E-Commerce in B2B Transactions
E-commerce / E-business is defined as the business activity conducted using electric data
transmission via the Internet and the World Wide Web. Three elements that make up electronic
commerce are: (1.) Transactions and business processes that support selling and purchasing activities
on the internet. (2.) Business to Business E-commerce and (3) Business to consumer E-commerce.
Our main focus for this project is the business to business element and the use of wireless enablers,
(known as m-business).
E-commerce has created a much more efficient way of doing business. It eliminates time by
creating faster ways to transfer documents through electronic transmission. Transactions are done
electronically, instead of having paper trails.
There are many advantages for businesses who use E-commerce. E-commerce can increase sales
and decrease costs. We’ll address 3 forms of transfers in e-commerce.
1.) The Electric Funds Transfers (EFTs), which is also known as Wire Transfers. EFTs are the
exchange of account information through electronic transmissions over private communications
network.
2.) Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is done when one business transmits computer-readable data
in a standard format to another business. Businesses engage in EDI when they’re trading partners.
Standard formats of EDI contain the same information businesses have always included: standard
paper invoices, purchase orders, and shipping documents. EDI is a form that has cut business transfer
prices in half. General Electric and Wal-Mart use EDI to improve their purchasing processes and their
relationships with their suppliers.
3.) Value Added Network (VAN) is an independent firm that offers connection and EDI transaction
forwarding services to buyers and sellers engaged in EDI. Before the internet, VANs provided the
connections between most trading partners and were responsible for ensuring the security of the data
transmitted. This is very expensive and is used by large corporations in majority.
The internet helps businesses advertise to potential customers globally. The internet creates virtual
communities whom are ideal target markets for specific types of products and services.
Businesses use e-commerce in their purchasing processes to identify new suppliers and business
partners through the World Wide Web. Competitive bids are found effectively.
Unfortunately there are some disadvantages to e-commerce. The costs and benefits are hard to
quantify. Underlying technologies are changing so rapidly that it's hard to keep up with updates.
There’s difficulty integrating existing databases and transaction-processing software, so maintaining
and upgrading could be too expensive for some industries. Recruiting and retaining employees with
skills needed to create an effective e-commerce is very difficult since it is a new innovation to our
society. There are some cultural and legal obstacles that can also make e-commerce a disadvantage
Businesses increase their sales and decrease their cost by using enablers. These enablers are wireless
devices such as palm pilots, cell phones, laptops with wireless modems, etc. Business conducted
through wireless means is M-Business.