E-COMMERCE
DESCRIPTION OF THE SERVICE
E-commerce (electronic commerce or EC) is the buying and selling of goods and services on the Internet, especially the World Wide Web.
To better understand what E-Commerce is all about, think about it…...Want to buy a CD for your spouse? Send a greeting card and chocolates? A car perhaps? Buy a concert ticket or better yet, an airline ticket to London, reserve a hotel room, or do business with your suppliers?
Then go online. Its that simple! Its all about doing business online - the E-commerce way.
HISTORY OF E-COMMERCE
The meaning of electronic commerce has changed over the last 30 years. Originally, electronic commerce meant the facilitation of commercial transactions electronically, using technology such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). These were both introduced in the late 1970s, allowing businesses to send commercial documents like purchase orders or invoices electronically. The growth and acceptance of credit cards, automated teller machines (ATM) and telephone banking in the 1980s were also forms of electronic commerce. Another form of e-commerce was the airline reservation system typified by Sabre in the USA and Travicom in the UK. Online shopping was invented in the UK in 1979 and during the 1980s it was used extensively particularly by auto manufacturers such as Ford,Peugeot-Talbot, General Motors and Nissan. From the 1990s onwards, electronic commerce would additionally include enterprise resource planning systems (ERP), data mining and data warehousing.
Although the Internet became popular worldwide in 1994, it took about five years to introduce security protocols and DSL allowing continual connection to the Internet. And by the end of 2000, a lot of European and American business companies offered their services through the World Wide Web. Since then people began to associate a word "ecommerce" with the ability of purchasing various goods through the Internet using secure protocols and electronic payment services.
DIVISION IN E-COMMERCE
E-commerce can be divided into:
* E-tailing or "virtual storefronts" on Web sites with online catalogs, sometimes gathered
into a "virtual mall".
* The gathering and use of demographic data through Web contacts.
* Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), the business-to-business exchange of data.
*e-mail and fax and their use as media for reaching prospects and established customers
(for example, with newsletters).
*Business-to-business buying and selling.
*The security of business transactions.
TYPES OF APPLICATION IN B2B E-MARKETPLACES
Direct Buyer/Seller Links: Provide a means for sellers to post direct links from a Web site to their own
company Web sites. Potential buyers can follow these links to a vendor’s Web site. Alternatively, there may
be no link and only product and contact information about particular firms (e.g. electronic showrooms,
on-line directories, on-line catalogues).
On-line Auctions: Applications may take three forms: (i) Listing-Agent Auctions where the service provider
acts as an agent running Web-based auctions on the behalf of independent sellers who list their own
auctions; (ii) Merchant Auctions where no independent sellers are identified, and the service provider acts
as a retailer which happens to conduct its transactions by auction; (iii) Hybrid Auctions where elements
of the first two categories are combined. These auctions may take place instantaneously in much the same
way that a product might be sold in a physical auction house, or they may involve buyers placing bids over
the period of time (e.g. the model used by eBay for B2C auctions).
Request for Quotes: This consists of a seller or buyer posting a message to a forum within an on-line
environment or to individual members, indicating a desire to buy or sell items. Buyers and sellers may
be able to select the firms to which their quotes are sent as well as the individual firms from which they
receive quotes. Messages may include price information.
Trade Leads/Classifieds: Buyers and/or sellers post messages to an on-line forum or to individual members
indicating a desire to buy or sell items. Buyers and sellers do not have control over which user firms can
access messages posted to the forum. Messages generally do not include price information.
e-Retail: The service provider sells products directly to users. Visitors take the role of buyers and the site
provider takes the role of a seller. These platforms parallel the exchange processes common on B2C Web sites.
HOW A CONSUMER CAN USE E-COMMERCE SERVICE
When a visitor wants to buy something he/she likes, they merely, visit e-commerce company’s website, choose the products he /she wants to buy, then "add" it to their virtual shopping basket. Items in the virtual shopping basket can be added or deleted, and when he/she is all set to checkout...he/she head to the virtual checkout counter, which will ask his/her name, address etc. and method of payment (usually via credit card). Once he/she have entered all this information (which by the way is being transmitted securely) he/she can then just wait for delivery. Its that simple.
TARGET AUDIENCE
In e-commerce, when someone wants to buy something he/she likes, they merely, visit e-commerce company’s website, choose the products he /she wants to buy, then "add" it to their virtual shopping basket. Then at the checkout he/she will be asked his/her name, address etc. and method of payment (usually via credit card). Once he/she have entered all this information (which by the way is being transmitted securely) he/she can then just wait for delivery.
For using this service internet connection is must. Someone can buy goods from anywhere around the world sitting in his rest room or office. So no need of wasting time in buying products from traditional market. Therefore, we can say that the main target of this service is those persons who are:
1) Busy at their work.
2) Weak and too old to buy something from marketplace.
3) Sick and has fever so can’t go out of the home
4) Cool headed person, don’t want to quarrel and bargain for buying a product.
Not only the customers are targeted by this service. Also businessman can be benefited by using this service. E-trade opens new commercial opportunities to the export-oriented enterprise. In particular, it empowers the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME),
allowing it to participate in international markets where previously market entry and
promotion costs were prohibitive.
ADVATAGES OF E-COMMERCE
Think of eCommerce and the first few features that strike any mind are – a global marketplace – increased sales – increased profits! Not that someone start claiming better margin of profit online, but because various expenses relating to marketing, promotional material, order processing, customer care, inventory management, information storage, telecommunications , considerably slash down.
Some advantages that can be achieved from e-commerce include:
* Ecommerce allows people to carry out businesses without the barriers of time or distance. One can log on to the Internet at any point of time, be it day or night and purchase or sell anything one desires at a single click of the mouse. E-commerce leads to clear rewards in most retail sectors, the Internet allows sellers to reach people around the world, offering their products to a global customer base.
* The direct cost-of-sale for an order taken from a web site is lower than through traditional means (retail, paper based), as there is no human interaction ( no middleman ) during the on-line electronic purchase order process. Also, electronic selling virtually eliminates processing errors, as well as being faster and more convenient for the visitor.
* The day-to-day pressures of the marketplace have played their part in reducing the opportunities for companies to invest in improving their competitive position. A mature market, increased competitions have all reduced the amount of money available to invest. If the selling price cannot be increased and the manufactured cost cannot be decreased then the difference can be in the way the business is carried out. Ecommerce has provided the solution by decimating the costs, which are incurred. So e-commerce lowers the Cost of Doing Business. It has reduced inventory, employees, purchasing costs, order processing costs associated with faxing, phone calls, and data entry, and even eliminate physical stores.
* Speed. Electronic communications allow messages to traverse the world almost instantaneously. There is no need to wait weeks for a catalogue to arrive by post: that communications delay is not a part of the Internet / e-commerce world.
*With right software, store inventory levels, shipping and receiving logs, and other business administration tasks can be automatically stored, categorized and updated in real-time, and accessed on demand.
* In a E-commerce company’s website customers can search capabilities by item, corporate name, division name, location, manufacturer, partner, or price.
* E-commerce reduced marketing/advertising expenses, compete on equal footing with much bigger companies; easily compete on quality, price, and availability.
* Recent advancements in payment technologies allow encrypted, secure payment online.
* Advantages from the buyer’s perspective:
# Reduction in buyer’s sorting out time.
# Better buyer decisions
# Less time is spent in resolving invoice and order discrepancies.
# Increased opportunities for buying alternative products.
* The strategic benefit of making a business ‘ecommerce enabled’, is that it helps reduce the delivery time, labors cost and the cost incurred in the following areas:
# Document preparation
# Error detection and correction
# Reconciliation
# Mail preparation
# Telephone calling
# Data entry
# Overtime
# Supervision expenses
DISADVANTGES OF E-COMMERCE
Some of the disadvantages of e-commerce to the consumer and the businessman are listed below:
- For the Consumer
• Unable to Examine Products Personally: If we buy products through the internet, we are not able to examine the products physically and the quality of the product. Images of the products may be available for viewing. But we can’t buy the product by seeing the image on the internet. There is a risk involved in the quality of the product that the consumer is purchasing.
• Online Purchasing Security: There are possibilities of credit card number theft.
• Limited and selected sensory information. The Internet is an effective conduit for visual and auditory information: seeing pictures, hearing sounds and reading text. However it does not allow full scope for our senses: we can see pictures of the flowers, but not smell their fragrance; we can see pictures of a hammer, but not feel its weight or balance. Further, when we pick up and inspect something, we choose what we look at and how we look at it.
• Privacy, security, payment, identity, contract. Many issues arise - privacy of information, security of that information and payment details, whether or not payment details (eg credit card details) will be misused, identity theft, contract, and, whether we have one or not, what laws and legal jurisdiction apply.
* Figure shows Reasons for consumer complaints (Australia 2002) (EGEC, November 2003:11)
- For the Business
• Hardware and Software: There are specific hardware and software that are essential to start up an e-commerce company that may be big and costly.
