Chapter3

E business Infrastructure EbusinessInfrastructure

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Learning outcomes Learningoutcomes
Outline the hardware and software Outlinethehardwareandsoftware
technologiesusedtobuildanebusiness
i f t t ithi i ti d ith infrastructurewithinanorganisationandwith
itspartners
Outlinethehardwareandsoftware
requirements necessary to enable employee requirementsnecessarytoenableemployee
accesstotheInternetandhostingof
e commerce services ecommerceservices.
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Management issues Managementissues
What are the practical risks to the organization Whatarethepracticalriskstotheorganization
offailuretomanageecommerceinfrastructure
d t l ? adequately?
HowshouldstaffaccesstotheInternet
bemanaged?
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E business infrastructure Ebusinessinfrastructure
Ebusiness infrastructure is the architecture of
hardware, software, content and data used to deliver
ebusiness services to employees, customers and
partners.
Defining an adequate Ebusiness infrastructure is
vital to all companies adopting ebusiness as it
affects directly the quality of service experienced by
users of the system in terms of speed and
responsiveness.
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E business infrastructure Ebusinessinfrastructure
k d i i i h i hi A key decision with managing this
infrastructure is which elements are located
within the company and which are managed
externally as thirdparty managed
applications, data servers, and networks.
It is also important to be flexible enough to p g
consider new technologies to support changes
required by the business to compete required by the business to compete
effectively.
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Why the jargon? Whythejargon?
Why do business managers need to know about the jargon and Whydobusinessmanagersneedtoknowaboutthejargonand
technology?
Whileitisimportanttobeabletounderstandsomeofthe
technicaljargonandconceptswhentalkingtothirdparty
suppliersofhardware,softwareandservices,whatisofcrucial
importanceistobeawareofsomeofthelimitationsofthe
i f t t infrastructure.
Th h b i f th bl ith Throughbeingawareoftheseproblems,managerscanwith
workingwiththerepartnerstoensuregoodlevelofservice
delivered to everyone internal and external deliveredtoeveryone,internalandexternal.
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Activity 3 1 Infrastructure issues Activity3.1Infrastructureissues
Make a list of the potential problems for users Makealistofthepotentialproblemsforusers
ofebusinessservicesdevelopedbyTheB2C
Company Company.
Youshouldconsiderproblemsfacedbyusersof
b i li ti h b th i t l ebusinessapplicationswhoarebothinternal
andexternaltotheorganization.
Baseyouransweronproblemsyouhave
experiencedonawebsitethatcanberelated p
tonetwork,hardwareandsoftwarefailuresor
problemswithdataquality. p q y
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Typical problems Typicalproblems
Web site communications too slow Websitecommunicationstooslow.
Websitenotavailable.
Bugs on site through pages being unavailable Bugsonsitethroughpagesbeingunavailable
orinformationtypedinformsnotbeing
executed executed.
Orderedproductsnotdeliveredontime.
E il t li d t Emailsnotrepliedto.
Customersprivacyortrustisbrokenthrough
it bl h dit d b i securityproblemssuchascreditcardsbeing
stolenoraddressessoldtoothercompanies.
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A five layer model of e business infrastructure Figure 3.1 A five-layer model of e-business infrastructure
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Key management issues of e business infrastructure Table 3.1 Key management issues of e-business infrastructure
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Key management issues of e business infrastructure (Continued) Table 3.1 Key management issues of e-business infrastructure (Continued)
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Activity Internetinfrastructure
components
Write down all the different types of hardware Writedownallthedifferenttypesofhardware
andsoftwareinvolvedfromwhenausertypes
i b dd h l inawebaddresssuchaswww.google.com to
thewebsitebeingloaded.
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Physical and network infrastructure components of the Internet Figure 3.2 Physical and network infrastructure components of the Internet
(Levels IV and III in Figure 3.1)
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Six stages of advances in the dissemination of information Table 3.2 Six stages of advances in the dissemination of information
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A five layer model of e business infrastructure Figure 3.3 A five-layer model of e-business infrastructure
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Fi 3 4 The Netcraft index of number of servers Figure 3.4 The Netcraft index of number of servers
Source: Netcraft Web Server Survey. http://news.netcraft.com/archives/web server survey.html. Netcraft, http://netcraft.com
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The relationship between intranets extranets and the Internet Figure 3.5 The relationship between intranets, extranets and the Internet
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Intranets and extranets Intranetsandextranets
Intranet isaprivatenetworkwithinasinglecompany
usingInternetstandardstoenableemployeesto
shareinformationusingemailandwebpublishing
=>Informationislimitedinsidetheorganisation
Extranet is formed by extending an intranet beyond Extranet isformedbyextendinganintranetbeyond
acompanytocustomers,suppliersandcollaborators.
=> Information access is extended to some others, but not >Informationaccessisextendedtosomeothers,butnot
everyonebeyondtheorganisation.
