1.0 Electronic Commerce: An Overview.

1.1 Introduction.
1.2 What is E-commerce?
1.3 Advantages.
1.3 Types of E-commerce.
1.4 Electronic Payments Methods
1.5 Security.
2.0 Technologies in E-commerce.
2.1 Introduction.
2.2 Electronic Data Interchange(EDI).
2.2.1 What is EDI?
2.2.2 Use of EDI.
2.2.3 How EDI works.
2.2.4 EDI security.
3.0 Security Issues.
3.1 Authentication: passwords.
3.2 Viruses.
4.0 Applications of E-Commerce.
4.1 Obstacles in adopting Applications.
5.0 E-Commerce in India.
5.1 Growth of E-Commerce in India.
5.2 future of E-Commerce.
5.3 Summary
Introduction:

The increased computerization of our society is triggering major

changes in the organization of work. Paper driven processes is being
reengineered to capture the benefits of doing business electronically.
Businesses are implementing electronic commerce to meet the
imperatives of an increasingly competitive world.

The idea of doing business electronically over networks is nothing new:

we Think nothing of ordering the products we’ve seen advertised on
television or In printed catalogs with a phone call or a fax, and ATMs
are always within Reach for quick, easy and automatic banking.
Corporations advertise through Broadcasting networks, and consumers
flock to local outlets of national and international franchise networks
.As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, particularlythrough
the Internet with its open protocols, forward –looking business will be
able to make their products available to a global market, the largest
possible market, without having to create and maintain their own
private networks for sales, delivery, and customer support.

Electronic commerce is the use of telecommunications and

data processing technology to improve the quality of
transactions between business partners. It is existed in some
form since the invention of the telegraph and early automated data
processing equipment but its use has greatly increased. E-commerce
improves organizational efficiencies by leveraging data processing,
database storage, and data communications technologies. Existing
network facilities can be utilized to achieve great savings in labor costs
and the reduction of paper storage and handling facilities .It has
enabled firms to be more effective in improving the quality of standard
goods and services and to offer a variety of new services. The global
marketplace has become larger and wider than ever because of the
expansion of e-commerce activity.
What is e-commerce?

E-commerce (electronic commerce or EC) is the buying and selling of

goods and services on the Internet, especially the worldwide web. In
practice, this term and a new term “e-business, ”are often used
interchangeably. For online retail selling, the term e tailing is
sometimes used.

• E-tailing or “virtual storefronts” on web sites with online catalogs,

sometimes gathered into a “virtual mall”

• The gathering and use of demographic data through Web contacts.

• Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), the business-to-business exchange

of data.

• E-mail and fax and their use as media for reaching prospects and
established

Customers (for example, with newsletters).

• Business-to-business buying and selling

• The security of business transactions

Electronic Commerce is the business environment in which information

for the buying, selling and transportation of goods and services moves
electronically. Electronic Commerce includes any technology that
enables a company to do business electronic

Advantages:

Some of the benefits of electronic commerce are:

1. Improved productivity

2. Cost savings

3. Standard Business Processes

4. Better Customer Service

5. Opportunities for new business

Improved productivity:

Using electronic commerce, the time required to create, transfer and

process a business transaction between trading partners is
significantly reduced. Furthermore, human errors and other problems
lie duplications of records are largely eliminated with the reduction of
data-entry and re-entry in the Process . The improvement in speed and
accuracy, plus the easier access to document and information , will
result in increase in productivity.

Cost Savings:

Based on the experience of a wide variety of early adopters of

Electronic Commerce .Forester Research has estimated that doing
business on the Internet can result in cost savings of about5% to 10%
of sales. This cost savings stem from efficient communication, quicker
turnaround time and closer access to markets.

Streamline business processes:

Cost savings are amplified when businesses go a step further and

adapt their internal processes and back-end legacy systems to take
advantage of electronic commerce. Inventories can be shaved if
businesses use the Internet to share such information as promotional
plans, point-of-sale data, and sales forecasts. Business processes can
also be made more efficient with automation.

Better customer service:

With electronic commerce, there is better and more efficient

communication with customers. In addition customers can also enjoy
the convenience of shopping at any hour, anywhere in the world.

Opportunities for new businesses:

Business over the Internet has a global customer reach. There are
endless possibilities for business to exploit and their customer base.
The services that help build the foundations of successful electronic
commerce solutions are as follows:
Operating System Services
Developer Services
Data Services
Application Services
Store Services
Client Services

Operating System Services:

Provide security, management, communication and application hosting

Services. For

example, Microsoft windows NT server, UnixWare, etc.

