Chapter 1 took the straight approach to spelling out the various types of system software available today. I believe the largest growth will be in the e-commerce or m-commerce areas in the business information systems. By definition, “E-commerce (electronic commerce or EC) is the buying and selling of goods and services on the Internet, especially the World Wide Web. In practice, this term and a newer term, e-business, are often used interchangeably. For online retail selling, the term e-tailing is sometimes used.” (1) Bottom line, all Information Systems collect data, process or manipulate the data so that the end result is information that can be used to accomplish the tasks at hand. The value of this information is totally dependent on how this information helps or effects the decisions being made when using the info. The ability to buy something for your company through use of emails and electronic transfers of information has exploded. No longer is it just limited to between companies, it is now available for business to business, business to consumers, and consumers to consumers.
Today businesses have taken that ability to electronically process orders thru the computer and even a mobile phone and exploded it. They have created ways to gather information – process an order – confirm payment – verify shipping – and collect all the data on you to make you a customer and retain your loyalty. The e-commerce is being used on the Internet by every company that has anything to sell. And now they are adding the m-commerce because our mobile phones are becoming so intelligent. “This impact will only grow as mobile technology, social networking, interactive television and other forms of addressable messaging take hold, and as the generation embracing these technologies becomes tomorrow’s adult consuming populace.” (2)
The concept of e-commerce is all about using the Internet to do business better and faster. It is about giving customers controlled access to your computer system and letting people “serve” themselves. The Internet is like how the phone use to be, a way to communicate to each other. Only now it is without a human being involved. And at the same time you are providing a service to people, you are gathering the necessary data to turn into value information to build and grow your business. This is where the other Information Systems come into play and are needed for your organization to grow: management information systems, MIS; decision support systems, DSS transaction processing systems, TPS; knowledge management systems, KMS.
Below are 2 pictures I copied from the search I did on e-commerce. The one is a clear picture of how e-commerce chain of events is laid out. The other is a representation of how a website – storefront – can process a credit card towards a purchase. As I stated in the first writing, Market America has all of this built into their e-commerce part of the website. They have gone even further and offer you the ability to get cash back on items you buy thru their site to hundreds of store you shop at now. So they are a one stop shopping for 100’s of other stores who have their own e-commerce. E-commerce is here to stay. The unknown is where it will take us tomorrow.
Example of E-Commerce (3)
Example of credit card processing (3)
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