Custom «Evaluation of E-Commerce Models» Essay Paper Sample

This report consists of two parts, part one and two. Part one looks at the concept of e-commerce with particular bias on hurdles that have come about as a result of application of the concept in businesses. Still in this section, I will also address some intervention measures for the organization to take so as to combat those hurdles and to stand a better chance of tapping in the benefits that go along with e-commerce. I will also look at B2B concept and the related topics. This section will also include a case study analysis of an E-Supply chain, table of contents, the meaning of E-commerce, hurdles of Ecommerce, and solutions to E-commerce hurdles.

E-commerce which is the buying and selling of goods and services through the internet has proved to be a very lucrative venture for many businesses. Through e-commerce, many organizations have been exposed to a very large client base translating into an increase in the value of sales. Other than that, e-commerce has also created a whole spectrum of convenience for both buyers and sellers when it comes to goods and service delivery not to forget facilitation of easy and convenient methods of payments.

The move of our enterprise towards e-commerce is therefore seen to be in line with global changes in technology and if well implemented, this move will take our enterprise to great heights of success. As much as E-commerce might be painted as a very potential concept for businesses to adopt, it is important to point out that the concept attracts quite a large number of hurdles which is not well addressed can paralyse business activities hence rendering the move of no business value to our organization(Turban, 2010).

Therefore, as the IT manager of this enterprise, I would like to bring to your attention some of the key hurdles that our organization might come across in the line of business. I hope this will make use well prepared to face any challenges that might arise

E-commerce will be dependent of some software which is bound to fail from time to time. Such a failure means that business will be highly impaired with and this is likely to affect the business operations In the long run. Some of those technical failures have rendered the websites inaccessible to the customers. The occurrence of technical failures is likely to paint a picture of unreliability to the customers and hence destroy the credibility of the organization (Plant, 2001).

Other than the issue of technical failures, e-commerce is prone to hacking. This is usually done by malicious people whose is to tamper with the systems of the target organizations. As a result of such attacks, business systems get slowed down and this makes the whole issue of accessibility by clients highly compromised. On top of that, the hackers have reportedly been tampering with communications a system which is the backbone of the e-commerce activities.

One thing which makes this hurdle of great concern to both emerging and existing e-commerce business is the fact that there is increasing opportunities for such hackers to continue with the attacks without standing at a risk of being traced. With the current advancement in technology, the hackers are reportedly using botnets which is a group of computers which are infected with malicious software. They normally control the botnets remotely to cause these attacks. As new e-commerce business ventures, it is important to take note of a risk like this because it can not only cripple down our business but also lead us into incurring massive loses especially resulting from having to constantly refix our systems.

E-commerce will rely entirely on internet and it means that networking of computers will be done in the organization to ensure their connectivity to the internet. In the case of networking, the rest of computers will access internet from the server. It therefore means that if the server breaks down, the operations of other computers within the organization is tampered with. Technical failures such as server crushes can therefore cost our enterprise a lot since it will also cripple down the operations of our organization (Sherman, 2000).

Another hurdle which is associated with e-commerce and which I would like to bring to your attention is the occurrence of website defacements. This occurs when the corporate image of a certain business or web messages are completely tampered with. One thing which you need to understand is that the image of an organization created in the website carries a lot of significance as far as creating identity is concerned. Tampering with the web image is therefore seen as a way of interfering with corporate image of the company and its impact is felt when customers fail to identify with the websites. The website defacement is associated with virus attacks on the websites (May 2000).

With such knowledge of the hurdles that we are likely to face in our e-commerce venture, it is important to devise ways of combating the problems because failure to do so might cost us a lot in terms of resources. In order to adequately cater for the problem of technical failure, it would be important for our enterprise to invest in the latest and the most efficient softwares of e-commerce. This will automatically give us an assurance of better services. However, installing the softwares alone is not enough to guarantee us technical problem free operations. It would also be of paramount importance to invest in qualifies IT personnel whose work would be to make constant reviews on the systems and detect inefficiencies within the softwares once they arise.

On top of that, it would be important to invest in up-to -date antivirus to protect our systems against virus trets which can interfere with our systems. Other than that, it would also be important to protect our systems against hackers. This can only be achieved through hiring web designers who are well experienced in their areas of speciality.