• Maintenance of Website: The website must be maintained and updated regularly and this may lead to extra labor costs. The website should update the current information of the new product and the cost of the new product instantly.
• Costs: Even though the company may initially save money by cutting intermediaries, and not having to invest much on capital assets, other costs may be incurred by start-up costs of the company in terms of hardware and software as well as training of employees, costs to maintain the website, and distribution costs.
• Website Stickiness and Customer Loyalty: A company can have a website and exist within the Internet but there may not be enough people visiting the site and purchasing services or products from the company. The Internet provides less expensive advertising but also because of its sheer vastness and the existence of websites of established businesses, it is critical to create a website that is “sticky” enough to attract market share and create loyalty among the acquired market share.
• Training and Maintenance: The company needs well-skilled and trained workers to maintain and create the ecommerce facilities of the company. Many companies prefer to outsource their development and programming tasks to decrease labor costs.
• Security: An e-commerce business exposes itself to security risks and may be susceptible to destruction and disclosure of confidential data, data transfer and transaction risks (as in online payments) or virus attacks.
EXAMPLE OF E-COMMERCE
AMAZON.COM, Inc.
Amazon.com, Inc. is an American electronic commerce (e-commerce) company in Seattle, Washington.
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com, Inc. in 1994, and launched it online in 1995.
Amazon.com started as an on-line bookstore, but soon diversified to product lines of VHS, DVD, music CDs, MP3 format, computer software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys, etc. Amazon has established separate websites in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, China and Japan. It also provides global shipping to certain countries for some of its products.
Amazon's initial business plan was unusual: the company did not expect a profit for four to five years; the strategy was effective. Amazon grew steadily in the late 1990s while other Internet companies grew blindingly fast. Amazon's "slow" growth provoked stockholder complaints: that the company was not reaching profitability fast enough. When the dot-com bubble burst, and many e-companies went out of business, Amazon persevered, and, finally, turned its first profit in the fourth quarter of 2001: U.S. $5 million, just 1¢ per share, on revenues of more than U.S. $1 billion, but the profit was symbolically important.
The company remains profitable: 2003 net income was U.S.$35.3 million, U.S.$588.50 million in 2004, U.S.$359 million in 2005, and U.S.$190 million in 2006 (including a U.S.$662 million charge for R&D in 2006), nevertheless, the firm's cumulative profits remain negative. As of September 2007, the accumulated deficit stood at U.S.$1.58 billion. Revenues increased thanks to product diversification and an international presence: US$3.9 billion in 2002, U.S.$5.3 billion in 2003, U.S.$6.9 billion in 2004, U.S.$8.5 billion in 2005, and U.S.$10.7 billion in 2006. On November 21, 2005, Amazon entered the S&P 500 index, replacing AT&T after it merged with SBC Communications.
In 1999, Time Magazine named Bezos Person of the Year, recognizing the company's success in popularizing on-line shopping.
IMPROTANT INFORMATION:
* Founded 1994
* Founder Jeffrey P. Bezos
* Headquarters Seattle, Washington, USA
*Area served Worldwide
* Revenue US$ 14.8350 Billion (2007)
* Operating income US$ 655 Million (2007)
* Net income US$ 476 Million (2007)
* Employees 17,000 (2008)[1]
* Slogan "...and you're done"
* Website http://www.amazon.com/
ALIBABA
Alibaba is a Hangzhou-based e-commerce/e-auction company, specializing in global trading. It was founded in 1999 by Ma Yun (Jack Ma), and operates five e-commerce sub-companies which operate different aspects of trading.
The English-language web site alibaba.com specializes in business-to-business trades, especially for international buyers trying to contact Chinese sellers. The Chinese-language web site china.alibaba.com focuses on business-to-business trades within China, while www.taobao.com is a consumer-to-consumer trade site for Chinese customers. The Japanese language website "Japan.alibaba.com" is for Japanese customers.
Japan's Softbank was one of the earliest investors in Alibaba. Its founder, Masyoshi Son, invested $18 million in the company in 2000 and also participated in subsequent rounds of financing.
On August 11, 2005, Yahoo! announced that it would purchase a 40% stake in the company for US$1bn plus Yahoo!'s Chinese assets (worth about US $700M). Alibaba will take charge of Yahoo! China, and Alibaba's founder Jack Ma will remain.
As of January 2007, the Alibaba Group is made up of 5 sub-companies:
1}Alibaba.com: English language global trade website serving small and medium-sized enterprises.
2} Taobao.com: Online auctions web site for customers.
3} Alipay: Online payments web site, processing mainly payments within China.
4} Alisoft: Provider of web services to the Chinese Small and Medium-sized Enterprise
marketplace.
5} Alimama: Online advertising exchange, which allows web publishers and advertisers
to trade online advertising inventory.
In 2008, alibaba.com attracted at least 23 million visitors of which 65 percent hail from China.
IMPROTANT INFORMATION:
Founded Hangzhou, China (1999)
Founder Ma Yun (Jack Ma)
Headquarters 6/F Chuangye Mansion, East Software Park, No.99 Huaxing Road,
Hangzhou, 310099, China
Industry Internet
Employees 4,400 (June 30, 2007)
Website http://www.alibaba.com/
eBay Inc.
eBay Inc. is an American Internet company that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell goods and services worldwide. In addition to its original U.S. Web site, eBay has established localized Web sites in thirty other countries. eBay Inc. also owns PayPal, Skype, StubHub, and other businesses.
The online auction Web site was founded in San Jose, California, on September 3, 1995, by French-born Iranian computer programmer Pierre Omidyar as AuctionWeb, part of a larger personal site that included, among other things, Omidyar's own tongue-in-cheek tribute to the Ebola virus. In 1997, the company received approximately $5 million in funding from the venture capital firm Benchmark Capital.
The very first item sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer for $14.83. Astonished, Omidyar contacted the winning bidder to ask if he understood that the laser pointer was broken. In his responding email, the buyer explained: "I'm a collector of broken laser pointers." The frequently-repeated story that eBay was founded to help Omidyar's fiancée trade PEZ Candy dispensers was fabricated by a public relations manager in 1997 to interest the media. This was revealed in Adam Cohen's 2002 book, The Perfect Store,[3] and confirmed by eBay.
Chris Agarpao was hired as eBay's first employee and Jeffrey Skoll was hired as the first president of the company in early 1996. In November 1996, eBay entered into its first third-party licensing deal, with a company called Electronic Travel Auction to use SmartMarket Technology to sell plane tickets and other travel products. The company officially changed the name of its service from AuctionWeb to eBay in September 1997. Originally, the site belonged to Echo Bay Technology Group, Omidyar's consulting firm. Omidyar had tried to register the domain name echobay.com (the domain has recently been put up for sale) but found it already taken by the Echo Bay Mines, a gold mining company, so he shortened it to his second choice, eBay.com.
eBay went public on September 21, 1998, and both Omidyar and Skoll became instant billionaires. The company purchased PayPal on October 14, 2002.
IMPROTANT INFORMATION:
Type Public
Founded September 3, 1995
Headquarters San Jose, California And
Salt Lake City, Utah (alternate headquarters), United States
Industry Auctions Online auction hosting.
Revenue $8.46 billion USD (2008)
Employees 15,500 (Q1 2008)
Slogan What ever it is, you can get it on eBay., and Shop victoriously!
Website www.ebay.com
OTER EXAMPLE:
KOLACO, Inc.
Kolaco is an IBM Business Partner specializing in Lotus Notes and Web workflow productivity solutions and services. Kolaco's services extent to include Advanced Systems Administration, Sametime, Blackberry Server Installation, QuickR, Email Archiving, Data Warehousing and WebSphere Portal. Kolaco's products include Trackmeet - a Meeting Minutes and Action Item Tracking System, Xpressite - a website content manager and Xpressite Ecommerce - a website content manager with full ecommerce capabilities. Xpressite includes the most commonly sought after functionality including events and events registration, news, whitepapers, full text searching, dynamic drop down menus and automatic expiration of time sensitive pages. Additional modules or customization services are available for more advanced functionality. Xpressite Bundles are priced for small and mid market companies.
WEBSITE: http://www.kolaco.com/
ORACLE CORPORATION
Oracle Corporation is the second largest software company in the world. Their products include the Oracle database and development tools; and business applications for sales and service, manufacturing and supply chain, and finance and human resources.
Oracle8 delivers the lowest total cost of ownership by making it easy to run database applications on a corporate Internet. A corporate Internet stores data and applications on professionally managed servers, not desktop PCs. This cuts labor and networking costs, while improving system performance and reliability.
Oracle employs 37,000 database and business application specialists, dedicated to providing our customers with consulting, education and support services in 140 countries around the world.
