Chapter 4

Digital Business
Applications 1
Digital Business Applications 1

 1.E-Electronic Retailing
 2.Fintech
 3.Digital Government
 4.E-Learning,E-Training,E-Books
1.E-Electronic Retailing
Characteristics and Advantages
of Successful E-Tailing
 Brand name recognition (e.g., Apple, Dell, Sony). A service guarantee
provided by well-known vendors (e.g., Amazon.com, Blue Nile.com).
 For example, return policies and expedited delivery; free shipping.
 Digitized format (e.g., software, music, e-books, or videos).
 Relatively inexpensive items (e.g., office supplies, vitamins).

• Frequently purchased items (e.g., books, cosmetics, office supplies,

prescription drugs).
• Commodities for which physical inspection is not necessary (e.g., books, CDs,
airline tickets).
• Well-known packaged items that you normally do not open in a physical store
(e.g., canned or sealed foods, chocolates, vitamins).
Advantages of E-Tailing
 Lower product cost, thus increasing competitive advantage.
 Reach more customers, many outside the vendor’s region, including going
global. For example, some Chinese and Taiwanese e-tailers operate sites that
sell electronic products all over the world (e.g., E-Way Technology Systems
Corp.)
 Change prices and catalogs quickly, including the visual presentation. Such
flexibility increases competitive advantage.
 Lower supply chain costs
 Provide customers with a wealth of information online as a self-service
option, thus saving customer service costs.
Advantages of E-Tailing
 React quickly to customer needs, complaints, tastes, and so forth.
 Provide customization of products and services, self configuration, and
personalization of customer care.
 Enable small companies to compete with larger companies.
 Better understand customers and interact with them.
 Engage customers in interesting search, comparison, and discussion
activities.
 Contact customers who are not reachable by traditional methods of
communication.
Classification of Models by
Distribution Channel
 1. Traditional mail-order retailers that also sell online. For example, QVC and Lands’
 End also sell on the Internet.

 2. Direct marketing by manufacturers.

 Manufacturers such as Dell, LEGO, and Godiva market directly online from their webstore
 to customers, in addition to selling via retailers.

 3. Pure-play e-tailers. These e-tailers sell only online. Amazon.com is an example of a pure play e-tailer (see
opening case).

 4. Click-and-mortar (“brick-and-click”) retailers.

 These are retailers that open webstores to supplement their regular business activities (e.g., walmart.com)
FINTECH
 E banking
 Most mobile financial services are mobile versions of their wireline counterparts. However,
 they can be used anytime, anywhere. We divided these services into two broad categories:
mobile banking and other mobile financial services
 Mobile banking ( m-banking ) describes the conducting of banking activities via a mobile
device (mostly via smartphones, tablets, texting, or mobile website). The influx of smartphones
and tablets, especially iPhones and iPads, has led to an increased utilization of mobile banking
 Most banks deploy mobile services through variety of channels, although the Internet and
 SMS are the most widely used.

