E-business

[Roman]

I would like to start a discussion on E-commerce.

Please share your thoughts, insights, and knowledge on the topic from a career, economic, or even a consumer standpoint.

Please also share some good sites/articles links on news and advancement of E-commerce in today's economic and job market.

For starters, I would like to add the link to www.techweb.com

[zman]

By the year 2004, the e-commerce will be a 20 billion dollar industry. This is the technology to be in for the next 5-10 years

[Jaasoos]

[Honourable]

Yaroon ab to aap ne E-commerce par discussion shuruh kar diya hai to mujhe yeh kahne dai(n):

I am finishing an E-commerce program from a Place called iti (www.iti.com) so if anyone of you know anyone looking to hire by July (that is when I will graduate) then let me know........... I am also setting up my online portfolio httP://209.171.223.7/mdharani so check it out and let me know what you think.

By the way, E-Commerce will be the forerunner in business opportunities in the next 10 years or so and even places like Pakistan (not so technically advanced) will be a large part of this business movement

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Honourable
Give without expectations

[Mr Fraudia]

It is becoming a part of every company's strategy. I think that at a future point we will drop the "e" because it will be a part of overall organizational strategy and commerce.

I am working as an e-business strategy consultant and it is interesting to see how some corporate leaders have minimal understanding of whats going on. They do agree on one thing though...they need to do something.

[zman]

I know that security is a big issue also...
132 bit encryption. I saw a bit on 20/20 where they had hackers hack into an accountholders account at a bank.
Any thoughts or articles ......

[Roman]

Along the security issue lines, I recently read a news recently about some hacking a website and stealing hundereds of thousands of credit card number with expiration dates and then storing it in a government site.

Apparently, the hackers did not use the credit cards and it was found out when the Network admin of that particular gov site noticed a big chunk memory being occupied by an unknown file.

Yep, security is definitely an issue.

[Mr Fraudia]

We know that it is a big issue here, what about countries like Pakistan and India. How do the websites there stack up on security measures. Someone was bragging how they hacked into IBM's system to get free accounts. That true?

[Roman]

Technology wise, I am not sure if websites based in India/Pakistan would be much different since the hardware/software technology used is pretty homogeneous. However, given relatively more corruptive measures at all levels, it could be bigger concern.

Guessing the enormous impact of E-biz in different areas, I was thinking about what kind of impact it would have on 'virtual labor' market. There are enormous opportunities in diminishing the geographic distances all over the globe.

For example, there are many types of tasks or jobs that does not require physical presence of an employee at a particular location. A person can be trained in Pakistan to represent a company for its, say, customer service department to receive online complains, comments etc and process and resolve them. So even if the company is based in US, the employee can be sitting at home in Pakistan, performing the work. For company, the labor cost would be lower than an average employee of same level who lives in US and for employee, he/she won't have to depend on local economy for employment opportunities.

This idea may seem a bit far fetched and there are, of course, many obstacles for its implementation in different areas but I think eventually it would be a lot more widespread.

I don't know how much of the above is in place in different areas, anybody around here has any info or thought on the topic?

[Lucid Chaotic]

Hi all,
Ok so far our disussions spans the issues of volume of Online Business,
Network Security and Employee Outsourcing.

I'm currently involved in training ppl from various companies
teaching them how to deploy solutions for online business. This ranges from
the very minimal design of a webpage for online presence upto the
implementation and management of a web storefront.

Furthermore, I'm planning to go for my MBA in E-Commerce next year InshaAllah.

My two cents on these issues...
Sales Volume from online business is rising for sure.
Inspite of all the hacker stories we hear, people are getting comfortable doing business online.
Customer behaviour's greatly been boosted by the decision of market players
who have a great market share in serving them with a physical location. Its
just that they've decided to exploit this additional niche. An example in
Canada is Chapters Online which is in direct competition with Amazon. Ppl
buy from chapters cuz they pay in Canadian $, save on S&H etc.

Security...
Well, SSL and Asymetric Encryption standards are constantly being refined.
I think we've come a long way since the single-key encryption. This is not to say that these
standards are bullet-proof but current PKI standards from RSA, VeriSign and the like are sure to
make it more difficult for the hacker. Corporate Firewall topologies also play a great role in stopping
any security infraction.

Lastly, true that outsourcing now is easier than ever before. I personally know of companies here
in Toronto that have their staff in Islamabad. THey have an upscale office here and all they do here
is arrange client meetings and secure contracts. They send someone over to Islamabad to designate
a project leader and keep consistent checks and deliver the product to the client when done.
All this is "virtually" being done by the company in Toronto.


My question at this point is whether this E-Commerce bubble is ever gonna burst... and if it is,
how long before that happens. Can we forecast another paradigm shift from E-Commerce to some other
way of doing business?

[Mr Fraudia]

Depends on what facet of it you are involved in, I dont see an end to it, I see less hype of it as a separate medium but it will still continue.

Before this we had EDI, not that this has killed EDI, but it was a natural move to move from EDI transactions with trading partners to e-commerce using an extranet.

There is a lot of talk about m-commerce or mobile commerce. i.e. e-commerce but with the additional flexibility of wireless connectivity and mobility.

Moi just a strategy guy, did EDI, did ERP, now e-commerce/e-business, whatever comes after this I will still be making sure that it is an effective part of client's overall strategy.

Umer, MBA in e-commerce is a great thing, but try to do a dual concentration like maybe strategy or finance, gives you much more bredth and is better for future advancement.

[zman]

Agree with you Fraudia. I think JINI technology will be the preferred technology as we move into mobile / appliance computing.

[Lucid Chaotic]

Kamz man,
point taken and also I'm kinda thinking the same.
My current plan if it works inshaAllah is to do my MBA in E-Commerce and then a one-year Masters in MIS...

Although this still is kinda concentrated on technology but definitely a wider perspective. Tell me what you think...

Also, when I think of MBA, the only specialization that comes to mind after E-Commerce is Marketing Management. Maybe tis bcuz I was so much into Marketing during my A-Levels where I studied every book from Kotler to Stanton. I found it really interesting... but I'm not a Marketing kinda guy... dunno, dekho, I'm still finalizing my plans but I hafta put in my application to grad skule by this weekend.
Any comments/suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanx.

[zman]

Business Process re-engineering would be something I would also concentrate on. A lot of businesses, as we speak, are re-defining their business strategies for the next 10 years based on internet / extranet / intranet strengths and weaknesses.

Regards
Zman

[Mr Fraudia]

BPR and change management etc follow strategy very closely. usually to get to strategy level you must have some experience in BPR/CM. Any strategy is only as good as how well it is implemented.

Umar as far as marketing goes, if it is something you like to do, go for it and it does not have to be sales oriented. Market planning, business intelligence, product or segment mgmt etc are all areas that you can go into with a mkt and e-comm dual degree.