Benefits of Effective eBusiness Application

Benefits of effective eBusiness Application and development for organisations

It is unarguably correct that there are numerous benefits of effective eBusiness application and development to organisations and individuals hence, the reason why organisations and government all over the world depend heavily on the adoption of eBusiness.

Potential eBusiness benefits include:

1. Improved accuracy, quality and time required for updating and delivering information on products and services.
2. Access for customers to catalogues and prices – 24 hours x 7 days.
3. Improved, ease, speed and immediacy of customer ordering.
4. Enhanced market, industry or competitor intelligence acquired through information gathering and research activities.
5. New distribution channels via the electronic delivery of some products and services, for example, product design collaboration, publications, software, translation services, banking, etc.
6. Expansion of customer base and growth in export opportunities.
7. Reduces routine administrative tasks (invoices and order records) freeing staff to focus on more strategic activities.
8. eBusiness stands for electronic business. eBusiness is an integral component of all successful organisations (private or public) irrespective of size. It covers all areas of an organization, customer interfacing like marketing, sales, procurement, customer service and back office activities like, inventory control, accounts and payroll, research and development, human resources management, manufacturing, project management etc.
9. According to Collin Combe “Electronic business (e-business) can be defined as the use of the internet to network and empower business processes, electronic-commerce, organizational communication and collaboration within a company and with its customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders. E-businesses utilise the internet, intranets, extranets and other networks to support their commercial processes.”
10. 1.2 Types of eBusiness model and its application:
11. a. Types of eBusiness model
12. 1. Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
13. This is an eBusiness model where a business sells products and services directly to consumers.
14. 2. Business-to-Business (B2B)
15. In this eBusiness model, a business sells products and services directly to other businesses.
16. 3. Consumer-to-Business (C2B):
17. In C2B eBusiness model consumers create values and demand for products. Reverse auctions are a common characteristic of C2B models, in which consumers drive transactions and offer their own prices for products.
18. 4. Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) also known as Peer-to-Peer or (P2P):
19. This eBusiness models enable consumers to behave as buyers and sellers in third-party-facilitated online market places. Ebay is an example of C2C eBusiness model.
20. 5. Government to Citizens (G2C):
21. The electronic commerce activities performed between government and its citizens or consumers, examples are paying taxes, registering vehicles, and providing information and services.
22. 6. Government to Government (G2G):
23. Government to government (G2G) is the electronic sharing of data and/or information systems between government agencies, departments or organizations. The goal of G2G is to support e-government initiatives by improving communication, data access and data sharing.
24. b. Application of eBusiness (ICT):
25. Here are few examples of the application of eBusiness in organisations.

S/N	Type	Overview
1.	Communication	ICT is used in interactive communication like Wikis, Blogs, Social networking, Games, in Telecommunication, Voice calls, SMS, Data, Video calls etc. Organisations use these channels for their business transactions.
2.	Expert System	An expert system is a computer software that attempts to act like a human expert on a particular subject area. Example of these are, 1. Medical software or system used for diagnosis 2. Software used for financial planning and accounting 3. Software used for plant identification 4. Software used for investment analysis 5. Software used for business analysis 6. Software used for project management etc.
3.	Monitoring and Measurement	ICT/Sensors are used in monitoring weather, scientific information etc, Temperature, Blood pressure etc canbe measured using ICT.

31. 1.3 Impact of eBusiness on society
32. With the development of personal computer (PC) and other advanced ICT devices, individuals and organisations now use ICT as an enabler and this has impacted the society in numerous ways. These technologies are becoming cheaper with more reliable computing powers. Below are some of the effect of ICT,

S/N	Areas	Effects
1.	Employment	ICT affected some jobs that used to be manually handled by many individuals, like manufacturing, secretarial work, accounting clerks, newspaper printing. Most of these staffers currently replaced by automated or expert ICT system, resulting in loss of jobs. However, ICT has also created numerous jobs in other areas like, IT Technicians, Computer Programmers, Web Designers, Help-Desk Staff and a host of others.
2.	Working pattern	ICT encourages part-time working, job sharing, flexible working hours, working from home etc.
3.	Health and Safety	Eye-strain can occur from prolonged use of computer, back and neck ache, repetitive injury (RSI) to wrist etc. More ergonomic measures can be adopted to solve these issues. Like, looking away from the monitor at interval, using anti-glare filter in front of the monitor to cut down on screen reflections, use of adjustable ergonomic chair.
4.	Security, Privacy, access to personal confidential information/data	ICT increases the need to protect the confidentiality of data, data protection legislation, social and ethical implications of access to personal information.
5.	Teaching and learning	ICT makes it possible and easier to teach and learn anything from anywhere at anytime. It is widely being used by universities, colleges and individuals for learning.
6.	Information Services	Organisations and government use ICT to create information systems, centralized information and shared securely with all stakeholders irrespective of user’s location.