Developer services:

Provide the tools necessary for component development, enterprise

database Development ,team development, and development lifecycle
support. For Instance, Microsoft Visual Studio-Applications
infrastructure and development suite of tools to enable the Microsoft
Windows Distributed Network Architecture and provide tight
integration and easy programmability across the platform.

Data Services:

Provides services aimed towards data storage ,simplified

programmatic access, and legacy data connectivity. Microsoft SQL
Server can be used to store the information about users ,products ,
orders , status, and so on. OLEDB provides a mechanism to access any
type of data store and to expose the data in a standard tabular format.
Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects(ADO) provides a high level, object-
oriented mechanism to access all OLE DB and ODBC compliant data.
Microsoft SNA Server allows connectivity to mainframe-based systems
and enables application developers to expose and Extend mainframe
transaction applications through Component Object Model(COM)
components.
Application Services:

Process information supplied by the user based upon business and

data logic provides web services, application security as a point of
integration for store and data services. The following Application
Services of Microsoft Windows NT Server, can be used

Internet Information Server (IIS)- Web, FTP, SMTP Services, Active

Server Pages providing an

Integration pointto the store, and

Data services.

Component objects Model(COM)-Architecture for distributed

Application development
Encapsulation business and
Data logic.

Microsoft Message Queue (MSMQ)- Provides transactional,

Asynchronous communication

Between distribute

Applications.

Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS)- Simplifies the deployment

Of server-centric applications
Built using COMtechnologies
And to ensure transactional
Integrity of transactions

Types of E-commerce:

E-commerceis of four types. They are:

Business-to-consumer

Business-to-business
Consumer-to-business
Consumer-to-consumer

Business-to-consumer:

Let’s say you want to buy a new music system. Instead of going
physically to ten Different shops, you log into the Internet. Or in other
words you dial through your PC to connect to The computers of your
Internet service provider, which in turn is plugged into the Internet.
You search For websites , "libraries" that offer information and/or
“electronic stores” that also sell music systems After comparing a few,
you choose one that sells your favorite band. You go through the
electronic Catalog-a huge database of information and pictures made
available by the company you select one model that fits your budget
and requirements you click on the color of your choice, the types of
sparkers, and other options. You type in your name, address and your
credit card number, information that is protected by high-security
software you then click on the buy button on the screen to confirm the
purchases. The company records your purchase ;let’s call it E-Music. To
do business electronically-Music has connected all the computers in all
its department and locations. Even suppliers far away are linked to
their network, which has a lot of customized e-co software.

Your order is purchased and sent on to the factory computers, and to

the suppliers, who know What parts they have to dispatch to E-music.
A message is sent to the credit card company to transfer the amount
from your account to its account .At the factory ,an electronic tag
identifies the model that’s being custom-built for you. Marketing
meanwhile analyses your choices, along with thousands of others to
track the popularity of different models. Another message is sent the
finance department, which processes the purchase and sends out a bill
to dispatch, which packs it along with your music system that arrives
from the factory. In a few days, you are enjoying the latest music
system without having visited a single showroom!

Business-to-business:

On the Internet, B2B(business-to-business), also known as e-biz, is the

exchange Of products, services, or information between business
rather than between business and consumers. Although early interest
centered on the growth of retailing in the Internet(sometimes called e
tailing

),forecasts are that B2B revenue will far exceed Business-to-

consumers(B2C)revenue in the near feature. According to studies
published in early 2000, the money volume of B2B exceeds that of e
tailing by10to 1.Over the next five years,B2Bis expected to have a
compound annual growth of 41%.The Gartner Group estimates B2B
revenue worldwide to be $7.29 trillion dollars by 2004.Inearly 2000,
the volume of investment in B2B by venture capitalists was reported to
be accelerating sharply although profitable B2B sites were not yet easy
to find.

B2B Web sites can be sorted into:

•Company Web Sites.

•Product Supply And Procurement Exchanges.
•Specialized Or Vertical Industry Portals.
•Brokering Sites.
•Information Sites

Many B2B sitesmay seem to fall into more than one of these
groups.

Models

For B2B sites are still evolving. another type of B2B enterprise is
software for buildingB2B websites, including site building tools and
templates, databases, and methodologies as well as transaction
software.B2B is e-commerce between businesses. An earlier and much
more limited kind of online B2B prior to the Internet was Electronic
Data Interchange(EDI ).