Top 10 Online Retailers:-
Amazon.com
eBay.com
Wal-Mart.com
BestBuy.com
JCPenney.com
Target.com
Kohls.com
Overstock.com
Google.com
Sears.com
FITNESS FOR PURPOSE
E-Commerce is not about just online stores, its about anything and everything to do with money. If you pay (via cash, check, credit card, etc.) E-Commerce is about to make an introduction into your life soon. Banks like Bank of America and Wells Fargo are now giving their clients accessibility to their bank accounts via the web.
In short, by implementing E-Commerce, you save money, are online 24 hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week, no traffic jams, shopping crowds, carrying overloaded heavy shopping bags etc. Just more business, the easy way.
A RESEARCH
Why the buyers, engaged shopping in the Ecommerce stores, prefer the traditional stores? The main advantage is the essential economy of time.
Two-thirds from ecommerce store buyers (61 %) have given such answer.
Each second Ecommerce stores users (51 %) also has told, that it is pleased with delivery of the goods to the house.
47 more % have noted, that sometimes it is possible to find the goods which you will not meet in traditional stores in network supermarkets.
There is more than third of respondents (37 %) try to save, buying the goods in the Network, as the prices in the Ecommerce stores are lower.
Such data have been received within the limits of research of an audience the Ecommerce stores, lead by research holding some Monitoring company in the first quarter of current year. In total 2426 buyers and visitors of sites the ecommerce stores in the age of from 14 years and more senior have been interrogated.
ACCEPTANCE
Initially Consumers have accepted the e-commerce business model less readily than its proponents originally expected. Even in product categories suitable for e-commerce, electronic shopping has developed only slowly. Several reasons might account for the slow uptake, including:
Concerns about security.
Lack of instant gratification with most e-purchases (non-digital purchases).
Poorly designed, bug-infested e-Commerce web sites that frustrate online shoppers and drive them away etc.
As a place for direct retail shopping, with its 24-hour availability, a global reach, the ability to interact and provide custom information and ordering, and multimedia prospects, though the progress was slow at the beginning ( the reasons were mentioned above ) but recently this e-commerce service is gaining its acceptance to the customers worldwide, and rapidly becoming a multibillion dollar source of revenue for the world's businesses. A number of businesses already report considerable success. As early as the middle of 1997, Dell Computers reported orders of a million dollars a day. By early 1999, projected e-commerce revenues for business were in the billions of dollars and the stocks of companies deemed most adept at e-commerce were skyrocketing.
According to a CNN Opinion Poll, 62% of respondents who were surveyed said they plan to shop online during the Christmas season. Newsweek devoted its front page story to "shopping.com" in its December 7, 1998 issue (Asian Edition). The title was "Why Online Stores are the Best Thing since Santa Claus". Therefore, we can say that e-commerce is marching towards its success very rapidly in this twenty-first century.
HOW THE SERVICE CAN BE IMPROVED?
The e-commerce juggernaut is not without its dangers and shortcomings. It is drastically affecting traditional firms that cannot continue to do business according to the traditional economic model.
The security weaknesses of the e-commerce infrastructure have been well publicized: Viruses, security intrusions, and inability to provide services because of volume attacks are not phenomena that will disappear. A continuous struggle is evolving among facilitating technologies, intrinsic technological dangers, and the management of these factors
Privacy issues present a different set of challenges. The same technology that facilitates business activities and provides wonderful services is also a major threat to individual freedom. Large databases linking information about economic activity from different sources (purchases, banking activity, medical records) provide great economic advantages by making marketing more efficient, loans more targeted, and medical information ubiquitous. They also create great dangers for privacy potentials for abuse.
Main problems people feel in e-commerce:
In disadvantages service I described all the problems in e-commerce. Some of the main problems are listed below which would help to find in which sectors e-commerce needs to improved:
٭٭ Concerns about security. Many people will not use credit cards over the Internet due to concerns about theft and credit card fraud.
٭٭ Lack of instant gratification with most e-purchases (non-digital purchases). Much of a consumer's reward for purchasing a product lies in the instant gratification of using and displaying that product. This reward does not exist when one's purchase does not arrive for days or weeks.
٭٭ The problem of access to web commerce, mainly for poor households and for developing countries. Low penetration rates of Internet access in some sectors greatly reduces the potential for e-commerce.
٭٭ The social aspect of shopping. Some people enjoy talking to sales staff, to other shoppers, or to their cohorts: this social reward side of retail therapy does not exist to the same extent in online shopping.
٭٭ Poorly designed, bug-infested e-Commerce web sites that frustrate online shoppers and drive them away.
٭٭ Inconsistent return policies among e-tailers or difficulties in exchange/return.
Improvements required….
In many cases, an e-commerce company will survive not only based on its product, but by having a competent management team, good post-sales services, well-organized business structure, network infrastructure and a secured, well-designed website. A company that wants to succeed will have to perform two things: Technical and organizational aspects and customer-oriented. Following factors will make business of companies succeed in e-commerce. Below, all the sectors in which this service needs to be improved is listed:
Sufficient work done in market research and analysis. E-commerce is not exempt from good business planning and the fundamental laws of supply and demand. Business failure is as much a reality in e-commerce as in any other form of business.
A good management team armed with information technology strategy. A company's IT strategy should be a part of the business re-design process.
Providing an easy and secured way for customers to effect transactions. Credit cards are the most popular means of sending payments on the internet, accounting for 90% of online purchases.
The e-commerce juggernaut is not without its dangers and shortcomings. It is drastically affecting traditional firms that cannot continue to do business according to the traditional economic model
The security weaknesses of the e-commerce infrastructure have been well publicized: Viruses, security intrusions, and inability to provide services because of volume attacks are not phenomena that will disappear. A continuous struggle is evolving among facilitating technologies, intrinsic technological dangers, and the management of these factors
Privacy issues present a different set of challenges. The same technology that facilitates business activities and provides wonderful services is also a major threat to individual freedom. Large databases linking information about economic activity from different sources (purchases, banking activity, medical records) provide great economic advantages by making marketing more efficient, loans more targeted, and medical information ubiquitous. They also create great dangers for privacy potentials for abuse.
Consequently, easy fixes are not possible and new methods of establishing order, efficiency, and decency will have to be created. Because the Internet is truly a supranational entity, nations need to band together to maintain order and efficiency and reasonableness in cyberspace. The same economic factors that allow for arbitrage can also be used for self-policing and monitoring of the e-commerce environment.
To benefit fully from this medium, companies/entities and nations must have payment-clearing solutions, customs solutions, and access to the large markets of the economy.
Rogue countries can be excluded from the payment-clearing chains; rogue companies behaving in unacceptable ways can be boycotted and excluded from any affiliation and linking deals
Self-policing seals such as the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' (AICPA) Web Trust and SysTrust products, inspections, and certificates can be used for monitoring and supervision.
International information structures, involving many cooperating organizations, can be on the alert for rogue behavior and spearhead a drive to create reasonable and unbiased rules.
Technology can be used to monitor and detect money laundering, illegal product flows, and information trafficking. But such monitoring must be carefully conceived and supervised, because it could turn into a "Big Brother" type of behavior.
Providing reliability. Parallel servers, hardware redundancy, fail-safe technology, information encryption, and firewalls can enhance this requirement. Providing a 360-degree view of the customer relationship, defined as ensuring that all employees, suppliers, and partners have a complete view, and the same view, of the customer.
Providing complete understanding of the products or services offered, which not only includes complete product information, but also sound advisors and selectors.
Improvement needed in customer care
An e-commerce organization must also provide an enjoyable and rewarding experience to its customers. Many factors go into making this possible. Such factors include:
* Providing value to customers. Vendors can achieve this by offering a product or product-line that attracts potential customers at a competitive price, as in non-electronic commerce.
* Providing service and performance. Offering a responsive, user-friendly purchasing experience, just like a flesh-and-blood retailer, may go some way to achieving these goals.
* Providing an incentive for customers to buy and to return. Sales promotions to this end can involve coupons, special offers, and discounts. Cross-linked websites and advertising affiliate programs can also help.
* Providing personal attention. Personalized web sites, purchase suggestions, and personalized special offers may go some of the way to substituting for the face-to-face human interaction found at a traditional point of sale.
* Providing a sense of community. Chat rooms, discussion boards, soliciting customer input and loyalty programs (sometimes called affinity programs) can help in this respect.
* Owning the customer's total experience. E-tailers foster this by treating any contacts with a customer as part of a total experience, an experience that becomes synonymous with the brand.
NON-ICT SOLUTION
An online commerce customer faces mediation in every element and at every stage of the commerce transaction. Customers can't see the merchant, only the merchant's website; they can't touch the merchandise, they can only see a representation; they can't wander a store and speak with employees, they can only browse HTML pages, read FAQs, and fire off email to nameless customer service mailboxes; they can't explore the store's shelves and product space, they can only search a digital catalog.
Traditional commerce is the non-ict solution of e-commerce. Here customers can easily authenticate the identity of a merchant simply by walking into a bricks-and-mortar store.
Customers can touch and feel and hold the merchandise. Tactile cues can drive the decision to buy. A transaction that is face-to-face is usually unmediated: His/Her communication with the merchant is not in the hands of a third party or technology.
