Information systems and management in business

Chapter 2 Electronic Business and Business Mobility

2.2 Electronic Business Overview

What is Electronic Business (E-Biz)? Many definitions exist Example

Using the Internet and associated technologies - platform

Improve the productivity or profitability of a business - goals

2.2 Electronic Business Overview

Electronic Business deployment strategies

Greatly enhanced with proliferation of the Internet and associated technologies

Three deployment strategies exist Electronic commerce (e commerce) Inter-organizational collaboration Collaboration and information sharing and

exchanging within the private domain of a business – internal business collaboration

2.2 Electronic Business Overview

The Internet as a mainstream E-Biz Enabler The Internet offers many E-Biz enabling features

Use Public Networking Infrastructure and Standard Protocols

None proprietary communication protocols – TCP/IP, HTTP, etc..

Communication takes place regardless of underlying hardware or operating systems

Standard and none proprietary file transfer protocols - FTP

Ease of Use personal computer (PC) or a notebook fitted with a

modem and client software (browser) – all is needed

2.2 Electronic Business Overview

The Internet as a mainstream E-Biz Enabler The Internet offers many E-Biz enabling

features Ease of Access

Home access requires DSL or dialup modem A connection to a service provider (ISP)

Emergence of E business supporting technologies

Digital signature, digital notarization, electronic payments and audit trails

2.2 Electronic Business Overview

The Internet as a mainstream E-Biz Enabler The Internet offers many E-Biz enabling

features Emergence of solutions to electronic

business security challenges Firewalls, encryption, authentication and

virtual private networks (VPNs)

2.2 Electronic Business Overview

The Internet as a mainstream E-Biz Enabler Emergence of data-driven dynamic Web sites

Originally the Internet technologies were only able to support static Web sites

Involve the collection and delivery of HTML pages (site contents)

Data-driven dynamic Web sites Now can be economically constructed and

securely accessed – example: online banking Create contents which are dynamically

determined and based upon the user’s input

2.2 Electronic Business Overview

Electronic Business Models Business to business (B2B)

business is transacted between two or more businesses

Business to consumers (B2C) Business is transacted between business

and its customers Consumers to consumers (C2C)

Customers doing business among each other

2.2 Electronic Business Overview

The E-Biz Challenges From a business perspective

Creating an efficient, productive and secure e business opportunity

Five key issues needed to be explored and planned for

Objectives Security and privacy Potential for losing business and customers Building the right infrastructure Training

2.3 Electronic commerce

Electronic commerce - e commerce Definition

The ability for people to get services or purchase products from businesses over the Internet (online)

2.3 Electronic commerce

Electronic Commerce Models and Examples There exist a number of electronic commerce

orientated business models Examples: Advertising, Subscription,

Community, Directs, Auctions Comparison Model

Gaining wide appeal and popularity Involves the provision of providing a service based

on other businesses services or products Web services are a technology that plays a

major role in its functionality

2.3 Electronic commerce

E Commerce Sites General Architecture Generally the Key components of an e

commerce set up Web server

Apache and Microsoft Internet information services (IIS) – Widely used

E commerce application Presenting and processing interactive electronic

Web forms Electronic Web Forms – typically similar in

structure to classical paper forms Electronically filled and processed

Internet browser - E Commerce Access Proxy server – facilities group access

2.3 Electronic commerce

Generally the Key components of an e commerce set up

Data-driven dynamic Web site technologies

Typically powered up by a complex set of technologies known as scripting languages or processing technologies

The php and the Microsoft ASP .net processing technologies are two such technologies

2.3 Electronic commerce

Generally the Key components of an e commerce set up

Security technologies Firewall

Used to keep private networks connected to the Internet from unauthorised or undesirable access from Internet users

Can be implemented in hardware, software or a combination of the two

Typically placed between the Internet and the private network

2.4 Internal Business Collaboration

Internal Business Collaboration or intra-business collaboration as the ability for the employees of one

business or an organization to be able to access the business’s private network and its associated resources and applications

2.4 Internal Business Collaboration

What is an intranet? Basically a private network Uses the Internet technologies,

communication protocols and other related Internet standards

Provide various business services Services on the intranet are accessible

only to employees of the business or organization that owns the intranet

2.4 Internal Business Collaboration Key intranet Supporting Technologies

Web servers S Web pages.

