B2C

Business to Customers, is any business that sells it products or services directly to consumers online.

The two ways of operating as an online B2C are 1) Click and Mortar Business  2) Pure-Play Business

Click-and-Mortar Business is a firm that operates on the web and also has a physical store. Most retail stores such as River Island, Tesco and Woodies DIY stores are Click-and-Mortar Businesses.

The main advantage of this type of B2C business is that customers have the option of face-to-face service. Customers will have a higher trust in using their website as they know they have to option of handling return of items off the computer and with an employee in-store.

Pure-Play Business is a business that only operates on the internet. They do not have any physical stores.  Examples of Pure-Play Business are Amazon.com and Netflix.com. The greatest benefit of this type of B2C business is cost saving. Pure-Play businesses do not have the extra cost of renting and running a physical shop, therefore that can generate greater revenue.  

Since businesses are dealing with their customers directly it is important for Business-to-Customer business to install and highly innovative CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system.

CRM systems can gather on-time information about customers. The system can track what a customer searches for the most on their web-site, to keep the customer interested the business can offer that customer a deal on that item or on products that complement the item. This can help generate more sales for the customer. 

Web 3.0

What is Web 3.0? Web 3.0 is the 3rd phase in the evolution of the Web, it is based on the idea that the Internet has an understanding of the pieces of information that it stores and is able to make logical connections between them.

For a business Web 3.0 is all about a new way of generating revenue and becoming a leader in their markets. The first business to implement web 3.0 into their organisation will have the greater competitive advantage.

However, Web 3.0 is not just about making the larger companies bigger, it will help the small creative entrepreneur to develop their ideas and help them to generate a profit easier and faster than Web 2.0 would allow.

Web 3.0 is smarter and more efficiency. Its great intelligence will cut out the ‘middle man’. It can complete tasks that once needed human reasoning and understanding on a high scale and great efficiency.

Here is a video that clearly displays Web 3.0 can benefit the creative entrepreneur:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYfiLa19eUA

The main worries for Web 3.0 are privacy and Data management.  The question will arise, who owns the data published and who has the right to use that data? For example can the media use information or pictures that you have posted on your Facebook page?

Data management is also very important as users of data need to sieve thought data and declare what is useful as not all data is created equal or truthful.

From my research of Web 3.0 one thing is for certain it is unpredictable and we will not know the extent of its power until we start participation in the third phase of the world wide web.

VAN’s vs Internet?

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is a structured electronic exchange of data information between one application in one organization and an application in another. EDI is present is almost all companies around the globe, however which is the best option for a business that is looking to the future? Value added network (VAN) or the Internet.

The main advantage that resonates with VAN is its security. VAN has high quality security, if a business need its information to be secure VAN is the correct choice. However the cost of VAN is high as it charges by transaction and may also charge for the duration of the transaction. If a company is using VAN its corresponding company must also have VAN EDI in place for the transaction to occur. A larger company would be interested in VANs value added services such as it being a fully managed service.

EDI via the Internet is a quicker and cheaper way of exchanging data between organizations. A company would consider whether or not their data needs to have high security and if not Internet EDI is the way to go.  Small to medium size companies would avail of this type of data transfer as it is so cost effective.  However, I am sure, there will be advance in web EDI within the next couple of years that will challenge VAN EDI.

Therefore all-in-all, I believe that for the future of EDI in an organization a combination of both VAN and Internet EDI is the way forward. For more information on EDI check out : http://www.edibasics.co.uk/types-of-edi/

Clouding – Globalisation 3.0 Technology

With clouding the new and upcoming E-business communication phenomenon , we ask how reliable it really is and what are the main effects on our business if our Cloud fails. While we get excited with the convenience and ease of use that accompanies Cloud technology, we tend to turn a blind eye to the fine print and the challenges that come hand-in-hand with the Cloud infrastructure.

Security policies associated with Cloud are being called into question. Only a few months ago a hacker was able to access a writer’s iCloud account with ease and wipe out everything from his Mac, iPhone and iPad. Cloud providers such as Mozy and YouSendIt, need to take notice and put in action steps to resolve these problems. Businesses also need to be aware that the cloud may not be the safest storage area for classified documents or personal information on clients. For more on the hacking story:  

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Apple-iCloud-Hack-Raises-Concerns-Over-Cloud-Security-609440/ .

Another cloud computing challenge is its limited features. To access any cloud computing the user need to be able to connect to the internet, if there is no internet there is no cloud. Cloud computing would not be worth its cost if a company has limited access to the internet.

For extra points on how legit cloud computing is, here is some extra reading: http://www.datamation.com/article.php/3894891 .