The item at the center of the commerce transaction -- the product, service, or property that is to be sold/bought -- has some kind of value. Its price is determined and validated through the performance of the transaction. The seller agrees to a selling price, and the buyer agrees to a buying price. Customers can make purchases anonymously with cash; they usually don't have to give their name or address.
* * Different types of non-ict commerce:
Retail store
This is by far the most common commerce: you walk into a store that is stocked with merchandise for immediate sale -- bookstores, grocery stores, hardware stores -- and find what you want, then purchase it. You leave the store with the product, assuming immediate ownership.
Retail special order
When a retail store doesn't stock the product you want, or is currently out of stock, you often have the option of special ordering the product. If a bookstore doesn't care a small press book title that you want, and the title is in print, you can usually special order the title from the store; the store locates the product, buys it, then resells it you. Delayed gratification, but you have the advantage of dealing with a merchant face-to-face. I would consider rain checks in this same category.
Catalogue store
Smaller towns sometimes have catalogue stores, where a large merchant doesn't see a local demand to keep a store stocked with merchandise, so they instead provide a storefront where people can come in and look at catalogues, and order from a company representative. Sears is a company that operates catalogue stores (or at least they used to), and Service Merchandise functions as a catalogue store for much of their "stock".
Phone order from a catalogue
Mail order catalogues, with their operators standing by, have been around longer than the internet. While you can't touch and feel the merchandise prior to ordering, you can at least speak with a live person when placing the order; I've had some excellent shopping experiences with mail order catalog customer service reps.
Bargaining
I find this the strangest form of commerce transaction; I simply am not used to bargaining... just give me a price, and I'll decide whether or not to pay it. The United States is not a country with a vibrant bargaining culture, but if you travel internationally you will encounter cultures that thrive on bargaining. In the U.S., buying an automobile or shopping at collectors conventions is often a bargaining experience.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
INFORMATION AGE
INFORMATION AGE
“ Information Age is a term that has been used to refer to the present era. The name alludes to the global economy's shift in focus away from the production of physical goods (as exemplified by the industrial age ) and towards the manipulation of information. ’’ This the definition of Information age According to the Encyclopedia.
With the dissemination of information, the hierarchical structure of organization breaks up. There is no need of various layers of management to perform the varied task they were earlier used to do. During the last decade it was professed that one should control management. In the 70’s there was the concept of controlling finance. Today, the dissemination of information various medias has to be managed.
Also, in this age the kids will be sitting at the terminals and derive knowledge, which at time could be impracticable…! It is being feared that the industrial revolution increased the capability of men by substituting muscle power with machine. This new information age will substitute the human intelligence with machine.
But it is undeniable, through the grace of this age we can talk over the phone and send messages across the seas and listen to the up-to-date news over the world through radio, TV and Internet. The way we access to information sources in this age was hardly dreamed of even 20 years ago; the ability to manipulate and transfer this information at enormous speed has changed the way we run almost every aspect of our lives. This age changed the proverb “ Knowledge is power ’’. Now we say “ Information is power ”. This is because knowledge is the gathering of information. So, it is the information which actually en-rich our knowledge. Therefore, ultimately, information should be the power!!!
Thursday, November 27, 2008
ONLINE EDUCATION
ONLINE EDUCATION
DESCRIPTION OF THE SERVICE
Online education : "A CLASSROOM WITHOUT WALLS, IT'S ENGAGING IN ASSISTED, SELF DIRECTED LEARNING.”
Online education, also known as distance learning or e-learning, differs from traditional education because students are not required to visit an actual classroom and listen to an instructor face-to-face. Online education is truly about student convenience. Students can check in, work on assignments, and turn them in when their schedules permit, not when the college doors are open.
Online education means students no longer have to:
* quit their jobs to attend college,
* take time off from work to attend a specific course,
*spend hours in rush hour traffic or drive 200 miles to the nearest college or University,
It also means students:
*learn at their own pace,
*gain more one-on-one access to their instructors, and
*earn degrees in less time than it would take to juggle traditional courses.
How Online Education Works
After researching the best accredited institution, students are required to apply to one of the college's degree programs. Once accepted into an online program, students are asked to sign up for appropriate courses. After the registration process is complete and students are accepted into the program, the real work begins.
Students begin their course studies by logging onto the Internet. Once they're in their appropriate classroom, they'll learn by reading assignments, asking questions, and receiving instructor feedback. Some courses even offer forums and/or chat rooms where students can gather, with or without the instructor, to discuss assignments. Finally, students are graded on homework assignments, final projects, and test scores.
The most common function used in online education is electronic mail (email) that allows students and teachers to send messages to each other. In addition, most networks also provide conferencing capabilities that let participants conduct multi-person discussions either in real-time (often called "chats") or on a delayed basis (asynchronous).
All Courses Are Not Created Equally
Different programs require different levels of computer and/or Internet knowledge. Therefore, it is vital students take the time to speak with potential instructors, previous college students, and even the computer tech department to get a better understanding of the teaching methods and technology used.
Online instructors, like those teaching traditional courses, bring to their courses their own personal experiences, teaching objectives, and preferred methodologies. In addition, the institution's technology and technical support also influence learning experiences, Some courses are text and content-focused, while other courses emphasize more technical skill and interaction with technology.
ADVANTAGES OF ONLINE EDUCATION
E-education is definitely a good option to get a online degree to improve student’s career and living styles. Besides, there are so many advantages with which he/she can be benefited with if he/she pursue a distance learning course. Some of the benefits of online education are discussed below:
Low Cost:
Online studies cost less than any college direct programs. Universities and college charge very less tuition fee for any online course compared to the direct program.
A Flexible Time Schedule:
Students will be the master of their own schedule. Time is not a constraint in an online course. They can attend lectures, complete assignments and take exams at their own time.
Effective Learning:
Online learning is more effective due to technological involvement. Students will get study materials easily through the internet. Universities and colleges offering online programs are facilitating transcripts, live discussions and training materials which can be retrieved via mail, e-mail or the school's website for reading, downloading and printing. Instructors are also available at Students' convenient times and respond to queries quickly through e-mail.
Do not need to live in a hostel:
Students do not have to live in college hostel or any other place away from their home. They can stay at their home with their family and pursue the online course
Saves time:
Online schooling saves time. Students won’t have to spend time driving to school, finding a parking space and racing the clock to get to the classroom. His/her home is his/her classroom.
Students are the one in control:
Students plan their study time around their work or family time. They create the schedule. If something happens and he/she can’t keep his/her planned schedule due to an emergency or some other reason, he/she can still get all your work done when things get back to normal. This means he/she are the one in control. They set your own hours and their own pace for whatever works best for them.
The impact of negative body language or censuring tone:
Some learners feel uncomfortable speaking up in a traditional classroom because other learners give negative nonverbal cues, like frowning, rolling their eyes, sighing loudly, crossing their arms, or shaking their head. Online, even if other learners feel negatively about a statement, the learner writing the comment gets to complete the thought before someone else posts a reply. Plus, learners—at least in a print-based chat session—do not get the chance to see or hear each other during a chat. The impact of negative body language or censuring tone is missing from an online written chat.
Enhancing student-to-student and faculty-to-student communication:
The integration of online, web-based learning with proven education methodologies provides substantial added value to traditional education. Students and faculty can both benefit from using the communication and assessment tools that are made available via online learning.
Accessibility:
Attend online classes from anywhere.
Choices:
Take courses in different subject matters.
Communication:
The ability to communicate and interact with students all over the country or even the world.
Availability:
Documents, transcripts, live discussions and training materials are all archived and recorded so that they can be retrieved via mail, e-mail or the school’s website for reading, downloading, and printing. Instructors are also available at convenient times and respond quickly through email.
DISADVANTAGES
Alongside the advantages of the Online Distance Education there are also some downsides. The major disadvantages of Online Distance Education include access to technologies, a higher cost of running online courses than people originally envisaged, the inability to receive technical advice and perhaps the most damaging of all, the negative attitude held towards online distance education by lecturers, administrators and even some students.
Here are some disadvantages listed:
Progress:
With an online education, there is probably no one checking your progress on a regular basis. You may be given some guidance along the way, but you and you alone are usually responsible for working your way through the course.
Oral Communications:
Due to interaction through email or text chatting, individuals may not have a chance to enhance their oral communication skills.
Lack of skills in technology:
Many of the lecturers and administration officials connected with online distance education programs are unfamiliar with the technologies themselves
High running cost:
The cost of simply running appropriate computer systems and an Internet connection is expensive enough let alone when students have to pay for other multimedia material. Many of the new technologies are not cheap and even if they are cheap to distribute they may involve a large cost for the production of & equipment used to produce the item.
Employment:
Not all work industries acknowledge online degrees.
Fraud:
Many online degrees are not valid or accredited.
Courses:
Not all courses are available online.
