E-business

E-business (electronic business), derived from such terms as "e-mail"
and "e-commerce," is the conduct of business on the Internet,
not only buying and selling but also servicing customers and
collaborating with business partners. One of the first to use the
term was IBM, when, in October, 1997, it launched a thematic
campaign built around the term. Today, major corporations are
rethinking their businesses in terms of the Internet and its new
culture and capabilities. Companies are using the Web to buy
parts and supplies from other companies, to collaborate on sales
promotions, and to do joint research. Exploiting the convenience,
availability, and world-wide reach of the Internet, many companies,
such as Amazon.com, the book sellers, have already discovered
how to use the Internet successfully.


Increasingly, much direct selling (or e-tailing) is taking place on the
Internet of computer-related equipment and software. One of the first
to report sales in the millions of dollars directly from the Web was
Dell Computer. Travel bookings directly or indirectly as a result of
Web research are becoming significant. Custom-orderable golf clubs
and similar specialties are considered good prospects for the
immediate future.


With the security built into today's browsers and with digital
certificates now available for individuals and companies from Verisign,
a certificate issuer, much of the early concern about the security of
business transaction on the Web has abated and e-business by
whatever name is accelerating.


IBM considers the development of intranets and extranets to be part
of e-business. e-business can be said to include e-service, the provision
of services and tasks over the Internet by application service providers


Electronic Business, may be defined broadly as any business process
that relies on an automated information system. Today, this is mostly
done with Web-based technologies. The term "e-Business" was coined
by Lou Gerstner, CEO of IBM.


Electronic business methods enable companies to link their internal
and external data processing systems more efficiently and flexibly,
to work more closely with suppliers and partners, and to better satisfy
the needs and expectations of their customers.


In practice, e-business is more than just e-commerce. While e-business
refers to more strategic focus with an emphasis on the functions that
occur using electronic capabilities, e-commerce is a subset of an
overall e-business strategy. E-commerce seeks to add revenue streams
using the World Wide Web or the Internet to build and enhance
relationships with clients and partners and to improve efficiency using
the Empty Vessel strategy. Often, e-commerce involves the application
of knowledge management systems.


E-business involves business processes spanning the entire value chain:
electronic purchasing and supply chain management, processing orders
electronically, handling customer service, and cooperating with business
partners. Special technical standards for e-business facilitate the exchange
of data between companies. E-business software solutions allow the
integration of intra and inter firm business processes. E-business can
be conducted using the Web, the Internet, intranets, extranets, or
some combination of these.


Subsets

Applications can be divided into three categories:

1. Internal business systems:
* customer relationship management
* enterprise resource planning
* document management systems
* human resources management
2. Enterprise communication and collaboration:
* VoIP
* content management system
* e-mail
* voice mail
* Web conferencing
3. electronic commerce - business-to-business electronic commerce
(B2B) or business-to-consumer electronic commerce (B2C):
* internet shop
* supply chain management
* online marketing


Models

When organizations go online, they have to decide which e-business
models best suit their goals. [1] A business model is defined as the
organization of product, service and information flows, and the source
of revenues and benefits for suppliers and customers. The concept of
e-business model is the same but used in the online presence.
The following is a list of the currently most adopted e-business models:


* E-shops
* E-procurement
* E-malls
* E-auctions
* Virtual Communities
* Collaboration Platforms
* Third-party Marketplaces
* Value-chain Integrators
* Value-chain Service Providers
* Information Brokerage


Classification by provider and consumer

Roughly dividing the world into providers/producers and consumers/clients
one can classify e-businesses into the following categories:


* business-to-business (B2B)
* business-to-consumer (B2C)
* business-to-employee (B2E)
* business-to-government (B2G)
* government-to-business (G2B)
* government-to-government (G2G)
* government-to-citizen (G2C)
* consumer-to-consumer (C2C)
* consumer-to-business (C2B)