Lecture 13. E-Technology. Electronic business. E-learning. E-government
Overview of Today’s Lecture
1. Electronic business: Main models of electronic business. Information
infrastructure of electronic business. Legal regulation in electronic business.
2. Electronic government: concept, architecture, services. Formats of
implementation of the electronic government in developed countries
3. E-learning: architecture, structure and platforms
What is E-business?
 E-business (electronic business) is the conducting of business on the Internet,
not only buying and selling but also servicing customers and collaborating with
business partners.
 The processes and tools that allow an organization to use Internet-based
technologies and infrastructure, both internally and externally, to conduct day
to day business process operations.
 Stands for electronic business and refers to any kind of sales, services,
purchasing or commerce on the Internet.
 A new-tech jargon word used more for marketing than for technical description.
Most commonly it broadly refers to conducting business over the Internet
(email and web) by communicating and perhaps transacting (buying and
selling) with customers, suppliers, and business partners.
E-business types:
What is Consumers to Consumers (C2C) ?
Abbreviation for consumer-to-consumer commerce; that is, commerce with no
middle business people The most notable examples are Web-based auction and
classified as sites. Most large venues for such models (for example, eBay and
Classifieds2000) are quickly permeated by consumers who participate so actively
and regularly that they become small businesses for them.
C2C stands for consumer to consumer electronic commerce. The Internet has
facilitated new types of C2C although it is important to note that this kind of
commerce - in the form of barter, yard sales, flea markets, swap meets, and the like
- has existed since time immemorial. Notably, most of the highly successful C2C
examples using the Internet actually use some type of corporate intermediary and
are thus not strictly "pure play" examples of C2C.
What is Business to Business (B2B) ?
 B2B stands for "business-to-business," as in businesses doing business with
other businesses. The term is most commonly used in connection with ecommerce and advertising, when you are targeting businesses as opposed to
consumers.
 On the Internet, B2B (business-to-business), is the exchange of products,
services, or information between businesses. B2B is e-commerce between
businesses. B2B Communication using XML over HTTP B2B - the basics.
 Business-to-business electronic commerce (B2B) typically takes the form of
automated processes between trading partners and is performed in much higher
volumes than business-to-consumer (B2C) applications.
What is Business to Consumers (B2C) ?
Refers to businesses selling products or services to end-user consumers.
B2B stands for transaction activities involving two business entities (business-tobusiness transaction). B2C stands for transaction activities involving a business and
a consumer (business-to-consumer transaction).
Electronic commerce comprises commercial transactions, involving both
organisations and individuals. From the technical point of view e-commerce is the
processing and transmission of digitised data. E-commerce decreases the distance
between producers and consumers. Consumers can make their purchase without
entering a traditional shop.
What is Business to Administration (B2A) ?
Short for business-to-administration, also known as e-government. B2A is the idea
that government agencies and businesses can use central Web sites to conduct
business and interact with each other more efficiently than they usually can off the
Web. FindLaw is an example of a site offering B2A services -- a single place to
locate court documents, tax forms and filings for many different local, state and
federal government organizations.
E-business category
An example for e-bank
An example for e-trade
An example for e-consulting
An example for e-engineering
An example for e-learning
An example for e-mail
An example for e-marketing
Can my business benefit from e-Business?
 Reduce administrative and operating costs;
 Reduce inventory costs;
 Reduce the cost of procurement;
 Improve customer service and satisfaction;
 Streamline procurement procedures;
 Increase communication efficiency and interaction with employees, vendors,
customers and strategic partners;
 Increase revenues and profit margins.
E-Government
“E-Government is an ongoing process of transformation of Government towards the
provision of government services (information, transactions) through electronic
means, including access to government information and the completion of
government transactions on an ‘anywhere, anytime’ basis.”
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, “E-Government is an ongoing process of
transformation of Government towards the provision of government services
(information, transactions) through electronic means, including access to
government information and the completion of government transactions on an
‘anywhere, anytime’ basis.”
The key word here is transformation.
Information and communication
technologies are only the means, not the ends to e-government. E-Government
means that we should treat our citizens as our customers, as our clients, and our job
is to provide top quality service to our customers.
Information Technology and the Internet are the enabling tools to enable us to
deliver information and conduct transactions on an anywhere and anytime basis. In
other words, our goal is to leverage technology to enhance our service.
There are four fundamental drivers of E-Government:
Improving efficiency and quality - Electronic mode of service delivery is able to
deliver high efficiency and quality. Citizens could follow easy navigation paths and
user-friendly interactive service interface instead of waiting on queues and filling in
complicated forms. High quality service could be delivered within seconds to the
citizen.
One-stop-shop service delivery - An average government has between 50 to 70
different departments and agencies. Departments are usually vertically organized,
and many of the services that they deliver require complex interactions between
employees across departments. Web technology has enabled integration of services
across departments, and provision of one-stop-shop service delivery.