TARGET AUDIENCE
The Internet is a powerful and popular medium for information exchange. Because of its 24-hour accessibility, people who are not able to attend a traditional college or university can obtain an education from a distance easier than ever before, and at their own pace.
In the past, working adults weren't able to further their careers because of time restraints; including, but not limited to, working overtime, business travel, and caring for families. Online education takes away those time restraints by offering a completely virtual learning experience.
Working adults can now continue their education, earn higher degrees, and earn more money by attending courses that primarily take place over the Internet. Therefore, online education is for the adults and for those who can’t built their careers by attending a traditional college or university because of time restraints, though advantages of this service can be taken by anyone who have computer with internet connection.
FITNESS FOR PURPOSE
According to recent reports, roughly one in six students enrolled in higher education – about 3.5 million people – took at least one online course last fall ( 2005 ) . This is double the number who reported doing so in 2002. Five Years of Growth in Online Learning, reported a 10 percent increase in popularity for the cyber classroom.
A Survey in United States
The Sloan Survey of Online Learning, “Making the Grade: Online Education in the United States, 2006,” shows that 62 percent of chief academic officers say that the learning outcomes in online education are now “as good as or superior to face-to-face instruction,” and nearly 6 in 10 agree that e-learning is “critical to the long-term strategy of their institution.” Both numbers are up from a year ago.
Researchers at the Sloan Consortium, which is administered through Babson College and Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, received responses from officials at more than 2,200 colleges and universities across the country.
The Sloan report shows that about 80 percent of students taking online courses are at the undergraduate level. About half are taking online courses through community colleges and 13 percent through doctoral and research universities, according to the survey.
E-learning has come full circle
An electronic page is miles apart from a textbook. The challenge for e-learning portals is in making their Web pages as, or more effective than textbooks. This is done by making the "virtual course interactive, with chat and other software to make learning a real experience"
E-learning has indeed become an essential component of the learning process, rather than an independent and isolated tool. As a result, experts maintain there's been a noticeable trend amongst post-secondary institutions towards including facets of e-learning in their curriculums.
"E-learning was initially viewed as the be-all and the end-all," Mr. Van Wingerden, vice-president of learning solutions for Perth-based dominKnow, told , "but it has come full circle."
"People have really started to understand the fundamentals as well as the limitations. E-learning can give you a really strong base," Mr. Van Wingerden said.
HOW THE SERVICE CAN BE IMPROVED?
Improvement is needed in the following sectors:
* Although online distance education is supposed to reach an unprecedented learning audience the number of these students with access to the required technology is relatively low. So, improvement is needed in this sector.
* The online programs are great; however, the actual means of accessing the information are missing in a lot of communities. People who live in regional areas rarely own computers that are able to run all the new technologies. The major reason why this is so, is because of the high costs of the computer and the cost of Internet access. This high costing should be cartel down.
* Another major setback to the new online distance education system is the current lack of skills by students in using the new technologies. The online student’s has to acquire the kind of necessary knowledge and understanding about new technology.
* Many online education syllabus writers aim to have their education programs work in conjunction with new technology and to do this the teachers must pre-empt what technological changes are going to be made before the time of release of the course material. This leaves plenty of space for incorrect assumptions of what will be available.
* One of the most common thoughts from many institutions is that, just by using an online system to deliver the course, that it will simply just make the course better. More needs to be done than simply making the course available online to make the course a success.
* Teachers should Know the technology they are using! Be very comfortable with it — it will make their life easier and students will rely on them for assistance.
* Teachers should know their audience so that they can design in appropriate questions and interactions. Know your participants’ names and use them! Ensure that content is fresh and relevant to their needs. Be aware of what learners might not be aware of.
* Institutes should plan the course carefully and make sure that it has enough flexibility. Set clear expectations. Use a syllabus or outline to manage student expectations about institutes response time for individual emails, and define student participation so that students know there is a reward for quality as well as for a minimum number of postings.
* Institutes should send out lots of preparation information to make sure attendees are comfortable in their environment.
NON-ICT SOLUTION
Some of the non-ict solution of e-learning is listed below:
* Traditional method.
* In rural areas, some educated people teaches children where there is no school.
* Private tutor.
* Coaching centre.
* Language / speaking club.
DESCRIPTION OF THE SERVICE
Online education : "A CLASSROOM WITHOUT WALLS, IT'S ENGAGING IN ASSISTED, SELF DIRECTED LEARNING.”
Online education, also known as distance learning or e-learning, differs from traditional education because students are not required to visit an actual classroom and listen to an instructor face-to-face. Online education is truly about student convenience. Students can check in, work on assignments, and turn them in when their schedules permit, not when the college doors are open.
Online education means students no longer have to:
* quit their jobs to attend college,
* take time off from work to attend a specific course,
*spend hours in rush hour traffic or drive 200 miles to the nearest college or University,
It also means students:
*learn at their own pace,
*gain more one-on-one access to their instructors, and
*earn degrees in less time than it would take to juggle traditional courses.
How Online Education Works
After researching the best accredited institution, students are required to apply to one of the college's degree programs. Once accepted into an online program, students are asked to sign up for appropriate courses. After the registration process is complete and students are accepted into the program, the real work begins.
Students begin their course studies by logging onto the Internet. Once they're in their appropriate classroom, they'll learn by reading assignments, asking questions, and receiving instructor feedback. Some courses even offer forums and/or chat rooms where students can gather, with or without the instructor, to discuss assignments. Finally, students are graded on homework assignments, final projects, and test scores.
The most common function used in online education is electronic mail (email) that allows students and teachers to send messages to each other. In addition, most networks also provide conferencing capabilities that let participants conduct multi-person discussions either in real-time (often called "chats") or on a delayed basis (asynchronous).
All Courses Are Not Created Equally
Different programs require different levels of computer and/or Internet knowledge. Therefore, it is vital students take the time to speak with potential instructors, previous college students, and even the computer tech department to get a better understanding of the teaching methods and technology used.
Online instructors, like those teaching traditional courses, bring to their courses their own personal experiences, teaching objectives, and preferred methodologies. In addition, the institution's technology and technical support also influence learning experiences, Some courses are text and content-focused, while other courses emphasize more technical skill and interaction with technology.
ADVANTAGES OF ONLINE EDUCATION
E-education is definitely a good option to get a online degree to improve student’s career and living styles. Besides, there are so many advantages with which he/she can be benefited with if he/she pursue a distance learning course. Some of the benefits of online education are discussed below:
Low Cost:
Online studies cost less than any college direct programs. Universities and college charge very less tuition fee for any online course compared to the direct program.
A Flexible Time Schedule:
Students will be the master of their own schedule. Time is not a constraint in an online course. They can attend lectures, complete assignments and take exams at their own time.
Effective Learning:
Online learning is more effective due to technological involvement. Students will get study materials easily through the internet. Universities and colleges offering online programs are facilitating transcripts, live discussions and training materials which can be retrieved via mail, e-mail or the school's website for reading, downloading and printing. Instructors are also available at Students' convenient times and respond to queries quickly through e-mail.
Do not need to live in a hostel:
Students do not have to live in college hostel or any other place away from their home. They can stay at their home with their family and pursue the online course
Saves time:
Online schooling saves time. Students won’t have to spend time driving to school, finding a parking space and racing the clock to get to the classroom. His/her home is his/her classroom.
Students are the one in control:
Students plan their study time around their work or family time. They create the schedule. If something happens and he/she can’t keep his/her planned schedule due to an emergency or some other reason, he/she can still get all your work done when things get back to normal. This means he/she are the one in control. They set your own hours and their own pace for whatever works best for them.
The impact of negative body language or censuring tone:
Some learners feel uncomfortable speaking up in a traditional classroom because other learners give negative nonverbal cues, like frowning, rolling their eyes, sighing loudly, crossing their arms, or shaking their head. Online, even if other learners feel negatively about a statement, the learner writing the comment gets to complete the thought before someone else posts a reply. Plus, learners—at least in a print-based chat session—do not get the chance to see or hear each other during a chat. The impact of negative body language or censuring tone is missing from an online written chat.
Enhancing student-to-student and faculty-to-student communication:
The integration of online, web-based learning with proven education methodologies provides substantial added value to traditional education. Students and faculty can both benefit from using the communication and assessment tools that are made available via online learning.
Accessibility:
Attend online classes from anywhere.
Choices:
Take courses in different subject matters.
Communication:
The ability to communicate and interact with students all over the country or even the world.
Availability:
Documents, transcripts, live discussions and training materials are all archived and recorded so that they can be retrieved via mail, e-mail or the school’s website for reading, downloading, and printing. Instructors are also available at convenient times and respond quickly through email.
DISADVANTAGES
Alongside the advantages of the Online Distance Education there are also some downsides. The major disadvantages of Online Distance Education include access to technologies, a higher cost of running online courses than people originally envisaged, the inability to receive technical advice and perhaps the most damaging of all, the negative attitude held towards online distance education by lecturers, administrators and even some students.