HDFC Bank Mobile Banking

 Pay
Money transfer
Pay your mobile, utility and credit card bills
Recharge your mobile, data card and DTH
Request cheque book or stop cheque payment
Manage alerts, billers and standing instructions for automatic payments
 What’s more, you can also quickly manage your account with these features:
Update your Aadhaar Card number
Contact a relationship manager in one tap(for Classic, Preferred & Imperia Customers)
Download your e-TDS certificate
Pure Virtual Banks
 Virtual banks have no physical location and conduct only online transactions.
Security First
 Network Bank (SFNB) was the first such bank
 In some countries, virtual banks are also engaging in stock trading, and some
stockbrokers offer online banking.
 P2P Lending
 The introduction of online banking enables the move of personal loans to the Web in
what is called online person-to-person money lending , or in short P2P lending . This
model allows people to lend money and to borrow from each other via the Internet.
 An emerging innovation in online banking is peer-to-peer (P2P) online lending.
Insurance Online
 An increasing number of companies use the Internet to offer standard insurance policies,
such
 as auto, home, life, or health, at a substantial discount, mostly to individuals.
Furthermore,
 third-party aggregators offer free comparisons of available policies. Several large insurance
and
 risk-management companies offer comprehensive insurance contracts online.
 Many insurance companies use a dual strategy, using sales agents
 in the field but also selling online.
 The insurance industry has seen that 70–80% of potential insurance customers are
researching
 and gathering information on the Internet. Thus, insurance companies are trying to
capitalize on
 this trend. For example, by attempting to profile the online customers and understand
their needs,
 they can match Web advertisements and offerings to the meet those needs
Online Stock Trading and Investments
 With online trading, there are no busy telephone lines, and the
 chance to err is small, because there is no oral communication in a frequently
noisy environment.
 Orders can be placed from anywhere, at any time, and there is no biased broker
to push a
 sale. Furthermore, investors can find a considerable amount of free research
information about
 specific companies or mutual funds
 With the rapid pace of adoption of mobile
 computing, mobile stock trading is becoming
 more and more popular
Digital Government
Digital Government
 Electronic government, also known as e- government or digital government is a growing e-
commerce application that encompasses many topics.
 E-government refers to the use of information technology in general, and e-commerce in
particular,
 to improve the delivery of government services and activities in the public sector, such as:
 providing citizens with more convenient access to information and services, and providing
effective
 delivery of government services to citizens and businesses as well as improving the
performance of government employees.
 E-government includes the following major categories:
 government-to-citizens (G2C),
 government- to-business (G2B), government-to government
 (G2G), internal efficiency and effectiveness
 (IEE), and government-to-employees (G2E).
E-Government 2.0 and Social Networking
 By employing social media tools, new business models, and embracing social
networks and user
 participation, government agencies can raise the effectiveness of their online
activities to meet
 users’ needs at a reasonable cost. Such initiatives are referred to as Government
2.0
 Government agencies around the world are now experimenting with social media
tools as well as with their own pages and presence on public social network sites.
Governments are using
 Web 2.0 tools mainly for collaboration, dissemination of information, e-learning,
and citizen
 engagement.
M-Government
 Mobile government (m-government) is the implementation of e-government
applications using wireless platforms. It is done mostly in G2C.
 M-government uses wireless Internet infrastructure and devices. It is a value-
added service, because it enables governments to reach a larger number of
citizens (e.g., via smartphone or Twitter) and it can be more cost-effective
than wireline-based EC platforms.
Benefits of M-Government
 More citizens and employees can be reached (anyplace, anytime)
 Cost reduction (e.g., by increasing productivity of employees; reduced
budgets)
 Modernizing the operations of the government (e.g., employ mobile device)
 Employees can bring their own mobile devices to work, saving hardware and
software costs.
 Providing quality, flexible services to the public.
 Increasing the reach and speed for public dissemination of information.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
 1. Define e-government.
 2. What are the four major categories of e- government services?
 3. Describe G2C.
 4. Describe how e-voting works.
 5. Describe the two main areas of G2B activities.
 6. How does government use EC internally and when dealing with other
governments?
 7. Describe e-government social networking
 activities. What are some potential benefits?
 8. Describe m-government and its implementation issues.
E Learning
Distance Learning
 According to Technavio Research Report “Global Distance Learning Market
by type (traditional distance learning and online distance learning)
and geography (North America, Europe, APAC, MEA, and South
America) is expected to grow by USD 90.37 billion, at a CAGR of 9% from
2019-2023”.
 Few Major Players for the Distance Learning Market are:
 Arizona State University
 Aston University
 University of Exeter
 University of Missouri System
 University of Wisconsin System
Online Corporate Training
 Like educational institutions, a large number of business organizations are
using e-learning on a large scale.
