Current Trends and Developments in E-business Samples for Student

Question: Discuss about the Current Trends and Developments in E-business. Answer: Introduction The functionalities and the operational activities which are being processed by utilization and adaptation of internet services as the channel or medium and also mostly the transactions and operational activities are executed online. For making this happen or for adapting the above mentioned mechanisms the companies develop a personal site or online portal of company through which all types of transactions are carried out. This concept as a whole is considered as E-business. The mentioned concept is a way broader term and which comprises of a number of constituents such as purchasing and selling of goods and services, dealing and supplying of goods, providing after sales services. Moreover providing services to the consumers as per their demands, payment transactions and carrying forward business practices, managing and controlling the manufacturing and the other related processes, sharing information about the company with the stakeholders (Lops, Gemmis and Semeraro, 2011). Emergenc e of e-business system has made the business organizations to bring minimization or reduction in the level of expenses as compared to earlier times. These expenses comprises of costs incurred in maintaining the stock and the inventory and warehousing, varied transactional costs. The e-business mechanism has also benefited the business corporations with an ease in the intensive and intense promotional and advertising measures which are required to be essentially and effectively carried out by the business entities. Also varied costs such as overhead and other associated costs which are incurred by the business corporations in maintaining and running a physically location based business unit. And also the companies can make use of the modern marketing tactics such as e-mail, newsletter, social media i.e. Facebook, Twitter etc. The below presented analysis has been focused on the E-business portfolio which has been carried out as per the stated objectives. The following portfolio will be presenting the current and the latest trends and the developments in the e-business sector and further evaluation of the impacts of the strategies will be done (Matos, Afsarmanesh and Rabelo, 2013). Current trends and developments in E-business The facility of Internet has presented a number of opportunities in-front of the business corporations and these available opportunities have an extent upto global level and due to this a connection has been formed between the entities and the outside world. Due to the provision of the internet services the owners and the consumers have been aided with numerous advantages as using the internet is a very easy task as compared to the brick-and-mortar operations (Xu and Quaddus, 2010). The below presented are the recent trends and developments in the E-business industry: Emergence of e-business has brought and developed a number of competitive strategies which are proven beneficial for the corporations and also has revolutionized the concerned economies. Due to the competitive strategies a number of up-gradations and enhancements have been brought up in the business structures and the environment and which tends the business organizations to serve the best quality of outcomes and higher rate of productivity. And this also plays a crucial role and contribution in the development and growth of the economy (Lee, 2013). This has also changed the nature of the business organizations, the companies are now more into providing satisfactory services to the consumers rather than just thinking about the maximization of the profits. Approach of multi-medium: There has been a boost in the selling and the related processes and the activities by making and adapting the online facilities and this has also made the business to grow to the global extent. Improvements have also been observed in the physical outlets and the stores and also in the online portals and websites, and this has been made possible by the utilization of the contemporary means and mechanisms and they have also proven to do better than so-called pure online players. Both the online and the physical outlets are linked with each other and also plays a crucial role in the enhancement and development of the company. Mobile commerce: One of the most important constituent of this concept is the mobile internet and which has emerged as one of the significant player and also plays a key character in the e-commerce. As per the survey carried out it has been concluded that during the last few years a rapid increase has been a rapid increase in the use of smart phones and tablets for viewing and using the e-commerce websites, moreover all the payments and the other related transactions are also carried out by making use of mobile phones. And according to the predictions this trend is expected to continue and will gain more importance and boost in the usage rate in the coming years (Lops, Gemmis and Semeraro, 2011). So it has become a necessity for the e-businesses to work properly on the smart phones and tablets. Types of e-business technologies and business models E-business technologies is a way to broader concept which constitutes of a number of variants such as computer software and applications, system packages, components and elements of hardware systems mobile solutions, and analytic processes and these ingredients can be made available for aiding and facilitating the functionalities and the operations of the business and this can only be done by making use of the electronic tools as a medium (Wirtz, 2011). These approaches can be utilized by the business organizations for transferring and analyzing the relevant data and which is further used for monitoring or for the direct order fulfillment purpose, clearing the transactions of payments and other related procedures (Lee, 2013). This will also enable the business organization in developing an efficient communication process between the internal departments and the organizational structure, the dealers, clients and the suppliers and customers. The main examples of e-business technologies can comprise of the online web based portals, websites of the business corporations; contemporary mechanisms and tools for the communication process, automatedinventory and warehousingsystems, and also making use of the modernized and virtual communication process which can be