Cost effectiveness - It is much cheaper to handle service requests in electronic
means. For example, the Arizona state government discovered that processing an
online request for each vehicle registration costs only US$1.6, compared with
US$6.6 for a counter transaction. The marginal cost to a bank of a transaction over
the Internet is only US$0.10, compared with $0.27 via a cash machine, $0.52 by
telephone and $1.14 by bank teller.
Promote wider adoption of e-commerce - E-Government strategies can have
powerful catalytic effect on business in general. Just as Ford and General Motors
can push their suppliers into doing business with them through online exchanges, so
can governments, galvanising thousands of small firms into becoming e-businesses.
For instance, the South Korean government has ordered all state-owned firms to
make 50% of their purchases online by 2001, with all government procurement on
the net by 2002.
Benefits to Government
• Law & Policy-making
• e-Government can be a catalyst for legal reform
• Wider & faster dissemination of laws (propagation, spread)
• Faster & better formulation of policies
• Better Regulation
• Registration & Licensing - speedier
• Taxation – better revenues
• Environmental Regulations – better compliance (agreement)
• Transportation & Police – more transparency
• More efficient Services to Citizens & Businesses
• Better Image
• Cost-cutting
• Better targeting of benefits
• Control of corruption
• Increased velocity of business
• Ease of doing business with Government
• e-Procurement (acquisition, purchase)
• Better Investment climate
• Transparency.
Benefits to Citizens
• Cost and time-savings
• Certainty in getting services
• Better quality of life
• Ease of access of information
• Added convenience – multiple delivery channels
• Possibility of self-service.
E-learning
E-learning refers to the educational process, which is characterized by systematic
and intensive use of modem information technologies and computer engineering.
This concept is consonant with such terms as distance, multimedia, computer,
virtual, online, Web-oriented, cyber education. The current slate ot computer
technology and the wide spread of the Internet make it possible to realize the many
benefits of e-learning technology: high interactivity, long distance, mass scale,
access to electronic libraries, creation of a common educational environment and
others.
The traditional e-learning platform or learning management system (LMS) is a
medium for the provision of training courses and management. They offer packages
of tools that support the creation of online courses and the provision of their service,
students’ registration tools and operation control, the administration of the learning
process and the generation of pupil’s progress reports.
All LMS-platforms can be divided into two main categories:
- Open source initiatives, which include Moodle (www.moodle.org), Sakai
(www.sakaiproject.org), ATutor (www.atutor.ca), Whiteboard (whiteboard.
sourceforge.net), etc.;
- proprietary solutions, including WebCT/Black board (www.blackboard, com),
Gradepoint (www.gradepoint.net), Desire2Leam (www.desire21eam.com) and
Learn.com (www.leam.com).
The aim of the e-learning project is a development of high-quality educational
resources and services, as well as ensuring equal access to the use of information
using communication technologies. Thus, any student needs to be able to use digital
educational resources and services of the information system at any time, from any
point of our country.
The system is designed for three main categories of users:
• users of educational organizations such as the administration of schools, teachers
and students;
• members of the RK MES such as the structural units of the Ministry and the
regional Departments of Education, collecting educational statistics;
• external users, students, parents.
Building an e-learning culture
E-learning
E-learning tools: E-mail
• Every teacher should have an e-mail account
• Communicate with students
• Communicate with parents
• Students can submit assignment
• Can have attachments
• Create a paperless environment
• Simple but effective
• Efficient and cost effective.
E-learning tools: Chat
• Synchronous communication tool
• Communicate with students
• Communicate with parents
• More students participate
• Collaborative learning
E-learning tools: Online Forum
• Asynchronous discussion forum
• Teacher can create discussion groups
• Teacher could post a question and request students to comment
• Students can post their comments
• Can encourage community participation
• Collaborative learning can be fostered
• Feedback from diverse culture
E-learning Tools: Web
• Wide range of materials available
• Teacher will need to narrow down
• It is a resource center
• Sharing of resources
• Supported by images, audio, simulation and multimedia
E-learning tools: Video Conference
• Can conduct a live lecture
• Communication with students
• Communication with parents
• Support by audio, chat and whiteboard
• Support sharing of applications
• Can be recorded and later be used for on demand lectures
• Demo…
Tools: Learning Management System (LMS)
• Management of content
• Tracking students
• Administrative features
• Integration with various tools such as chat, forum, e-mail, etc.
• Reporting
• Demo... of Multimedia Learning System (MMLS)
Control questions:
1. What is e-business?
2. List all types of e-business
3. What are the advantages of e-learning over the traditional one?
4. What is e-government?
5. What kind of e-government services do you know?
6. What is a digital signature?