 Many companies, such as Cisco Systems ( cisco.com ), offer online training.
 Corporate training is driven by multiple factors and is often done via
intranets and corporate portals. However, the students use the Internet as
well.
 It has several variations, one of which is on deman online training , which is
offered by software companies such as Citrix Systems
Using Computer Games for Training
Current and New Employees
 Marriott International developed a game “My Marriott Hotel,” available on
Facebook for help in recruiting and training. According to Berzon( 2011 ) the
players learn how hotels and their restaurants operate.
 Initially, Marriott developed a game for the kitchen. The players needed to
choose what ingredients to use for different foods (based on price and
quality).
 The players also learned how to select employees from a pool of candidates
and make decisions about equipment purchasing.
 They also learned about food quality.
 Global E-Learning market to Reach $325 billion by 2025 (Research and
Markets) from $107 Billion in 2015 (Forbes).
 In 2013, Lynda.com, the online learning giant and arguably the 800-pound
gorilla in the e-learning space, had just accepted $103 million in venture
funds. Two years later, in 2015, they were acquired by LinkedIn for $1.5
Billion. It is now called LinkedIn Learning.
Social Learning , also known as E-learning 2.0
 New term, social learning , also known as e-learning 2.0 , has been coined to
describe the learning, training, and knowledge sharing in social networks
and/or facilitated with social software tools.
 An example of a social network for learning is LearnHub ( learnhub.com ),
which is dedicated to international education.
 Some scholars believe that the future of e- learning is social learning (e.g.,
see Hart 2009 ).
 Connect learners in a learning project.
 It enables people to connect in real time for discussion, collaboration, and
problem solving.
E-Learning Management Systems
 A learning management system ( LMS ) (also known as a course
management system) consists of software applications for managing e-
training and e-learning programs including content, scheduling, delivery tips,
 A robust LMS should be able to: Provide effective student-instructor
interactions.
 Centralize and automate program administration.
Learning Management Systems
 Enable the use of self-service and self  Learning Management Systems (for
guided e-learning services. education) with four earning the Editors’
 Create and rapidly deliver learning content Choice award:
modules.  Absorb LMS
 Provide single point of access to all e-
learning online materials.  Schoology LMS
 Help manage compliance requirements.  Instructure Canvas LMS is for education, but
Consolidate training initiatives on a their corporate, HR-type offering is
called Instructure Bridge.
 scalable Web-based platform.
 Support the portability of systems.
 Moodle LMS for education. Corporate and
training – they offer Moodle Workplace
 Increase the efficiency and effectiveness of
e-learning.
 Personalize content and enable knowledge
 reuse.
Learning Management Systems
 Blackboard
 Blackboard Inc. ( blackboard.com )
is the world’s largest supplier of
course management system
software for educational
institutions. How do Blackboard
products work? A textbook
publisher places a book’s content,
teaching notes, quizzes, and other
materials on a Blackboard in a
standardized format.
 Moodle
 An alternative to Blackboard is a
mostly free open source system
called Moodle
E Books
 An electronic book ( e-book) is a book in digital format that can be read
on a computer screen, mobile device (e.g., a tablet, iPhone), or on a
dedicated device known as an e-reader .
 A major event in electronic publishing occurred in 2000, when Stephen
King’s book Riding the Bullet was published exclusively online.
 For $2.50, readers were able to purchase the e-book on Amazon.com and
other e-book providers.
 Today there are several types of e-books that can be delivered and read in various ways:
 Via a dedicated reader. The book must be downloaded to an e-reader such as Amazon’s
Kindle.
 Via Web access. Readers can locate a book on the publisher’s website and read it there.
The book cannot be downloaded.
 Via Web download and a smart phones. Readers can download the book to a PC.
 Via a general-purpose reader. The book can be downloaded to a mobile device such as an
iPad or iPhone.
 Via a Web server. The contents of a book are stored on a Web server and downloaded for
print-on-demand
Kindle reader
Advantages of E-Books

 Ability to store hundreds of books on a small mobile device (7″ to

10″).(External storage can hold much more.)
 Lower cost to buyers. The simple e-reader model costs less than
$75; the tablet-based less than $200
 Searchable text—you can show links, and connect easily to the
Web.
 Instant delivery via downloads from anywhere. The tablet-based
models provide you with many of the capabilities of other types of
mobile computers.
 Portability—they go where you go.
 Easy integration of content from several sources.
 Easy to find out-of-print books.
Limitations of E-Books
 They require hardware and software that may be too expensive for some readers; some
people have difficulty reading large amounts of material on a relatively small computer
screen; batteries may run out.
 There are multiple, competing software and hardware standards to choose from,
confusing the buyers.
E-readers
 The major device used to read an e-book is an e-reader. Most e-readers are lightweight
(about
 10 ounces) and are convenient to carry.
 The major e-readers and tablets are listed and compared at the-ebook-reader.com
 Kindle has Internet access via Wi-Fi, so social network access and e-mail is available
 also. Finally, with Amazon’s Kindle Owner’s Lending Library, Kindle owners who have
 Amazon Prime can choose from a selection of more than 500,000 books to borrow, for
free with no due dates.