Current and latest trends in e-business

The business conducted by means of the internet has been referred as E-business. In this concept, the functionalities and the operation or the business practices are executed by utilizing internet or online services (Karaoglan & Ertaul, 2015). The business entities develop and design a personal website and official online portals for trading and communicating the messages to the consumers or the target audience. These portals can be used by the business entity for providing any kind of information and thus developing a communication bridge between a firm and the audience and also can be used by the consumers for getting knowledge about the products about the company. All the transactions and operations are conducted by making use of online means and commonly known as E-Business. These electronic business operations comprise of purchasing and selling of goods and services, dealing and supplying of goods, providing after-sales services. The business firms will be benefited on various grounds such as it will bring minimization to the expenses incurred on physical transactions such as costs incurred in maintaining the stock and the inventory and warehousing, varied transactional costs (Hawley, 2015). Moreover, the entity has been benefited by intensive promotional strategies and measures which are associated with the online or e-business. E-business provides the enterprise with the number of effective platforms for trading and selling the products. Social media can be considered as one of the most effective platforms which can be used by the e-business firms for conducting effective business. In the below-executed analysis various e-portfolios have been discussed based on e-business systems.

E-commerce has been considered as the buzzword of the modern day. The emergence of e-business within the business environment has led to the number of positive and negative advancements (Uberdigit 2016). These changing trends have resulted in the development of the number of competitive strategies and also intensification is experienced in the competitive environment. Adoption of competitive strategies has brought up-gradations and advancements for the business structures. These are the positive changes which aid the entity in serving the best quality of outcomes and results in an increase in the level of productivity (Safeena & Date, 2015). The below presented are the current and the latest trends in e-business:

Mobile commerce: One of an empirical trend which has been emerged in the e-business is mobile commerce (Amin, 2015). The term mobile commerce has been considered as a significant element and an integral player which is a key character in the concept of e-commerce. On the basis of the executed analysis, it has been inferred that the past few years has observed to have an increase in the use of smartphones, Smartphones and other related devices are being used for making online transactions such as searching for the desired products and purchasing the same, payments.  And on the basis of the further survey, a continuous hike in this trend is expected to be experienced. Mobile commerce will be gaining more importance in the coming time.

E-business technologies

An approach of multi-medium: Online means and mediums have raised the level of trading and exchange of goods and services (Soto-Acosta, Popa & Palacios-Marqués, 2016). A boost has been observed in the selling and the related operations and the reason behind this hike is the adoption of online facilities. Moreover, the business entities have also experienced a hike in the transactional level such as the national transactions have been updated to global or international transactions. International trade has also led the firms to get advanced technologies and improved versions of operations. Moreover, the online mediums also bring improvements to the performance level of the firm which leads to an increase in the productivity.

E-business technologies

E-business technologies are the mediums which can be adopted by the business entity for executing the business operations (Troshani & Rao, 2015). There are number of examples which can be considered as the contemporary means or e-business technologies such as, computer software and applications, system packages, components and elements of hardware systems mobile solutions, and analytic processes. These components play a significant role in aiding and facilitating the operations of the business. Moreover, the further use of these approaches can be made in transferring and analyzing the relevant data and which can be used by the firm for scrutinizing and fulfilling the requirements of the consumers. For further the business entity can also make use of these technologies in establishing an effective communication process between the internal departments and the organizational structure, the vendors, clients and the customers. Web-based portal or the official website of any of the business organization can be considered as one of the best examples of the technologies of e-business (e-commerce-platforms 2017). Automated inventory and warehousing systems, virtual communication process are some of the other forms of e-business technologies which play an empirical role in business firms. The below presented are the models of e-payments:

• Business to business: This business concept involves and makes the business entities to make transactions or trade the goods or services with the immediate buyer i.e. are the other business firms and further the goods are sold to potential consumers. For example, a wholesaler will get the delivery of goods after purchasing the goods directly from the official website and further the goods are sold to the potential or desired consumers (the-future-of-commerce 2015).
• Business to consumers: In this business model the products are directly sold the consumers for their consumption. In this scenario, the products are also made available, on the web-based portals or official websites or on other shopping websites for direct purchase.
• Consumer to consumer: This business model is concerned in making the sale of the goods from one consumer to another. Moreover, this also aids in the individuals who are interested in selling their goods, properties or assets to another consumer (Hktdc 2017). A varied range of ways for purchasing the products and number of modes of payments are made available and the mediator company charges some amount of fees for making the transaction happen.
• Consumers to business: As per this business scenario the consumer is required to reach an e-business firm and for expressing the interest in any of the service of an organization. For instance, a comparison can be checked out by the consumers between the interest rates on loan of different banks.
• Business to government: Governing authorities and the business organizations are the two parties which are involved in a trade as per this model. Use of websites and online portals is done by the government for exchanging the information and trading and transacting with other organizations (Xu and Quaddus, 2010). Accreditations are approved by the governing authorities.
• Government to business: As per this scenario, the governing bodies makes use of e-business for approaching the business organizations. Auctions, tenders and application submission functionalities are some of the services which are offered by these e-business corporations.

A rapid boost has been experienced in the significance level and it has also gained a position of vital initiative for any of the business entity (Lee, 2013). The concept of e-business plays a crucial role in bringing improvements and advancements in the business operations and functionalities.

The following are the impacts of implementation and the strategies of e-business on the operational activities and business practices of the firm.