Another solution to the hurdles that occur in e-commerce would include addressing the issue of server crushing. This would include doing check ups of the server and the internet on computers from time to time. Our enterprise should also have a plan B when to cater for instances when the server breaks down, that would include alternative internet connections for the computers.

The hurdles that are associated with-commerce should however not be seen as a hindrance to embracing the system of business operations. With the solutions at hand, it will be possible for our enterprise to thrive without facing major challenges and hence tap in the benefits of e-commerce.

In this part, I will examine the concept of B2B, what it entails and its applicability in the business context. In this section I will also look at the concept of e-supply and its advantages and disadvantages by relying on a case study of Cisco Corporation.

C. The concept of B2B is used to denote transactions which occur between two companies. This is very different from transaction between a business and a customer. The term can also be used to refer to a company which in involved in provision of goods and services for another company. As a matter of fact, many companies are fully aware of B2B e-commerce although they seem to raise concerns over some basic concepts about it. An area of keen interest by many businesses is the benefits that are associated with B2B since they can influence the decision of an organization concerning adopting the concept. Some of the questions that emerge from this concept are why get involved, how to get involved and probably the costs of getting involved.

B2B reduces the cost of doing business. Other than that, it leads to enhanced trading relationship between two or more businesses. This is attained through the fact that B2B comes along with accuracy, reliability and ability to more information in a timely manner. Thus apparently is one of the reasons why more and more businesses are turning towards adopting B2B. The good results that companies are getting from B2B are forcing more and more business to move towards conducting business electronically. However, B2B might prove to be a very expensive venture for small and medium size enterprises.

There are three methods of dong B2B. The first one is to develop a website and try and get trading partners using the website. This method is cost of the owner of the website since most of the work is directed to the trading partner. This is apparently the approach which is commonly used by many companies.

Another method of going about with B2B is the use of outsourced bureau. In this case, the company takes your data and avails it to your trading partner provided that the trading partner joins the service. This method comes with a transaction fee for every message sent to the trading partner. This is seen to be disadvantageous to the company because it leads to decrease in the profit margins due to high costs of operation.

Lastly, there is the method of direct connect. This is said to be the most new and most convenient method of gong about B2B considering the fact that the costs of doing business are lower and that the process is less complex. This approach has levelled down the playing ground to enable smaller companies to enjoy the same benefits as the large corporate.

This case examines innovative business model of Cisco which is based on a networked supply chain. According to this case study, the type of supply chain adopted by Cisco made the flow information between suppliers, customers, employees as well as service partners very fast and easier to go about. The case proves a very detailed account of Cisco Connection Online (CCO) which is the e-business site of Cisco. The case also clearly highlights the problem of excess inventory by Cisco while highlighting the steps which were taken by the company to overcome the problem.

The company has come up with a supply system by the name "ecosystem" which links employees, contract manufacturers, customers and supply chain partners into a multi-location electronic network which is based on technology brought about by internet (Handfield, 2002).

Before coming up with the e-supply strategy, the company realized that they needed to increase production to meet the increasing demand. However, they realized that that could not be achieved without scaling down on manufacturing distribution and supply processes. For such a production not be achieved, the company realized that it actually needed a very large number of people than they could afford to recruit. The idea of the e- business was born during that time when the company was deliberating on the best move to make to allow for increase production of the company.

It then decided to turn out into company which is web-enabled. The company outsourced most of logistic and manufacturing activities and made use of networking technology to link up distributors and suppliers with the company's in-house processes. This left the company with the freedom to concentrate on its real strengths which is product development and also looking after the customer's needs (Auramano, 2001).

The e-network created by Cisco acts as a glue to hold all the supply chain internal operations together. This is one of the advantages of e-supply since it enables all the parties involved to portray a unified face to the rest of the world. The working parts as a result act as one company and this is seen to build a very strong reputation as well as foundation to overcome competition.

The adoption of the supply chain by Cisco has enabled the company to reap a lot of benefits from the move. At the end of the day the company was able to save a lot of various business operations. Here is an example showing how the company was able to save in the year 2000.

The table above shows how the adoption of E-supply helped to the company to save a lot hence contributing to its success. The benefits of e-supply therefore cannot be disputed and it is upon organizations to consider integrating technology in t heir supply chain management systems. The only disadvantage which comes with e-supply is the over-reliance on technology such as internet whose breakdown can stall business operations. However, the benefits of the strategy outweigh the disadvantages.