eBusiness

Electronic Business, Commonly known as eBusiness can be defined as

"Utilisation of Information Communication Technology(ICT) in support of all the activities of business."

Commerce is the exchange of "products and services" between "businesses, groups and individuals", hence is one of the essential activities of any business. eCommerce makes use of ICT to enable the "external activities" and "relationships" of the businesses with individuals, groups and other businesses.

Benefits Of eBusiness :-
1. Enables companies "to link" their "internal and external data processing systems" more efficiently and flexibly.
2. Work more closely with suppliers and partners.
3. Greater customer participation helps to better satisfy the needs and expectations of their customers.

Is eCommerce same as eBusiness?
eCommerce is a subset of an overall eBusiness strategy. eCommerce seeks to

1. Add revenue using the World Wide Web Or
2. Build and enhance relationships with clients and partners using Internet..

eBusiness involves business processes spanning the "entire value chain"

• Electronic Purchasing.Supply Chain Management.

• Processing Orders Electronically.
• Handling Customer Service.
• Co-operating with business partners.

eBusiness software solutions allow the integration of "intra and inter firm" business processes.
eBusiness can be conducted using the Web, the Internet, intranets, extranets, or some combination of these.

Applications of eBusiness

1. Inter Business Applications
Customer Relationship Management.
Enterprise resource Planning.
Human Resource Management

2. Enterprise communication and collaboration:
VoIP
Content management system
E-mail
Voice mail
Web conferencing
Collaborative Platforms

3. Electronic Commerce
Internet Shop
Supply Chain Management
Online Marketing

Noteworthy Categories of eBusinesses worldwide
Business-to-Business (B2B) :- "Commerce transactions between businesses".

Business-to-Consumer (B2C) :- "Activities of businesses serving end consumers with products and/or services."

Business-to-Employee (B2E) :- "When companies provide products and/or services to their employees.
Examples of B2E applications include:

• Online insurance policy management
• Corporate announcement dissemination
• Online supply requests
• Special employee offers
• Employee benefits reporting

Business-to-Government (B2G) :- "Concept that businesses and government agencies can use central Web sites to exchange information and do business with each other more efficiently than they usually can off the Web."
B2G could provide businesses with a single place to locate applications and tax forms for one or more levels of governent (city, state or province, country, and so forth); provide the ability to send in filled-out forms and payments; update corporate information; request answers to specific questions; and so forth.
B2G may also include e-procurement services, in which businesses learn about the purchasing needs of agencies and agencies request proposal responses.
B2G may also support the idea of a virtual workplace in which a business and an agency could coordinate the work on a contracted project by sharing a common site to coordinate online meetings, review plans, and manage progress.
B2G may also include the rental of online applications and databases designed especially for use by government agencies.
B2G is sometimes also called e-government.

Government-to-Business (G2B) :- "Online non-commercial interaction between local and central government and the commercial business sector, rather than private individuals."

Government-to-Government (G2G) :- "Online non-commercial interaction between Government organisations, departments, and authorities and other Government organisations, departments, and authorities."

Government-to-Citizen (G2C) :- "Online non-commercial interaction between local and central Government and private individuals, rather than the commercial business sector G2B."

Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) :- "Electronically-facilitated transactions between consumers through some third party. Best example can be online auction.
Other Examples eBbay, Craigslist and Amazon.com

Consumer-to-Business (C2B) :- "Consumers offer products and services to companies and the companies pay them".


Some E-Business Case Studies :-

Web based EDI for a large retailer, USA
IT due diligence of online brokerage firm for leading insurance firm
Content management for a large insurance major in USA
Value-chain integration for a US based electronic product manufacturer
Automated data aggregation CMS for a European 3G services provider

Other Case Studies :- Click on this link