Internet browsers Display documents.

TCP/IP, http, FTP and shttp Facilitates communication between Web servers and their

clients (Internet browsers residing in user’s computers). HTML and XML

Provide Web contents. JavaScript

Provide client side animation and dynamic contents. Java, php, CGI, ASP .NET, Ajax

Provides Web site interactivity.

2.4 Internal Business Collaboration

Basic intranet Architecture Similar to the E Commerce architecture

from a technology perspective but not from an access perspective

2.4 Internal Business Collaboration

Typical intranet Business Services Real-Time Information Sharing Entering Information Online Collaboration Online Training

2.4 Internal Business Collaboration

intranet Trends Growth in intranet deployment and

utilization Critical to this trend – a number of

increasingly popular technologies Wikis Ajax RSS Blogs

2.5 Inter-organizational collaboration

What is inter-organizational collaboration? An electronic business to business

communication Secure Coordination, collaboration, exchanging

information, trading and conducting variety of business transaction

Business partners, vendors, suppliers and customers

2.5 Inter-organizational collaboration

What is an Extranet? Private network Employs the Internet protocols and the

public telecommunication systems Securely share part of a business's

information Suppliers, vendors, partners,

customers, or other businesses

2.5 Inter-organizational collaboration

Extranet Uses Employed by firms from a wide ranging

industry sectors Share and exchange privileged

information Trusted partners and customers

2.5 Inter-organizational collaboration

A basic and general extranet architecture http://www.halaeducation.com/Book_images/Chapter2_images/Figure2.5.jpg A site to site architecture

the business intranet is directly connected to its partners via their corresponding intranet using the Internet networking infrastructure

Does not involve any private networking infrastructure such as leased lines or any other forms of private circuitry

Connectivity is typically achieved via the involved businesses relevant Internet service provider (ISP) – not shown in the architecture

routers facilitates interconnections between the various intranets and ISPs

2.5 Inter-organizational collaboration

Extranet Potential Disadvantages Benefits achieved at some costs

Financial costs Social costs Reliability issues Potential for business data being accessed

inappropriately

2.5 Inter-organizational collaboration

What is an enterprise Portals or Portals and Trading Exchanges? Integrating multiple extranets into a

single Serve the need of the various partners

from a single point of access

2.6 Business Mobility

What is a business mobility? The ability for business employees to

collaborate and conduct business transactions

Outside traditional business places and time

2.6 Business Mobility

Business Mobility Benefits (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs) tends

to restrict business support to the traditional working business environment

Support is not extended to various categories of employees

Employees who are away from their offices such as field workers, travelling employees, employees in seminars or training sessions, executives in meeting rooms, and so Productivity enhancement

2.6 Business Mobility

Business Mobility Benefits Productivity enhancement Working flexibility Mobile or a way worker empowerment Responsiveness Enhance competitiveness

2.6 Business Mobility

Business Mobility Challenges In addition to benefits and opportunities come

challenges when a business or an organization practically embraces a businesses mobility strategy Keeping the business data secure over public

network Ensuring the business data privacy and safety on

mobile devices Measuring the value of enabling business mobility Supporting mobility devices and solutions Ensuring standard and consistent user experience

2.7 Electronic Business Additional Security Challenges

Electronic Business Additional Security Challenges Critical e commerce, extranets and intranets

security challenges are managed and enhanced with various measures

Firewall VPN Encryption

Additional E-Biz challenges Hacking. Viruses and worms. Denial of services attacks

2.7 Electronic Business Additional Security Challenges

Managing Electronic Business Security Challenges

Multi-steps strategy Firewalls Anti viruses software’s Encryption Digital Signature Authentication and Resources Access Control DoS measures

2.8 File transfer Protocol (FTP)

What is an FTP? An open standard communication

protocol Allows two computers to exchange files

over a TCP/IP based network

2.8 File transfer Protocol (FTP)

How to use FTP Could use FTP in one of two ways

One approach involves the use of graphical FTP client software

Use of the Internet browser All that would be required in order to

connect to the remote server is to enter the FTP address of the remote server