Here are some disadvantages listed:
Progress:
With an online education, there is probably no one checking your progress on a regular basis. You may be given some guidance along the way, but you and you alone are usually responsible for working your way through the course.
Oral Communications:
Due to interaction through email or text chatting, individuals may not have a chance to enhance their oral communication skills.
Lack of skills in technology:
Many of the lecturers and administration officials connected with online distance education programs are unfamiliar with the technologies themselves
High running cost:
The cost of simply running appropriate computer systems and an Internet connection is expensive enough let alone when students have to pay for other multimedia material. Many of the new technologies are not cheap and even if they are cheap to distribute they may involve a large cost for the production of & equipment used to produce the item.
Employment:
Not all work industries acknowledge online degrees.
Fraud:
Many online degrees are not valid or accredited.
Courses:
Not all courses are available online.
TARGET AUDIENCE
The Internet is a powerful and popular medium for information exchange. Because of its 24-hour accessibility, people who are not able to attend a traditional college or university can obtain an education from a distance easier than ever before, and at their own pace.
In the past, working adults weren't able to further their careers because of time restraints; including, but not limited to, working overtime, business travel, and caring for families. Online education takes away those time restraints by offering a completely virtual learning experience.
Working adults can now continue their education, earn higher degrees, and earn more money by attending courses that primarily take place over the Internet. Therefore, online education is for the adults and for those who can’t built their careers by attending a traditional college or university because of time restraints, though advantages of this service can be taken by anyone who have computer with internet connection.
FITNESS FOR PURPOSE
According to recent reports, roughly one in six students enrolled in higher education – about 3.5 million people – took at least one online course last fall ( 2005 ) . This is double the number who reported doing so in 2002. Five Years of Growth in Online Learning, reported a 10 percent increase in popularity for the cyber classroom.
A Survey in United States
The Sloan Survey of Online Learning, “Making the Grade: Online Education in the United States, 2006,” shows that 62 percent of chief academic officers say that the learning outcomes in online education are now “as good as or superior to face-to-face instruction,” and nearly 6 in 10 agree that e-learning is “critical to the long-term strategy of their institution.” Both numbers are up from a year ago.
Researchers at the Sloan Consortium, which is administered through Babson College and Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, received responses from officials at more than 2,200 colleges and universities across the country.
The Sloan report shows that about 80 percent of students taking online courses are at the undergraduate level. About half are taking online courses through community colleges and 13 percent through doctoral and research universities, according to the survey.
E-learning has come full circle
An electronic page is miles apart from a textbook. The challenge for e-learning portals is in making their Web pages as, or more effective than textbooks. This is done by making the "virtual course interactive, with chat and other software to make learning a real experience"
E-learning has indeed become an essential component of the learning process, rather than an independent and isolated tool. As a result, experts maintain there's been a noticeable trend amongst post-secondary institutions towards including facets of e-learning in their curriculums.
"E-learning was initially viewed as the be-all and the end-all," Mr. Van Wingerden, vice-president of learning solutions for Perth-based dominKnow, told , "but it has come full circle."
"People have really started to understand the fundamentals as well as the limitations. E-learning can give you a really strong base," Mr. Van Wingerden said.
HOW THE SERVICE CAN BE IMPROVED?
Improvement is needed in the following sectors:
* Although online distance education is supposed to reach an unprecedented learning audience the number of these students with access to the required technology is relatively low. So, improvement is needed in this sector.
* The online programs are great; however, the actual means of accessing the information are missing in a lot of communities. People who live in regional areas rarely own computers that are able to run all the new technologies. The major reason why this is so, is because of the high costs of the computer and the cost of Internet access. This high costing should be cartel down.
* Another major setback to the new online distance education system is the current lack of skills by students in using the new technologies. The online student’s has to acquire the kind of necessary knowledge and understanding about new technology.
* Many online education syllabus writers aim to have their education programs work in conjunction with new technology and to do this the teachers must pre-empt what technological changes are going to be made before the time of release of the course material. This leaves plenty of space for incorrect assumptions of what will be available.
* One of the most common thoughts from many institutions is that, just by using an online system to deliver the course, that it will simply just make the course better. More needs to be done than simply making the course available online to make the course a success.
* Teachers should Know the technology they are using! Be very comfortable with it — it will make their life easier and students will rely on them for assistance.
* Teachers should know their audience so that they can design in appropriate questions and interactions. Know your participants’ names and use them! Ensure that content is fresh and relevant to their needs. Be aware of what learners might not be aware of.
* Institutes should plan the course carefully and make sure that it has enough flexibility. Set clear expectations. Use a syllabus or outline to manage student expectations about institutes response time for individual emails, and define student participation so that students know there is a reward for quality as well as for a minimum number of postings.
* Institutes should send out lots of preparation information to make sure attendees are comfortable in their environment.
NON-ICT SOLUTION
Some of the non-ict solution of e-learning is listed below:
* Traditional method.
* In rural areas, some educated people teaches children where there is no school.
* Private tutor.
* Coaching centre.
* Language / speaking club.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
COMMUNICATION
COMMUNICATION
Communication is the exchange of thoughts, messages, or information, as by speech, signals, writing, or behavior.
Communication through internet is a great blessing. Not only can people just talk to each other but they can also see each other. Communication made the world smaller and the people closer together.
Basically, there are 3 types of communication:
Written,
Verbal, and
Non-verbal.
Written includes letters, emails, memos, reports and formal documents. Verbal communication includes "chats", presentations and voicemail! Non-verbal communication is using signals to communicate and studying body language.
The Internet provides various ways of communication depending on the need and availability of hardware/software. These include e-mail, phone, instant messaging or IM, short message service or SMS, video conferencing and Web conferencing.
THE TARGET AUDIENCE
Log on to the Internet any day of the week, any time of the day, and find people-thousands of them-pouring their hearts out to perfect strangers. Turning to others about whom we know nothing, to people we can't see, hear, or touch-certainly never intend to meet-for solace, advice, and reliable information about issues closest to our hearts defies conventional predictions of social science. Not everyone can communicate through internet. Peoples who have computer with internet connection can use this service. Day by day number of users of this service is increasing at a high rate. Now, we can even use this online communication using our cell phone. Communication through e-mail is very popular to everyone nowadays. IM , chatting, blog etc. earned popularity among the youths. However, online communication is for all people, religion and culture. The main target of online communication was to bring people all around the world closer together. Therefore, this online communication service is equally important for all those people who have computers with internet connection and knows how to operate it!
SOME EXAMPLE OF ONLINE COMMUNICATION
Blog
Blog is a personal or business online journal or diary shared over the web. Usually it is maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Publishing of a blog is "blogging". Entries in blog are called posts. Blogs are frequently updated and entries in the blog are arranged in a chronological order.
Many blog provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blog, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blog. Most blog are primarily textual, although some focus on art (artblog), photographs (photoblog), sketches (sketchblog), videos (vblog), music (MP3 blog), audio (podcasting), which are part of a wider network of social media. As of December 2007, blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than 112 million blog, this shows how popular a blog is.
There are many different types of blogs, differing not only in the type of content, but also in the way that content is delivered or written:
* Personal Blogs
The personal blog, an ongoing diary or commentary by an individual, is the traditional, most common blog.
* Corporate Blogs
Blogs, either used internally to enhance the communication and culture in a corporation or externally for marketing, branding or public relations purposes are called corporate blogs.
* Question Blogging
It is a type of blog that answers questions. Questions can be submitted in the form of a submittal form, or through email or other means such as telephone or VOIP.
E-mail
Electronic mail, often abbreviated to e-mail, is a store-and-forward method of writing, sending, receiving and saving messages over electronic communication systems. Electronic Mail is where a message is converted to electronic signals and sent from any workstation via a telecom network. The term "e-mail" applies to the Internet e-mail system based on the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, to network systems based on other protocols and to various mainframe, minicomputer, or internet by a particular systems vendor, or on the same protocols used on public networks.
E-mail messages are usually encoded in ASCII text. However, send non-text files can also be sent, such as graphic images and sound files, as attachments sent in binary streams. E-mail was one of the first uses of the Internet and is still the most popular use.
E-mail can be distributed to lists of people as well as to individuals.
E-mail can now also be used on our mobile phones using GPRS, WAP or SMS.
An email system usually allows to:
* see a list of messages in our mailbox, showing the sender’s name, email address, the
subject of the message, and the date and time it was sent.
* select individual message to view.
* compose messages with a subject heading and textual content, and sent them to any
other e-mail address.
* send same message at the same time to different e-mail address.
* add attachment to mail and save attachment from mails.
Mail client and Mail server
An email client is a program run by a user to send and receive email. It retrieves all email for its user from the mail server to which it is connected. It sends all mail from its user to the same mail server, for the distribution to other users of email on other servers. The server therefore manages the communication of mail between internet domains ( such as hotmail.com and yahoo.com).