While implementing the e-business strategies the business entity will have to redesign the processes, restructuring, and alignment of the organizational format will be done, better and improved layout of job descriptions, modified and altered versions of plans and policies will also be required to be initiated by the entity (Lops, De Gemmis and Semeraro, 2011). This system also comprises of a check over the norms, regulations, the tax laws, legal and safety issues which are required to be tackled by the e-business corporations. The business entity should be capable enough in adapting the change and the contemporary models and business approaches. These changes are considered as the key players in the growth and success leads to an increase in the performance level and productivity. Besides all these benefits, there is number of disadvantages or negative impacts of the e-business technologies and implementation of the system which will be required to be faced by the business firm (Zott, Amit, and Massa. 2010).

Impacts of E-business implementation and strategies on operational activities

The negative impacts of the implementation of the e-business systems and strategies can be observed in the form of a decrease in the efficiency and productivity of the firm (Lee, 2013). Not all the time it is easy for each and every employee to adopt the continuous changes introduced by the entity and this can develop a sense of reluctance among the workforce. Situations of conflicts and disputes can also rise and which can impact the firm.

The business entities are required to possess updated and contemporary technologies for providing the desired level of quality for attaining the best level of satisfaction by the consumers (Galliers and Leidner, 2014). These are the basic expectations which are required by the potential consumers and are considered as the primary responsibility of a business firm. And hence the workforce is required to possess the varied set of capabilities and expertise on various grounds. These skills will aid the employees in serving the consumers and the below mentioned are some of the capabilities which are required for assessing the e-business technologies for transforming the organizations for competitive advantages:

• Managerial skills (Wirtz, 2011)
• General knowledge and details of the products and services  
• Monitoring, scrutinizing, planning and controlling of financial and strategic terms
• Leadership skills
• Conflicts resolving and decision-making skills

The above-mentioned skills and capabilities are considered as an empirical requirement for any of the employee for exploiting the opportunities and also provide an assured level of performance for the business corporation (Cavusgil et al., 2014).

There is number of skills and capabilities which are required to be possessed by the workforce for performing various operations and functionalities. Interpersonal and communication skills are the examples of the capabilities which are essentially required and effectively executed by the employees within the firm so as to aid the consumers with the desired level of satisfaction (. While communicating the business and technical professionals make use of separate language; such as they make use of lots of technical jargons and pseudo-codes. For understanding this language the employees are required to possess the varied range of professional level of technical communication skills and also a development of some of the strategies are also required. Active listening skills, responding to the feedbacks, rephrasing the technical language and making use of jargons are the strategies which will aid in bringing improvements in the efficiency and also make the communication process more clear (Fusilier, Durlabhji and Blue Ridge, 2010). These skills will develop a distinct identity of an individual and will also set the individual apart from others. Moreover, the appropriate set of communication skills plays an empirical role in the organizational success and growth. It has become a necessity for each and every individual to have the abilities to communicate, corporate and collaborate with each other. The communication process should be developed with ease and confidence and which will bring positive outcomes such as clear and precise messages which are easy to understand (Reynolds, 2010). Another significant component of the process of communication is feedback, which is the confirmation that the message has been understood. Further, there are some basic aspects of communication process which are considered as very much significant. These principles are the guidelines and on basis of which the communication process is required to be executed for better efficiency and effectiveness.

Skills and capabilities required for assessing the E-business technologies

Ethical issues: The most common form of issues which can be faced by a business corporation is ethical issues. There is number of ethical issues which can come across an enterprise throughout operating the business practices. For instance, by making use of online means the computer hackers can easily get access to the personal and confidential data of the company and the consumers (Laudon & Laudon, 2015). The number of transactions is executed by makig.ng use of internet services such as payments, filling of forms for various documentation procedures and hence is easily vulnerable to theft. For tackling these issues the e-business portals and websites are required to make implementation of updated security systems and anti-theft software’s to encrypt personal information.

Legal issues: Governing authorities play an empirical role in the smooth execution of the operations and practices within an e-business firm. And if the entity fails to adhere the levied rules and norms then there can be chances that the firm can face legal issues. And in order to avoid or tackle these issues, the business organizations are expected to develop and design an organizational structure which is legally and financially stable. Moreover, there are other related legal issues which can come as a barrier such as issues related to financial aspects. Some provisions and strategies should be implemented by the business corporation for facing any kind financial contingency (Barnes & Hunt, 2013). One more legal issue is the similarity in brand identity. There can be the number of competitors who can try to copy the brand image or identity and for tackling this issue the business firms are required to make copyrights and patents over the brand identity. Brand identity has been considered as one of the empirical components for any of the business corporation.

Social issues: Safety and security have been considered as one of the significant concern for the consumers and is one of the biggest reason by which the consumers will be brand loyal (Camarinha-Matos, Afsarmanesh & Rabelo, 2013). And hence the business entities are required to keep the concept of safety and security on priority as, without security & privacy, the consumers won’t be feeling ready for making the transactions as they will be having a fear of getting hacked or cheated. For instance, in case of e-transactions with any of the e-business the consumer will have a fear of getting cheated as they just have the images of the seller and no proof of the identity of the firm, and also the consumer is unaware about the product’s quality and other details. Another example of this scenario can be in case of payments, the consumer will have a fear of not receiving the purchased item after making the payment.

Cultural issues: The different religions, languages and varied cultural aspects are considered as one of the main concerning issues for any of the e-business firm (Cavusgil et al., 2014). Tackling the cultural aspects are proven very much difficult for any of the business corporation as the entity will have to develop and design the websites and the content according to the change in the regions and cultural aspects.

Conclusion

After summing up the above presented and analyzed report it has been inferred that the e-business entity have been facing the number of changing trends and developments which has imposed the number of positive and negative impacts over the firms. The e-business system plays an empirical role in developing and advancing the business practices and operations within a firm.

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