University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies. A Conceptual Overview of E-Business Technologies

Transcription

1 University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies A Conceptual Overview of E-Business Technologies

2 Day 5 - Conceptual Overview of E-Business Technologies Mid-Term Exam - 40 minutes Read the questions carefully because some of them may have more than one answer Thinking Beyond the Box Case Study Series: Enerline Restorations Inc.: Stay with an ASP Alternatives in Implementing an E-Commerce Platform

3 Thinking Beyond the Box Case Study Series: Enerline Restorations Inc.: Stay with an ASP If you are Mr. Hozjan, would you go with FutureLink as your application service provider? What are the reasons behind your decision?

4 Standard Solution Selection Approach R 2 ISC Approach for: Business Requirements Technological Requirements Implementability Supportability Cost Assuming Enerline Restoration wants to pursue a Webbased alternative for its financial software. You are the technical managers looking after each of these elements for Mr. Hozjan, how would you approach these elements? Gathering in groups of three to five, discuss these elements. Later make a five-minutes presentation for each of these elements.

5 List of E-Commerce Technology Terms COM / COM + / ActiveX ADO MTS ASP XML SOAP Web Services.NET CGI PERL CORBA Java Applets Java Servlets JSP Java Bean JDBC More tech terms:

6 E-Business System Architecture Physical Internet Only HTTP traffic can penetrate this router Web Server with Business Logic Components Web Server with Business Logic Components Web Server with Business Logic Components Router/ Load Balancer Only database traffic (between Web servers and Database servers) can penetrate the firewall Firewal l A number of Web servers forming a Web Farm Unsecured Network or De-militarized Zone (DMZ Database Cluster Secured Network Database Server Process Interconnect Primary Node Secondary Node SQL Database on a highperformance RAID system A Typical E-Commerce System Architecture

7 Typical N-Tier Application Architecture for Internet Applications Web Browser Based Applications User Interface Corporate Client Presentation Services Middleware / Application Services Business Rules / Logic Application Server Application / Web Services Database Management System Data Storage Database Server Data Data Services

8 Implementing an E-Commerce Platform Solving the puzzle: Organizational Capabilities Hardware Architecture Software Telecommunication Site Design Human Resource Planning

9 Implementing an E-Commerce Platform (cont.) Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) Systems analysis Systems design Building the system Testing Implementation Operation Support Any E-Commerce systems have a SDLC

10 Implementing an E-Commerce Platform (cont.) System design specification for hardware and software Logical design Physical design One of most important decisions Build vs. Buy vs. Rent Which E-Commerce solutions should we choose? Where to start? Scope of the project?

11 Implementing an E-Commerce Platform (cont.) Building the site Hosting the site Page 201, E-commerce Business. Technology. Society. By Kenneth C. Laudon and Carol Guercio Traver

12 Exploring Alternatives Information only site No transaction capability with on static pages. For small businesses Low transaction volume is needed Hosted in a Commerce Service Provider: More info: shopping-cart-review.toptenreviews.com Amazon Marketplace from Amazon.com Microsoft Online Small Business Services (previously bcentral) Yahoo!Store from Yahoo! Inc. (in Canada) Hosted in a multi-service Internet Service Provider: More info: Bell Nexxia, Rogers, Telus

13 Choosing a Service Provider 1. Factors that help build and market your site 2. Factors that enhance the image of the vendor 3. Factors that facilitate transactions 4. Factors that expedite shipping and payment. 5. Total cost

14 How a Service Provider Can Help Build and Market Your Site Building your site Bandwidth of the host site Maximum number of items in the online catalog Types of servers used or supported Support and back up (both power and data) systems offered Marketing your site marketing tools/ search engine submission Sales lead routing to employees

15 How They Can Help Enhance the Image of Your Site Flexibility of site-building process to help create brand loyality vs. Look and feel of the site Allow customized themes or style sheets Promotional capabilities Opportunities for cross-selling, referral, affiliate program

16 How They Can Help Process Your Transactions Order notification via , paging, fax Administration and security administration pages for displaying order placed and details encryption, firewalls capabilities additional for FAQ, support, returns

17 How They Can Help Process Payment and Shipment Automatic tax calculation Provincial, federal, services taxes etc. Payment options Credit card etc. Calculation of shipping charges Base plus vs. weighted International trade Cross border, in various currencies

18 How You Will be Charged Number of items listed The bandwidth available or used The storage space Number of accounts provided

19 More Considerations for Enterprise Sites Functionality User interface, performance monitoring tools, security, payment services, OLAP/ decision support Integration to back-end systems Cost Acquisition, license fee, application development, customization, additional hardware and networking devices E-commerce is a strategic decision, companies are willing to spend but are very concerned about wrong estimates Time to market Deadline, launch before your competitors

20 More Considerations for Enterprise Sites (continue) Managing developers, content managers, customers Hire experienced E-Commerce consultants to help you setup a technology framework Performance from an internal and customer perspective Given all the business and security requirements and resources constraint on hardware and bandwidths Extensibility Ability to integrate with third-party add-ons e.g. pipelines, CRM, ERP, postal code lookup, payment, promotion Flexibility for future extendibility Move your site, expand features or sales channels

21 Best Practices in Choosing Your Options Company Size Customization Hosting Package Transaction Volume Nature of Site Small Low ISP Custom None Information site Small Medium ISP Entry Low Entry-level transactions Small High ISP Entry+ Low High impact, low budget Medium Low CSP Package Low Low impact, supp. Channel Medium Medium Host Package+ Medium Important medium budget Medium High Host/CSP Custom High High impact high budget Large Low CSP Integrated Package Medium Low impact supp. Channel Large Medium Host Integrated Package+ High Strategic integration large high Host/CSP Components Custom High Strategic competitive

22 Home Readings E-Commerce - Business, Technology, Society: Chapter 4 Case: Open Text Preferred Listings Preview for Next Class: Chapter ,

23 Thinking Beyond the Box Case Study Series: Open Text Preferred Listings In general, how can companies make money on the Web? What are the common pricing models in the Internet? You as a company, how can you measure the effectiveness of a search engine, which you have paid for?