E-Commerce Applications/e-shop: exercises
Exploring the Integration Chasm
By the end of this exercise you will have:


Developed a hybrid e-commerce model
Discussed linking the four systems (‘Service’, ‘Customer Relationship
Management’, ‘Publishing’, and ‘Delivery’) to the e-commerce model
 Listed e-commerce integration issues with notes on alternative solutions
The aim of this exercise is to get you thinking long and hard about the
business focus of e-commerce.
INTEGRATION
Many small businesses develop an e-commerce site as an ‘island’ within the business,
unconnected with existing business systems. The approach is inefficient, costly, and often
leads to a high degree of customer dissatisfaction. In a typical scenario, a customer places an
order then calls customer support to cancel or modify the order. Unfortunately the customer
support person cannot view or update the order because it is being processed in batch mode,
or off-line by an entirely separate system.
The ideal would be for e-commerce site to have automated, real-time connection with the
company’s business applications. HOWEVER many small business don’t have fully integrated
business applications. On the other hand if the company is successful, they will have
business systems supported by appropriate business applications.
You are about to explore the INTEGRATION CHASM. This is not a simple exercise
and there are no simple linear answers. The problem of integrating e-commerce with
existing business processes is a real world soft problem. You may not be able to
complete this exercise – it may feel like a messy end. The important part is the
process of investigation and refinement, which, can be repeated for other business
sectors and scenarios.
You should be familiar with business models and business value systems. Before
you start this exercise, you might find it helpful to refer to information on ‘Ecommerce models’, and ‘E-commerce and the four value systems’, (located in
‘Learning Resources’, ‘Information’).
What to do
1. Work in groups of four or five.
2. Each person should describe a business they know well. Select one as a case
study.
3. Develop a hybrid e-commerce model for your group case study. Draw out in
rough the flow of goods/service and payment.
4. The group should now break up into pairs. Each pair address one or more ‘value
system’, and draft a plan to link that value system to the e-commerce model. This
is the beginning of your integrated model.
5. Come together as a group. Each pair presents a plan, putting it all together in one
diagram. This is a working draft so expect it to get messy. While you are doing
this make a list of integration issues. For each issue note the possible
technical or manual options for tackling that issue.
E-Commerce Applications 2007-08
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