Tutorial ONE

1.) Internet risks - Give 4 examples of things that can go wrong with a transactional site.       

Ans:  The internet represents something that people almost can't live without these days. Almost any and every transaction takes place with the help of or over the net. However, one cannot ignore the risks that also underlie the use of the internet. 

• One such risk that is highly important is security. Since it doesn't involve a face to face transaction, where confidentiality can be assured, there is the high risk that private banking information, for example Credit card account numbers and personal information could be exposed to millions of people over the internet.
• Hackers can take private information through personal sites, for example, photos using   Facebook or hack your email address, which can be quite dangerous.
• Accessing the internet could also give an easy risk to catch viruses and spams over the internet which could effect the function of your personal computer, or alter it to no use. 
• Sites could have certain technical issues and may not work or may take a long time to access or there is a risk that the site could be jammed especially if many people are using it at the same time.
• The next involves the technical skill involved. Some people aren't very friendly with using technology and may not understand the technicalities involved, which might drive off people (potential business for the company) if they don't know how to use or do not trust transactions through internet. 
• There is also an easy risk for fraud and thieving to occur. 

2.) Write down a definition for each

       a.) E-business

       b.) E-commerce

Ans:  "E-business (electronic 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." 

- Source: http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/e-business

         "E-commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services on the Internet or other computer network."

-Source: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/definition-ecommerce-e-business-2255.html

        E-business is used when talking about the digital component of the internet, while E-commerce is used when we talk about the financial component, which solely involves the transaction part of it. There are three definitions that define the relationship between the two. One is that, e-commerce has some degree of overlap with e-business. The next is that, the two are equivalent. The third is that e-commerce is a subset or part of the broader "e-business". 

3.) What is the difference between buy side and sell side eCommerce?

Ans: Sell side E-commerce is an e-commerce transactions between a supplier organization and its customers which are shown as customers and customers' customers in the diagram below. This is based on the model of B2C shown below. Buy side E-commerce transactions between a buying organization and its suppliers can be taken as Suppliers and suppliers' suppliers respectively in the diagram below. This is based on the B2B model shown below. 

The diagram below shows the difference between the buy side and sell side e-commerce. 

4.) Describe the different types of E-Business.

Ans:   
C2C – This is consumer to consumer, where the consumers sell their products or services to other consumers. For example, eBay, groups on FB to exchange mobiles, etc.

·         C2B – This is consumer to business where the consumers sell to businesses, for example, blogs offering advertising service.

·         C2G – This is consumer to government where the consumers sell to the government or government agencies. An example would be feedback to the government through pressure groups and also individuals who sell web space to government.

·         B2C – this is business to consumers where businesses sell to consumers, for example Amazon.com.

·         B2B – This is business to business where businesses sell to other businesses.

·         B2G – this is business to government where businesses sell to government or govt. agencies, for example feedback to government businesses and non-government organizations.

·         G2C – This is government to consumers where government sells to consumers, such as tax, national government information, local government services, etc.

·         G2B – This is government to business where government sells to businesses, for example tax and legal regulations.

·         G2G – This is government to government where governments and government agencies sell to other governments or government agencies, for example inter-government servers and exchangers of information. 

5.) Which digital technology has the highest penetration rate? Explain and source your answer.

Ans: The digital technology which has the highest penetration rate is definitely the mobile phone, which according to Moco news.net, is 61.1%. This is reasonable as most people have mobile phones which are becoming more and more popular as newer, more advanced versions and brands come out. This report where this information is taken is from http://paidcontent.org/tech/419-4-1-billion-mobile-subscribers-mobile-helping-reduce-digital-divide-sli/.
Looking at the research done by MORI Technology conducted in January 2006 as wel, we can see that the use of mobile phones has increased from about 14% in 1997's January to 85% in December, 2005 in the UK, while the rise of digital TV was only 64% and internet, 61%. 


6) List: Four drivers to adoption of sell-side e-commerce by business

Ans: Cost/efficiency drivers

• ·         Increasing the speed in which supplies can be obtained
• ·         Increasing speed with which goods can be dispatched/delivered
• ·         Reduced sales and purchase costs
• ·         Reduced operating costs

Competitiveness drivers

• ·         Customer demand
• ·         Improving the range and quality of services offered
• ·         Avoid losing market share to businesses already using e-commerce.

7) List: Four barriers to adoption of sell-side e-commerce by business.

Ans: 

•               Identification of the different products and services may be difficult due to the poor quality content which includes bad descriptions, images and searching abilities.
•       Cultural barriers including the accessibility of internet and language barrier.
•             The fear of change of customers. Some customers would gladly use the net as a way to buy goods/services while others might not. Therefore the target market has an effect on whether the customer base would be reduced by adoption of sell side E-commerce.
•        Lack of technical skills.

     8.) How might a restaurant in Sturt Street Ballarat benefit from an online presence?

    

     Ans:  There would be a reduction in the costs as the advertising would be much cheaper. They would be able to reach a different target audience, especially the younger crowd, and would be able to communicate the menu, prices, and attract customers by having pictures and information to tantalize the potential customers. Customers might come across the particular restaurant accidentally while searching other information over the net. It is much easier to change, edit, and update a website rather than a magazine. It is also much cheaper to advertise in this way. There is also a better chance at providing a good customer service and building a customer relationship. Having an online website/presence would be a competitive advantage for the customer and be able to reach more market which could increase sales and customers. 

     9.) What are some examples of Digital information??

    Ans: Digital information means the meaningful processed data that has been stored in a digital format. Therefore, CDs, DVDs, digital TV, digital camera, mobile phones, etc can be considered digital information. However, when we consider it in terms of E-business, we can take databases, images, and other forms of digital content that could be used to gain information.  

     10.) What is the semantic web? Are we there yet?

     Ans: The Semantic web is a collaborative movement led by the World Wide Web Consortium. It is meant to encourage the inclusion of semantic content in web pages and aims at converting the current web dominated by unstructured and semi-structure documents into a "web of data". It would be a framework which allows data to be shared and reused across enterprise, application and community boundaries. The semantic web is meant to be a web of data that can be processed and understood directly and indirectly by machines. The main purpose of it would be that this would allow users to find, combine and share information so much more easily. Before web pages were designed to be read only by people, not by machines. However, the semantic web would serve as a vision of information that could be easily interpreted by machines so that these machines could perform a lot of the tedious work including the finding, acting on and combining of information. Machines would be able to understand and respond to the requests of humans though they are complicated. There are some form of semantic web products up to date, including search engines and the like, however, we aren't truly there yet, because we haven't reached that high of a level yet. 

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