utilized for the conferences and meeting. Moreover the payments systems have also been modified to paperless monetary transactions. A revolution has been emerged due to the electronic payment systems. And this mechanism has reduced paper work, transaction costs, labor costs etc. Some of the models of e-payments are mentioned as follows: Debit card Credit card Smart card Electronic fund transfer Cloud computing: The concept makes a business corporation capable in the consumption of a computed resource such as Virtual machines, storages or an application as a utility or requirement, just like electricity, rather than having to build and maintain computing infrastructures in house, By making use of cloud computing the business corporations are served with a number of benefits such as self-service provisioning, elasticity and pay per use. Websites: Websites are the online portals or the virtual stores or the web-based offices of the business corporations. These business firms are totally online based and all their functionalities and operational activities are carried out by making the use of internet. As working through online medium the business entities are available 24/7 which is a very big plus point for the firms (Zott, Amit and Massa, 2010). These websites are also considered as one of the easiest, relevant and easily accessible mechanism or tool, which benefits both the consumers and the business organizations. For providing all the services and offerings at the door step of the consumer, these web-based companies are designed and developed. Models of E-business The below mentioned are the E-business models: Business to business: In this concept the business corporations who are following the b2b business model are likely to sell the products and the offerings to the immediate buyer i.e. are the other business entities and who then sells the goods to the ultimate consumers. For instance, a wholesaler purchases the offerings from the. Companys website and after receiving the cargo the wholesaler will sell the goods to the ultimate consumers. Business to consumers: As per this model the business corporations are required to sell the products directly to the consumers for their consumption. The offerings and the services of the company are easily available on the web-based portal, the consumers can also get the relevant and the necessary details about the products. Consumer to consumer: This business model is proven as a helping hand to those individuals who are interested in selling their goods, properties or assets to another consumer. This business model provides a set of various ways for purchasing the goods and also a number of modes of payments and for doing this the companys charge some sought of fees and charges from the consumers or the service users. Consumers to business: According to this business model the consumer is expected to reach to a e-business entity and is required to express the interest to spend a sum of amount for a particular service of an organization (Lee, 2013). For instance, comparison between the interest rates on loan of different banks can be shown by the websites. Business to government: This business model makes the transactions between the governing bodies and the organizations. Under this the government makes use of some websites for trading and exchanging of the informations with other organizations. These e-businesses are accredited by the government. Government to business: This business model can be used by the governing bodies for approaching the business organizations. These e-business corporations provide the services such as auctions, tenders and application submission functionalities. Critical evaluation of the impact of e-business strategies on organizational processes E-business has gained a rapid boost in the terms of significance and also has been considered as a vital initiative by the business organization (Cavusgil and et al, 2014). This step has to be considered as one of the necessity which also have great impacts on each and every aspect within a business entity and on its operational activities and all other functionalities.The below mentioned report consists ofthe impacts of e-business implementation and the strategies on various aspects of the company which also comprises of the; the plans, policies and the tacts, human resources management, the management and development of the customers relations, the IT department, technologies and the approaches utilized, the organizational structure and the business environment, trust of the clients and the consumers, service managementand performance mechanisms and the tools (Wirtz, 2011).Redesigning of the processes, restructuring and alignment of the organizational structure, better improved job descriptions and revised and reviewed policies and plans will be required to be done while implementing the applications and the systems of the E-business. This also develops a need to monitor and scrutinizing of the tax, legal and security issues if any faced by the business entities (Amin, 2015). The following is the critical evaluation done of the e-business strategies on the organizational processes and outcomes: Redesigning of the processes, restructuring and alignment of the organizational format and the structure, better and improved format of job descriptions, reviewed and revised plans and policies and this all will be required by the business entities while implementing the applications and the systems. This process also demands for a check over the rules, regulations, the tax laws, legal and security and safety issues which can be faced by the e-business corporations? The capability and the potential of adapting the change and also adapting the contemporary models and business technologies which are the key players in the growth and development of the business and which tends to an increase in the productivity of the entity. Besides all these positive sides there are negative sides too such as the regular changes brought in the organizational structure may develop a sense of reluctant in the workforce and which may lead in rise in issues and conflicts they can deny to accept the change s and work according to them. This can also rise as a conflict between the management and the employees of the organization. There is a great impact of the e-business activities on a entities and which can be shown in the form changes in the business efficiency. This should begin from the very first moment when the sales department takes