Consumer-to-Business:

www.priceline.com is a good example. It allows prospective airline

travelers to visit the

website and name their price for travel between any pair of cities. If an
airline is willing to issue a ticket at the requested price, the passenger
is obligated to buy.

Priceline .com issues thousand tickets a day, and the number is

growing every day.

Consumer-to-consumer:

That last type of E-commerce takes place on the Internet , without any
business as middleman. You put an announcement at any of the
“Consumer Exchange “ website that you are selling, say a 1950’s
motorbike. Other with similar interest then “bid” against each other for
the objects, you get a price we normally couldn’t dream of. One of the
most successful online auctioneers is e-bay (www.ebay.com)
Essentially a national classifieds listing in USA ; e-Bay has more than
900,000 products for sale in 1086categories. The website receives 140
million hits a week

Electronic Payments:

Electronic payments are services , which allow business parties to pay

directly or to debit accounts via telecommunications systems. This
area is frequently called Electronic Funds Transfer(EFT), but that term
is best reserved for credit transfers between banks where funds flow
directly from one bank account to another. The earliest applications of
electronic payment systems, and the one most widely used, is the
credit card which came into use during the 1950s.Becauseof the great
potential advantages in eliminating physical payments, and the need
to integrate payment schemes with electronic sales and other
transaction processing applications, new forms of electronic payments
are being tried throughout the world.

Electronic payment technologies can grouped into three broad

application areas .

They are :

• Retailing payments-the old familiar credit, the charge cards.

• Electronic banking-applicationssuch as Electronic FundTransfer,

the familiar Automated Teller Machines(ATM)home banking.

• Directpaymentsbetweenbuyer and sellers-Smart cards.

ELECTRONICPAYMENTS METHOD :

•Offline And Online Transactions

•SecureOnline Transaction Models
•Secure Web server
•Secure Server Purchasing
•Secure Server Selling
•Required Facilities
•Hardware
•Software
•Services
Security:

The uses of wide are networks to invoke transactions between

organization supplies and customers highness the concerns about
electronic security. This concern is especially grave when dealing with
electronic transfer of funds. Several multi-million dollar frauds
concerning EFT have occurred that transactions over networks are safe
and reliable. Security concerns involves both accidental and deliberate
misuses of electronic commerce concerns about computer and network
security, but certainly can increase the magnitude of the problem.
Providing public access to organizational computers and networks
increases the vulnerability to “hacker attacks” Passwords are used to
defect this, but they can often be guessed or stolen
Introduction:

In any E-commerce systems implementation, integration between

business processes within a company and across companies is very
important for a successful implementation. Within a company
integration needs include interfacing with legacy systems,
communicating with third party products, and integrating business
processes across distributed

E-commerce systems. The two most commonly deployed technologies

for this type of integration are ALE(Application link and Enabling) and
EDI technologies, which make use of the popular IDoc interface for
exchanging data.

EDI provides business process integration across companies by

exchanging business documents such as purchase orders, invoices,
and shipment notices in electronic form, using industry standard
formats such as ANSIX1.2 and EDIFACT.

ElectronicData Interchange (EDI):

Traditionally, the transferor data from one company to another has

been by paper documents. This is known as a paper-based system.
These documents have to be manually forwarded and entered to the
destination computer.

EDI is the electronic exchange of standard business information, in

standard formats, between computers. EdI eliminates the need for a
paper-based system by providing an electronic link between
companies. This reduces data entry tasks and improves business cycle
times.

EDI is the electronic transfer of structured business documents in an

organization internally among groups of departments or externally with
its suppliers, customers and subsidiaries. The documents likely to be
used in EDI are invoices, purchase orders, shipping requests,
acknowledgements and payments. EDI is quite different from generic
correspondence like e-mail and involves the exchange of specific
documents with management and tracking procedures designed to
efficiency.

The information that EDI handles includes, for example, purchase order
and invoices. However ,any type of business document can be sent,
providing it conforms to current industry, national or international
format standards.

Examples of current users of EDI include automatic teller

machine(ATMs) in banks where EDI is used for transferring and
withdrawing funds between different bank accounts, airline reservation
systems, stock exchange transactions and car reservation systems.

Use of EDI:

The data from one computer is normally not in a form suitable to be

entered directly into another computer. The data may have to be
arranged differently before it can be entered into another computer or
some items of data may not be needed at all. With EDI, all the data is
converted into an agreed standard format before it is sent over the
network. The computer that receives the data can then extract the
information it requires.

