolving
Profitibility
Human relationships
Expensive.
Internet Security
• Often sites as the major barrier to EC
• National Computer Security Association (NCSA)
has identified 4 cornerstones of secure EC
• Authenticity
– is the sender who they claim to be
– TCP/IP uses password -Passwords can be intercepted
– IP addresses can also be screened to prevent
unauthorised access
– IP Spoofing – hacker can send a message that appears
to come from a particular domain
• Privacy
Internet Security
– Breaches of privacy can occur both during and after
transmission
– Transaction log
– Cookies
• Integrity
– Have the contents of a message been mofified during
transmission
– Data packets are susceptible to capture and
modification while en route
– Example: a hacker might modify the address where the
contents of a web form will be submitted. The user
might fill in a credit card number on a form, click
Submit and unknowingly transmit the information to
the hackers server.
Internet Security
• Nonrepudiation
– Can the sender of a message deny that they actually
sent a message?
– The key here is a “signature” that makes it difficult to
dispute
• In short, securing an EC site requires that the
cornerstones be secured
– Privicy of data and messages must be protected
– Identities must be verified and verifiable
– Unauthorised access must be controlled
• Ensuring security of an EC site is extremely
complex task