Advantages
# speed.
# reliability.
# convenience.
# weightless, no paper needed.
# Does not depend on the simultaneous availability of both parties ( sender and receiver )
because messages can be stored or forwarded and retrieved from any workstation.
Disadvantages
# set-up cost can be high
# still not generally available
# risks of data security
# computer can be virus effected through email
IM- INSTANT MESSAGING
"IM" – short for “instant messaging” – is a type of real time communication service. It is somewhat like email, but much more like a chat room. Both parties are online at the same time, and they "talk" to each other by typing text and sending small pictures in instantaneous time.IM is based on special small programs that two separate people install, and those programs connect to beam typed messages to each other. This special software allows peoples to "talk" online with thier friends in other rooms, other cities, and even other countries. The software uses the same cables and network as any web page or email connection.
There are varying levels of IM sophistication. Some IM products are bare-bones (example: Google Talk). User can simply send text messages only. Other IM systems offer advanced options that let them do more than send text messages. It is possible to share photos, send and receive computer files, carry out web searches, listen to the Internet radio stations, play online games, share live video (requires webcam), or even place free PC-to-PC calls worldwide if you have the speaker-and-microphone hardware.
History
The first IM’s were developed in the 1970s and allowed users to send text-based messages to computers linked on the same computer network, typically within the same building. Today, users can enjoy sending text-based IM’s, video and audio feeds and play video games online with their friends and family.
How Does IM Work? Once a user signs in to their IM client, the application sends and receives information from its dedicated server to display the availability of IM contacts for both that user and friends on their contact list. Using an individual users’ IP address and port number, clients then connect users directly once an IM is sent.
Merits
Multiple people may participate in the discussion. This allows on-line meetings to be held by people who may not be in the same country/office or room. When participants leave the discussion, they can receive an email containing a full transcript so that they know what decisions were made.
Some organizations do legitimately use this social tool to communicate, like receptionists talking to their bosses on-screen while simultaneously speaking on the phone. Factory workers who wear ear protectors can see on their screen when their supervisor needs them on the other side of the factory floor.
For teenagers, IM is a way to break boredom in the school computer lab...provided, of course, that the teacher doesn't shut down the IM connections in the room.
Demerits
It steals a lots of time
Teenagers gets effected and waste a lots of their valuable time
Many companies do forbid employees from using IM because it can be such a distraction to employees. Thousands of people every day steal time away from work to chat with their friends and co-workers on their screens.
Chat
Online chat is a way of communicating by sending text messages to people in the same chat-room in real-time. On the Internet, chatting is talking to other people who are using the Internet at the same time you are. Usually, this "talking" is the exchange of typed-in messages requiring one site as the repository for the messages (or "chat site") and a group of users who take part from anywhere on the Internet. In some cases, a private chat can be arranged between two parties who meet initially in a group chat. Chats can be ongoing or scheduled for a particular time and duration. Most chats are focused on a particular topic of interest and some involve guest experts or famous people who "talk" to anyone joining the chat. (Transcripts of a chat can be archived for later reference.) Some chat rooms such as Yahoo! use both text and voice simultaneously. There are also graphical user interface (GUI) text-based chat rooms which allow users to select an identifying icon and modify the look of their chat environment. Some visual chat rooms also incorporate audio and video communications, so that users may actually see and hear each other.
Videoconference
Videoconferencing is a conference between two or more participants at different sites by using computer networks to transmit audio and video data. For example, a point-to-point (two-person) video conferencing system works much like a video telephone. Each participant has a video camera, microphone, and speakers mounted on his or her computer. As the two participants speak to one another, their voices are carried over the network and delivered to the other's speakers, and whatever images appear in front of the video camera appear in a window on the other participant's monitor. Multipoint videoconferencing allows three or more participants to sit in a virtual conference room and communicate as if they were sitting right next to each other.
ADVANTAGES OF THE SERVICE
computerized electric telecommunications have created a global village in terms of the immediacy within which people across the world can share conversations, televised pictures, and interactive software on VDU’s, maps, graphics, and circuits. The process of making decisions has also increased in speed due to the instant access information’s.
Due to the electronic technology, jobs, working locations and cultures are likely to change. The term ‘telecommuting’ is already being used for people who work from home, who are linked to the office by modem and computer terminal, can access world wide communication links without even having to move from their desk.
Some advantages of online communication is listed below:
Gone are the days when people had to wait weeks or even months to receive postal mail! With the communication through internet, an email can be sent and reach its destination instantaneously! E-mails have made the world a smaller place, allowing people separated by great distances to correspond.
Instant Messaging, Chat Rooms – Services such as AIM, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, and Skype allow people to send messages instantaneously, much like a phone conversation, but using written messages.
There are also “virtual rooms” on the internet facilitated by services developed for this reason. These “rooms” allow many users to chat using written messages.
People can communicate with each other from anywhere in the world.
People can communicate while they are in a journey.
Busy business persons can do official work in their home and at the same time give valuable time to his/her family.
Businessmen can communicate with their clients or their employees sitting in his/her bedroom.
Data is transmitted at electronic speeds, rather than by mail and other relatively slow methods.
Data can be collected, and information disseminated, very quickly.
Operating cost is reduced. Data communication can replace mail and courier services and can often eliminate the need for meetings and conferences. A company with data communication has the choice of processing the data centrally.
People can communicate from his/her home, no necessary of physical appearance.
feedback exchange (Computerized telecommunications allow for a virtually simultaneous exchange of information and responses).
Communication is the exchange of thoughts, messages, or information, as by speech, signals, writing, or behavior.
Communication through internet is a great blessing. Not only can people just talk to each other but they can also see each other. Communication made the world smaller and the people closer together.
Basically, there are 3 types of communication:
Written,
Verbal, and
Non-verbal.
Written includes letters, emails, memos, reports and formal documents. Verbal communication includes "chats", presentations and voicemail! Non-verbal communication is using signals to communicate and studying body language.
The Internet provides various ways of communication depending on the need and availability of hardware/software. These include e-mail, phone, instant messaging or IM, short message service or SMS, video conferencing and Web conferencing.
THE TARGET AUDIENCE
Log on to the Internet any day of the week, any time of the day, and find people-thousands of them-pouring their hearts out to perfect strangers. Turning to others about whom we know nothing, to people we can't see, hear, or touch-certainly never intend to meet-for solace, advice, and reliable information about issues closest to our hearts defies conventional predictions of social science. Not everyone can communicate through internet. Peoples who have computer with internet connection can use this service. Day by day number of users of this service is increasing at a high rate. Now, we can even use this online communication using our cell phone. Communication through e-mail is very popular to everyone nowadays. IM , chatting, blog etc. earned popularity among the youths. However, online communication is for all people, religion and culture. The main target of online communication was to bring people all around the world closer together. Therefore, this online communication service is equally important for all those people who have computers with internet connection and knows how to operate it!
SOME EXAMPLE OF ONLINE COMMUNICATION
Blog
Blog is a personal or business online journal or diary shared over the web. Usually it is maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Publishing of a blog is "blogging". Entries in blog are called posts. Blogs are frequently updated and entries in the blog are arranged in a chronological order.
Many blog provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blog, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blog. Most blog are primarily textual, although some focus on art (artblog), photographs (photoblog), sketches (sketchblog), videos (vblog), music (MP3 blog), audio (podcasting), which are part of a wider network of social media. As of December 2007, blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than 112 million blog, this shows how popular a blog is.
There are many different types of blogs, differing not only in the type of content, but also in the way that content is delivered or written:
* Personal Blogs
The personal blog, an ongoing diary or commentary by an individual, is the traditional, most common blog.
* Corporate Blogs
Blogs, either used internally to enhance the communication and culture in a corporation or externally for marketing, branding or public relations purposes are called corporate blogs.
* Question Blogging
It is a type of blog that answers questions. Questions can be submitted in the form of a submittal form, or through email or other means such as telephone or VOIP.
Electronic mail, often abbreviated to e-mail, is a store-and-forward method of writing, sending, receiving and saving messages over electronic communication systems. Electronic Mail is where a message is converted to electronic signals and sent from any workstation via a telecom network. The term "e-mail" applies to the Internet e-mail system based on the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, to network systems based on other protocols and to various mainframe, minicomputer, or internet by a particular systems vendor, or on the same protocols used on public networks.
E-mail messages are usually encoded in ASCII text. However, send non-text files can also be sent, such as graphic images and sound files, as attachments sent in binary streams. E-mail was one of the first uses of the Internet and is still the most popular use.
E-mail can be distributed to lists of people as well as to individuals.
E-mail can now also be used on our mobile phones using GPRS, WAP or SMS.
An email system usually allows to:
* see a list of messages in our mailbox, showing the sender’s name, email address, the
subject of the message, and the date and time it was sent.
* select individual message to view.
* compose messages with a subject heading and textual content, and sent them to any
other e-mail address.
* send same message at the same time to different e-mail address.
* add attachment to mail and save attachment from mails.