2.1 Overview of requirements analysis:

New computer systems (software etc) are developed everyday which replaces or updates existing systems or solved unique problems. For this systems to be developed and for it to be effective, requirements analysis must be carried out to capture the system’s input, output, users, sponsor and any other task the system is designed to complete.

Requirements analysis is referred to as: The process of determining user expectations for a new or modified system which must be quantifiable, relevant and detailed.

2.2 Identification of existing system or problem (Research):

This is the first stage of requirements analysis. Information about the existing system or problem to be solved is collected or gathered using the following methods: This is necessary to have clearer knowledge of what is currently in place in the organization.

1. Observation:

This involves the walking around watching how things work with his/her own eyes. This allows the person observing to gather first-hand unbiased information.

The issue with this method is that people don’t usually work the way they normally do when they know that someone is watching them.

2. Interviews:

Key people or system users or prospective users are interviewed to find out how system works.

This allows a lot of detailed information to be gathered and it takes long time to complete depending on the number of respondents involved.

3. Questionnaires:

Requirements for a system can also be gathered using questionnaires. It is suitable for a large groups of people. Information gathered using questionnaires are limited to the questions set by the designer. People could have lots of useful information in their heads but if the questionnaire doesn’t ask the right questions, they will not be able to pass it on.

Also many people do not take the time to fill in questionnaires seriously.

4. Collecting Documents:

Businesses and individuals use documents to record information or to communicate (forms, Memos etc as it is used in offices.)

This documents are collected as examples, to get an understanding of the type and quantity of data flows through the organisation.

2.3 Evaluation of existing system or problem:

Once an existing system or problem has been identified, the system is then evaluated. The purpose is to see if the existing system does what it was supposed to do or the problem can be solved or mitigated by applying Information and Communication Technology.

Evaluation in this context is to look for the following:

1. Ease of use: Can system users operate the system easily and effectively?
2. Efficiency: does the system operate smoothly, quickly, saves time and other resources?
3. Appropriate: Is the system suitable for the needs/problem it was developed to solve?

Evaluation can be done using the following methods:

Checking against the system requirements specification. That is previous requirements that was documented for the system. This is in the form of a checklist and items on the list are check one-by-one.

Users’ feedback. Users are asked several questions relating to the system to see if they like it, if it makes their work easier or if there is anything that could be improved.

2.4 Documentation of identified issues

Report of findings from evaluation is then documented. Note that the said documentation here is limited to gathering information to plan and design the new system. It has nothing to do with users or technical documentation. It only serves as preliminary information for the new system. A detailed specification documentation is done in chapter 4.9 of this workbook.

This report should be writing in a format that will be easily read with bullets or numbers.

2.5 Identification of system sponsor and main users:

Sponsors and users have serious influence on the success of a new system. Care should be taken to identify who the main system sponsor is and others that make decisions that directly affects the project/system.

Also note that the new system will be mostly used by users (employees, customers etc that needs the system to complete their daily routine tasks,) this group greatly influence the success of the system.

2.6 Gathering and documentation of objectives of a new system:

After the identification of system stakeholders, their objectives need to be gathered and documented. Objectives are divided into two. Here, that of the sponsor and users respective.

1 Sponsors: System sponsors always have a global objective of a new system. For example, a sponsor objective might be to stop wastage and financial leakages for an inventory management system.

2. System users will be more concerned with daily routine tasks. For example, users objectives will be to be notified of “close expiry date” or expired items, real time information of out or low stock items etc., for an inventory management system.

2.7 Benefits of effective requirements analysis:

There are numerous benefits when requirements analysis are carried out effectively.

1. It eliminates ambiguity.
2. It reduces development time.
3. It saves development cost
4. It helps to define channel of communication

Activity 2

(Your answer should be a minimum of 500 words)

1. Using your school “Student Union Government” or any organization you are among, explain the existing system used to manage members’ details.
2. List and describe the stakeholders of the system you mentioned in (a) above and explain the functions/powers of the stakeholder over the success of the system.
3. Explain your objectives/expectations of a new system to improve the existing system mentioned in (a) above.

Further Reading

1. System Analysis and Design, Howard Gould 2016, Bookboon.com.