the initiative for a transaction of sale which is then passed through the production and service cycles and this process is continued until when the transaction is completed by the consumer by making the payment of the bill (Galliers and Leidner, 2014).The impactof e-businesson acompanys effectiveness can be observed in the overall financial state. E-business is not just about the purchase or sale of the product by making use internet and thereby increasing the value of the organization by improving the way it operates. Technical research skills to assess the existing and emerging e-business For providing the best level of satisfaction and quality of products it is to be expected by the business corporation to possess the most advance and updated technologies and mechanisms which aids in the maintenance of a standard quality of process (Fusilier, Durlabhji and Ridge, 2010). And for doing so the employees are required to have a set of various expertise over the related topics and skills. The below mentioned are some of the skills which are required for assessing the e-business technologies for transforming the organizations for competitive advantages: General business and management skills Basic knowledge about the products Planning and controlling of financial and strategic aspects Leadership skills Decision making and problem solving Knowledge about the technology and the latest trends and up-gradations in the market These all the mentioned skills are corresponding to the potential and which are required for exploiting the opportunities provided, this also ensures the efficiency and effectiveness of the of the performance of the different types of the organizations (Combe, 2012). Vital skills are the abilities which aids in the identification of the new available opportunities, re-engineering and transforming the business process an also discovering new ways of working (Reynolds, 2010). Interpersonal, professional and technical communication skills A separate language is used by the technical professionals while they communicate; they make use of lots of technical jargons and pseudo-codes (Anderson, 2013). The following are some of the strategies which aid and improve the efficiency and also make the communication process more clear Active listening skills, responding to the feedbacks, rephrasing the technical language and making use of jargons these are some of the skills which set you apart from others (Forey and Lockwood, 2010). A set of appropriate and relevant communication skills plays a crucial and vital role in the growth and success. In the todays interconnected and linked business environment each and every individual must have ability to communicate, corporate and collaborate and which is also considered as very much significant (Walters and Sirotiak, 2011). The communication should be done with ease and confidence and also the feedback is required so as to get that the message has been understood. The following ment ioned are the basics of the clear communication such as the importance should be understood of a clear communication and also the benefits of the same (Guffey and Loewy, 2012), the process of communication should be well understood and also the various types of communication process and where and when to use them. Legal, ethical, social and cultural issues that affect e-business systems Ethical issues: Ethical issues are the most common issues which can be faced by the business organizations. For instance, the computer hackers can easily access the personal and confidential details by making use of internet (Kolk, 2016). Also all types of transactions are done online such as payments, filling of forms for various documentation procedures is done online and which are easily vulnerable to theft. To avoid these issues the e-business portals and sites are required to have updated security systems an softwares to encrypt personal information. Legal issues: The e-business can also legal and tax consequences and in order to avoid these problems these business corporations are required to choose a suitable structure that makes the business structure legally and financially separate from the owner. These businesses can also face the issues related to the financial aspects (ecommerce-platforms. 2017). Brand identity is the most vital concept for any of the organization and due to the competitive environment there are number of companies and products which similar and are readily available to consumers and are within a click of the mouse the marketing strategies and the PR must stand out from amongst the rivals. And for securing the identity an appropriate domain name or web address should be developed which will reflect the companys name and the identity which is presented in front of the consumers. Social issues:Safety and security should be kept on priority as without security privacy, the consumers wont be feeling ready for making the transactions as they will be scared of getting cheated by the seller (the-future-of-commerce. 2015). For example, the consumer will be scared of the sellers identic and also about the product as only the pictures of the product were available over the internet so the customer is unaware about the product, whether the products are good or bad. Another example can be considered as the transactions made in case of the payments done for purchase and sale of goods (Smith-Crowe and et.al, 2015). The consumer is scared that after making the payment of the seller denies sending the product. Cultural issues: Different languages and varied cultural platforms are one of the biggest concern and also a critical issue for e-business. As the companies operating in a specific region will have to develop and design the websites and the content according to the culture and the language of that particular region. So this leads to increase in the expenses for the business organizations. Moreover additional expenses for the translators can also be spent. Conclusion From the above carried out analysis it can be concluded that E-business has emerged as a revolution in todays business environment and which has impacted positively as well as negatively over the corporations. E-business plays a vital role in the development and enhancement of the business operations and the over-all functionalities of a business entity. The above presented report has been focused on the recent developments and also the future directions of the developments. 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