Using EDI implies three things:

Information is transferred electronically rather than on paper. This

means that

there is no need to enter the data manually in the destination

computer.

Information is transferred between trading partners who have

negotiated

trading agreements and have formalized their data transfer system.

Information that is transferred complies with agreed standard for the

format of

the content and the transmission control mechanisms.

How EDIWorks ?
Regardless of the format chosen, companies using EDI communicates
with their trading

partners in one of two ways:

They exchange data with several trading partners directly.

They interact with multiple companies through a central information

clearing-house.

Basically, here is how EDI works:

Prior to any computer work, representatives of two companies

interested in

Exchanging data electronically meet to specify the applications in the

EDI

standard , which they will implement.

Each company adds EDI programs to its computer to translate

company data into

standard formats for transmission, and for the reverse translation on

the data it

receives.

Then, as often as operationally required the two companies exchange

data

electronically in the standard formats.

The data transmitted originates from records in the sender’s database

after the sender conforms that the receiver is an authorized recipient
for such data. The sender composes transmission formatted in the EDI
standards; the receiver translates the formatted message to a
computer record to be processed and used internally. All transmissions
are checked both electronically and functionally and the protocol
includes procedures for error detection and correction.
Once a company has established standardized communications with
another company, it is now in a position to communicate with any
other company that is also using the EDI standards.

EDI Security:

Today, in paper-driven systems there are many checks to ensure that

the expected clerical errors are detected and corrected the scrutiny of
the pieces of paperboy experienced clerical staff, for example, often
identifies errors made by trading partners. In an EDI system, it is
necessary to replace these procedures with new procedures that are at
least as effective. The replacement not only involves the trading
partners but also the other parties in the EDI system.

Security procedures will be in place for each party to the EDI system, it
is necessary tonsure that these procedures when taken together will
provide security to the whole. Each of the parties contributing to the
whole system will have different priorities-security is more important to
some organizations than to others. Absolute security is impossibility,
mistakes will happen, machines do break down, software does contain
bugs. Management therefore needs to determine how acceptable
commercial security can be achieved in a cost-affective way.

Security will be looked at under the following areas:

Hijacking EDI Messages in Transmit.

Security of EDI systems while creating , processing and data

retention.
Security mechanisms.
Technological Mechanisms
Security Management

Security:

To protect confidential data from intruders, there are several security

measures available today. Passwords, Encryption , Firewalls and Virus
protection are measures used to secure companies confidential
internal information. If companies want to share data on the Internet,
they have to consider security issues:
Passwords

Viruses

Authentication: passwords

The most inexpensive and perhaps the easiest method of security are
achieved through password protection. There are several different
areas in which passwords can be used. Having an internal network
strategy where users require a net work identification name and a
password will protect data internally. In addition requiring password
and user identification for all protocols for remote access via the
Internet or through telephone dial in will create a first layer for
protection from unauthorized access.

When utilizing a password protection strategy there are several

guidelines that should be followed. These guidelines will examine the
benefits of a password protection scheme. The length of a password
greatly affects the effort required to break the password. With this in
mind , users should be required to make their passwords greater than
five characters long. Words that are found in the dictionary should also
be avoided when creating a password. People may try to obtain
unauthorized access by writing programs that test all dictionary words
as possible passwords. Another area that threatens the security of
passwords is the use of common passwords like birthdays, social
security numbers, and names of relatives. This information is not
difficult to obtain, and is very often used as a password.

Firewalls do their authentication using IP addresses, which are

assigned to each server, client, and network device and can be
spoofed. So if you want to give certain users access over the Internet
to sensitive internal files and data, you’ll want to make sure to
authenticate the actual user. Authentication simply describes the
numerous methods that positively identify a user. Passwords are the
most common method of authentication used today, but users are
notorious for making poor passwords choices that can be guessed by
an experienced hacker.
In addition to passwords, which are often called ‘something you know’,
many organizations are turning to solutions that also required
‘something you have’, such as tokens and smart cards. Tokens are
small, credit card-or calculator size devices that the remote user
carries around.

Smart cards used for authentication are similar to tokens, except they
require a smart card to process the challenge, though these devices
have shrunk in size over the past few years, they’re still additional
devices that the user has to carry and can find cumbersome.