Mail client and Mail server
An email client is a program run by a user to send and receive email. It retrieves all email for its user from the mail server to which it is connected. It sends all mail from its user to the same mail server, for the distribution to other users of email on other servers. The server therefore manages the communication of mail between internet domains ( such as hotmail.com and yahoo.com).
Advantages
# speed.
# reliability.
# convenience.
# weightless, no paper needed.
# Does not depend on the simultaneous availability of both parties ( sender and receiver )
because messages can be stored or forwarded and retrieved from any workstation.
Disadvantages
# set-up cost can be high
# still not generally available
# risks of data security
# computer can be virus effected through email
IM- INSTANT MESSAGING
"IM" – short for “instant messaging” – is a type of real time communication service. It is somewhat like email, but much more like a chat room. Both parties are online at the same time, and they "talk" to each other by typing text and sending small pictures in instantaneous time.IM is based on special small programs that two separate people install, and those programs connect to beam typed messages to each other. This special software allows peoples to "talk" online with thier friends in other rooms, other cities, and even other countries. The software uses the same cables and network as any web page or email connection.
There are varying levels of IM sophistication. Some IM products are bare-bones (example: Google Talk). User can simply send text messages only. Other IM systems offer advanced options that let them do more than send text messages. It is possible to share photos, send and receive computer files, carry out web searches, listen to the Internet radio stations, play online games, share live video (requires webcam), or even place free PC-to-PC calls worldwide if you have the speaker-and-microphone hardware.
History
The first IM’s were developed in the 1970s and allowed users to send text-based messages to computers linked on the same computer network, typically within the same building. Today, users can enjoy sending text-based IM’s, video and audio feeds and play video games online with their friends and family.
How Does IM Work? Once a user signs in to their IM client, the application sends and receives information from its dedicated server to display the availability of IM contacts for both that user and friends on their contact list. Using an individual users’ IP address and port number, clients then connect users directly once an IM is sent.
Merits
Multiple people may participate in the discussion. This allows on-line meetings to be held by people who may not be in the same country/office or room. When participants leave the discussion, they can receive an email containing a full transcript so that they know what decisions were made.
Some organizations do legitimately use this social tool to communicate, like receptionists talking to their bosses on-screen while simultaneously speaking on the phone. Factory workers who wear ear protectors can see on their screen when their supervisor needs them on the other side of the factory floor.
For teenagers, IM is a way to break boredom in the school computer lab...provided, of course, that the teacher doesn't shut down the IM connections in the room.
Demerits
It steals a lots of time
Teenagers gets effected and waste a lots of their valuable time
Many companies do forbid employees from using IM because it can be such a distraction to employees. Thousands of people every day steal time away from work to chat with their friends and co-workers on their screens.
Chat
Online chat is a way of communicating by sending text messages to people in the same chat-room in real-time. On the Internet, chatting is talking to other people who are using the Internet at the same time you are. Usually, this "talking" is the exchange of typed-in messages requiring one site as the repository for the messages (or "chat site") and a group of users who take part from anywhere on the Internet. In some cases, a private chat can be arranged between two parties who meet initially in a group chat. Chats can be ongoing or scheduled for a particular time and duration. Most chats are focused on a particular topic of interest and some involve guest experts or famous people who "talk" to anyone joining the chat. (Transcripts of a chat can be archived for later reference.) Some chat rooms such as Yahoo! use both text and voice simultaneously. There are also graphical user interface (GUI) text-based chat rooms which allow users to select an identifying icon and modify the look of their chat environment. Some visual chat rooms also incorporate audio and video communications, so that users may actually see and hear each other.
Videoconference
Videoconferencing is a conference between two or more participants at different sites by using computer networks to transmit audio and video data. For example, a point-to-point (two-person) video conferencing system works much like a video telephone. Each participant has a video camera, microphone, and speakers mounted on his or her computer. As the two participants speak to one another, their voices are carried over the network and delivered to the other's speakers, and whatever images appear in front of the video camera appear in a window on the other participant's monitor. Multipoint videoconferencing allows three or more participants to sit in a virtual conference room and communicate as if they were sitting right next to each other.
ADVANTAGES OF THE SERVICE
computerized electric telecommunications have created a global village in terms of the immediacy within which people across the world can share conversations, televised pictures, and interactive software on VDU’s, maps, graphics, and circuits. The process of making decisions has also increased in speed due to the instant access information’s.
Due to the electronic technology, jobs, working locations and cultures are likely to change. The term ‘telecommuting’ is already being used for people who work from home, who are linked to the office by modem and computer terminal, can access world wide communication links without even having to move from their desk.
Some advantages of online communication is listed below:
Gone are the days when people had to wait weeks or even months to receive postal mail! With the communication through internet, an email can be sent and reach its destination instantaneously! E-mails have made the world a smaller place, allowing people separated by great distances to correspond.
Instant Messaging, Chat Rooms – Services such as AIM, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, and Skype allow people to send messages instantaneously, much like a phone conversation, but using written messages.
There are also “virtual rooms” on the internet facilitated by services developed for this reason. These “rooms” allow many users to chat using written messages.
People can communicate with each other from anywhere in the world.
People can communicate while they are in a journey.
Busy business persons can do official work in their home and at the same time give valuable time to his/her family.
Businessmen can communicate with their clients or their employees sitting in his/her bedroom.
Data is transmitted at electronic speeds, rather than by mail and other relatively slow methods.
Data can be collected, and information disseminated, very quickly.
Operating cost is reduced. Data communication can replace mail and courier services and can often eliminate the need for meetings and conferences. A company with data communication has the choice of processing the data centrally.
People can communicate from his/her home, no necessary of physical appearance.
feedback exchange (Computerized telecommunications allow for a virtually simultaneous exchange of information and responses).
DISADVANTAGES OF THE SERVICE
The amount of face to face oral communication, across the office desk or around tables will also decrease because of computer based videos, telephone or computer screen hook ups. Many types of fraud exist, and email is an inexpensive and popular method for distributing fraudulent messages to potential victims. Most fraud is carried out by people obtaining access to account numbers and passwords. Some of the most common fraudulent messages are non-monetary hoaxes or non-monetary chain mail.
Few disadvantages of communication is listed below:
· Introduction of IM, chatting etc. affected the teenagers and they now wastes a lots of their valuable time.
· Employees of some company uses the internet facilities provided by the company for their personal use at the office time like chatting with his/her relatives , friends etc .
· This service is not widely spread through, so not everyone can use this service.
· There is the risk of data security.
· Virus can attack and can seriously damage mobile phone, computer or even all the computer that are connected to this effected computer in a network.
· Cyber crime. Cyber crime contains all criminal offences which are committed with the aid of communication devices in a network.
· Set up cost for using this service is very high. So not everyone can afford to get the benefit of this service.
· Problems occurs due to instant delivery (The almost instant delivery of LAN / WAN email messages etc can cause upsets if messages are composed in anger and then irretrievable after being sent).
FITNESS FOR PURPOSE
Gone are the days when people had to wait weeks or even months to receive postal mail! With the internet, an email can be sent and reach its destination instantaneously! Present communication system have made the world a smaller place, allowing people separated by great distances to correspond, it brought the people more close together.
Today, in the field of digital communication, there is a digital transmission, digital switching and signaling that is taking place. The progress of the digital techniques mainly contributed by computer’s development and the progress of digital transmission systems based on it have merged computer and communication. It has made possible the realization of the three basic functions: i.e., the transmission, memory, and processing in a simple form. And also to realize further advanced and more complicated systems. This progress has given us many useful means to better our social life and welfare.
Online or digital communication system has made our life easier and brought us closer together. In that sense it is fit and successful according to this service’s purpose or goal. But still some lackings are there like data security, cyber crime, virus attacks etc. They need to improve or fix those lacks. If they are able to do that then they would be 100% fit for their purpose.
HOW THE SERVICE CAN BE IMPROVED?
Some list are given in what are the sector improvements are needed:
· Data should be made much more secured.
· This service should be extended to the poor countries, digital divide would be no longer there.
· Speed needs to be increased.
· Strong law should there to stop cyber crime.
· People’s should be aware of spamming and virus attacks.
NON-ICT SOLUTION
· Sending letter through postal method.
· Communicate between them by physical appearance.
· Use some person as a agent to send their messages.
· Some companies are there who works to send messages, money etc. from one person to another.
ONLINE SERVICES
ONLINE SERVICES
The online service or Internet changed our life enormously, there is no doubt about that.
we can use the online service at home for personal or at work for professional usage.
Whatever we are looking for, we will find it there. Even if we want to have very specific information, we will find it in a short time.
One of the most negative aspects of the impact of the online services on our daily life is, in my opinion, that it alters the social behaviour, habits and abilities of people. Apart from that online services completely changed the way many of our live today!!!
Online services are:
1) Communication
2) E-education
3) E-commerce
4) E-government
5) Download service
6) Business
7) Archiving
8) Real-time information processing
9) Entertainment
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