Viruses :

Viruses are also an important topic in Internet security computer

viruses is a computer program that clones itself when an infected piece
of program code is executed. Executable files and all other code that
controls your hard disk can be effected. Basically computer virus is a
piece of code that will copy its code into one or more larger host
programs when it is activated .As infected programs are run, the
destructive viral code is executed and the virus replicates, causing
damage like messages on your screen to wiping out your hard drive.
Viruses may spread through modems and networks, and this is of great
concern to any organization wishing to make use of the Internet.

Viruses are mainly transmitted from computer through contaminated

diskettes. A

program

that is remedied through installation of virus protecting software. The

Internet is a different entry point for viruses. Firewalls alone can not
protect against virus.

There are too many ways of encoding binary files for transfer over
networks, And too many different architectures and viruses to try to
search for all of them. A firewall cannot protect against a data-driven
attack. In other words, attack in which something is mailed or copied to
an internal host where it is executed

Applications of e-commerce:
Electronic commerce is doing business online. It is about using the
power of digital information to understand the needs and preferences
of each customer and each partner; to customize products and
services for them; and then to deliver the products and services as
quickly as possible. Personalized, automated services offer business
the potential to increase revenues, lower costs, and establish and
strengthen customer and partner relationships. To achieve these
benefits, many companies today engage in electronic commerce for
direct marketing, selling, and customer service; online banking and
billing; secure distribution of information; value chain trading; and
corporate purchasing . While the benefits of electronic commerce
systems are enticing, developing, deploying, and managing these
systems is not always easy. In addition to adopting new technology ,
many companies will need to reengineer their business processes to
maximize the benefits of electronic commerce.

Business communicates with customers and partners through

channels. The Internet is one of the newest and, for many purposes ,
best business communications channel. It is fast, reasonably reliable,
inexpensive, and universally accessible-it reaches virtually every
business and more than 100 million consumers. Joint business online is
electronic commerce, the four main areas where companies conduct
business online today:

•Direct marketing and selling

•Online banking and billing
•Secure distribution of information
•Value chain trading and corporate purchasing

Direct marketing & Selling:

Today, more web sites focus on directs marketing, selling, and service
than on any other type of electronic commerce. Direct selling was the
earliest type of electronic commerce, and has proven to be a stepping-
stone to more complex commerce operations for many companies.
Successes such asAmozon.com, Barnes& Noble, Dell computer and the
introduction of e-tickets by major airlines have catalyzed the growth of
this segment, proving the reach and customer acceptance of the
Internet.
This business-to-consumer electronic commerce increases revenue by
reaching the right customers more often. Targeted and automated up
selling and cross selling in new fundamentals online retailing. Sites that
most frequently provide the best and most appropriate products and
services are rewarded with stronger customer relationships, resulting
in improved loyalty and increased value.

Value Chain Integration:

No other business model highlights the need for tight integration

across supplier’s manufactures, and distributors quite like the value
chain. Delays in inventory tracking and management can ripple from
the cash register all the way back to raw material production, creating
inventory shortages at any stage of the value chain. The resulting out-
of-stock events can mean lost business. The Internet promises to
increase business efficiently by reducing reporting delay sand
increasing reporting accuracy. Speed is clearly the business imperative
for the value chain.

Unfortunately, sped can be costly. Today, approximately 50,000

businesses exchange business documents such as orders and invoices
with their trading partners through a standard communication and
content protocol called Electronic Data Interchange. Most EDI
implements use leased lines or value Added Networks that require
significant integration for each trading partner.

Supply chain Integration:

Supply chain integration, also known as Value Chain integration , uses

the low-cost of the Internet to highlight a tighter integration across
suppliers, manufactures, and distributors .Many of the fundamentals of
building a site, extensible order processing and integration with
other systems remain the same as that in the Direct Marketing Selling
scenario. But in the supply chain scenario, new requirements arise
including authenticated login, generating custom catalogs for key
customers and pricing and payment based on custom agreements.
Suppliers need to be able to provide their catalogs into another
business’s systems, with the ability to maintain these product catalogs
when pricing and/or inventory changes.
Corporate Procurement:

Business want to leverage the Intranet and the Internet to make

existing business processes more efficient. At the heart of this
business model are commerce solutions that facilitate that processes
of purchasing low-cost, high volume goods for maintenance, repair and
operations (MRO) of a business. Labor and paper –intensive operations
reconverted into self-service applications where purchase approvals
and business polices are enforced through automated business rules.
Approved purchase orders then need to be sent to the suppliers.
Corporate Procurement commerce solutions allow for transactions to
made with partnering businesses, suppliers and distributors, regardless
of the data format , and data is communicated, whether it be over the
internet, an EDIVAN(Value-Added Networks),

e-mail, or simply fax

Obstacles in Adopting E-commerce Applications:

Many companies and government agencies use electronic commerce

to facilitate internal operations and interact seamlessly with their
trading partners, but they usually require highly structured, previously
established agreements on communications, data format sand
security. The resulting costs and lead times create economic barriers
to wide spread use of electronic commerce applications by small and
mediumsized companies. Other barriers to electronic commerce
include real or potential problems with scalability, interoperability, and
ease of use. Developing and Implementing electronic commerce is a
top priority throughout the federal government.

The barriers in implementing applications of electronic

commerce

are:
The difficulty in reengineering the business process
The difficulty in using complex electronic information systems
The lack of security on existing networks

Growth of E-commerce in India:

Indian companies are joining the E-com revolution .Today, you can
order the CD of the latest Indian film over the internet from an E-com
company in Mumbai for your cousin in South America . While your boss
in Madras can accept orders for his company’s range of electrical
motors from all over the world on his website and your aunt in south
Delhi can shop for vegetables or pizza’s online . According to experts ,
in the new millennium80% of all business will happen electronically.

Indian companies are rapidly computerizing their organization to stay

competitive and linking up with their suppliers. In fact ,banks and
public sectors understandings are in the forefront of investing
information technology. Just as the growth of the STD telecom centers
has made communication accessible to the common man in towns
across India ,experts predicts the growth of the cyber cafes and cyber
Dhabas equipped with Indian language PC’s to bring e-commerce to
the Indian bazaar.

Market Research:

In early 1999, it was widely recognized that because of the interactive

nature of the Internet, companies could gather data about prospects
and customers in unprecedented amounts-through site registration,
questionnaires, and as part of taking orders. The issues of whether
data was being collected with the knowledge and permission of market
subjects had been raised.(Microsoft referred to its policy of data
collection as “profiling “and a proposed standard has been developed
that allows Internet users to decide who can have what personal
information.)

Future of Electronic Commerce:

Moving forward ,all businesses will be affected by the global move to

electronic commerce . Business operations will change , and new
processes will be created Companies that start learning in this new
environment today will be leaders in the future. It is difficult to say the
future of e-commerce in India. They are only now beginning to beware
of the potential and the possibilities of the Internet .It will at least take
another few months for Indian companies to adapt to doing business
electronically .Most business rely on large networks ,or efficient of
partners, suppliers and customers. If they are interested at all in
making their networks more efficient , they will consider faster, better
ways to communicate and transact. Moreover , in the information age ,
the market place is increasingly global. The Internet makes the world
more accessible.

Summary:

Electronic Commerce is the business environment in which information

for the buying ,and selling of goods and services moves electronically.
Electronic commerce include any Technology that enables a company
to do business electronically.

Electronic commerce is the use of telecommunication and date

processing technology to improve the quality of transaction between
business partners . It has existed in some form since the invention of
the telegraph and early automated data processing equipment but its
use has greatly increased . E-commerce improves organizational
efficiencies by leveraging data processing database storage , and data
communication technologies. Existing network facilities can be utilized
to achieve great savings in labor costs and the reduction of paper
storage and handling facilities. It has enabled firms to be more
effective in improving the quality of standard goods and services and
to offer a variety of new services. The global marketplace has become
larger and wider than ever because of the expansion of e-commerce
activity.

The growth of electronic commerce gas been fueled by the availability

of worldwide telecommunication networks along with enhanced
information delivery techniques utilizing the various multimedia
technologies. Client-Server architecture allows system with different
hardware and software platforms to interact in an open system-
computing environment.
Using electronic commerce , the time required to create, transfer and
process a business transaction between trading partners is
significantly reduced. Furthermore, human errors and other problems
like duplications of records are largely eliminated with the reduction of
data-entry and re-entry in the process.The improvement in speed and
accuracy , plus the easier access to document and information, will
result in increase in productivity.

With electronic commerce, there is better and more efficient

communication with customers. In addition, customers can also enjoy
the convenience of shopping at any hour, anywhere in the world.

The business done through E-commerce via Extranet which maintain

the relation ships of the organization with itssuppliers, distributors
employees and customers .E-Commerce not only limit the business
world wide it also maintains effective relationships with the help of
highly developed methodologies which are able to implemented
through the available faster communication media