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Intranet Intranet
Intranetsareusedextensivelyforsupportingsellside
ecommercefromwithinthemarketingfunction.
Therearealsousedtosupportsupplychain
managementactivities.
Amarketingintranethasthefollowingadvantages:
Reducedproductlifecycles wecangetproductsfaster
d d h h h h d d h d Reducedcostthroughhigherproductivity,andsavingonhardcopy
Bettercustomerservice responsiveandpersonalizedsupport
withstaffaccessingcustomersovertheweb. g
Distributionofinformationthroughremoteofficesnationallyand
globally.
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Intranet Intranet
Intranetsareusefulforinternalmarketing
communications sincetheincludethefollowing
typesofinformation:
Staffphonedirectories
S ff d li l Staffproceduresorqualitymanuals
Informationforagentssuchasproductspecifications,currentlist
anddiscountprices,factoryschedule,andstockinglevels.These p , y , g
informationhavetobeupdatedfrequentlyandcanbecostly.
Staffnewsletters
T i i Trainingcourses
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Intranet Intranet
Withintranetsandthroughwebbrowserswecan
accessbusinessapplicationswhichtraditionally
accessedusingseparatesoftwareprograms.
=>Thiscanhelptoreducethetotalcostofownership
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is the sum of all cost TotalCostofOwnership(TCO)isthesumofallcost
elementsofmanaginginformationsystemsforend
users including purchase support and maintenance users,includingpurchase,supportandmaintenance.
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Intranet Intranet
Withintranetadirectcostreductioncanbeachievedthrough
reducedcostofprintingandindirectlythroughreducedstaff
time needed to access information timeneededtoaccessinformation.
Itisrequiredtoenablestafftomanagetheirowncontent.For
large sites it is not practical to update the contents through a largesitesitisnotpracticaltoupdatethecontentsthrougha
webmaster.Apracticalmethodistoprovidethestaffwith
accesstoasystemallowthemtoaddandeditwebpages. y p g
Suchsystemisknownascontentmanagementsystem.
contentmanagementsystem(CMS)isasoftwareusedto
managecreation,editing,andreviewofwebbasedcontent.
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Extranet Extranet
Extranet isformedbyextendinganintranetbeyond
acompanytocustomers,suppliersandcollaborators.
=>Informationaccessisextendedtosomeothers,butnot
everyonebeyondtheorganisation.
Extranetsareusedtoprovideonlineserviceswhich
are restricted to business customers. arerestrictedtobusinesscustomers.
E.g.Buyingabookonlineusinganaccountwithloginand
password. p
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Extranet Extranet
Businessbenefitsofanextranet:
1. Informationsharinginsecureenvironment
information issharedwithsuppliersthroughalogintoadatabase
2. Costreduction
e g Through reducing the number of people involved in placing orders e.g.Throughreducingthenumberofpeopleinvolvedinplacingorders
3. Orderprocessinganddistribution
e.g.Lesslostsalesbecauseofoutofstockitemsandlowerinventoryholdingisneeded
4. Customerservice
e.g.Distributorsoragentsofcompaniescanfindinformationsuchascustomizedpricing
or advertising material oradvertisingmaterial
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Extranet Extranet
Manyofthemanagementissuesinvolvedwithmanaging
extranetsaresimilartothoseoftheintranet.Thesearefive
questions need to be asked when reviewing an existing or questionsneedtobeaskedwhenreviewinganexistingor
newextranet:
1 A h l l f ffi i ? 1. Arethelevelsofusagesufficient?
2. Isiteffectiveandefficient?
3. Whohasownershipoftheextranet?
4. Whatarethelevelsofservicequality?
5. Isthequalityofinformationadequate?
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Activity acommonproblemwith
intranetsandextranets
The B2B Company has found that after an initial surge of TheB2BCompanyhasfoundthatafteraninitialsurgeof
interestinitsintranetandextranet,usagehasdeclined
dramatically.Manyofthewarningsignsmentionedinthe
KM (2002) article listed above are evident The e business KM(2002)articlelistedaboveareevident.Theebusiness
managerwantstoachievetheseaims:
1.Increaseusage. g
2.Producemoredynamiccontent.
3.Encouragingmoreclientstoorder(extranet).
Whatwouldyousuggest?
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Suggested answer Suggestedanswer
Identify benefits Identifybenefits
Involvestaffwithdevelopment
Findsystemsponsors,ownersandadvocates
Train on benefits Trainonbenefits
Keepcontentfresh,relevantandwhere
possible,fun
Use email to encourage usage Useemailtoencourageusage.
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Firewall isasoftwareapplication pp
mountedonaserveratthepoint
whereacompanyisconnectedto
theInternet.Itspurposeisto
preventunauthorizedaccessinto
thecompanyfromoutsiders
Demilitarizedzone(DMZ)
InaDMZconfiguration,most
computersontheLANrunbehind
afirewallconnectedtoapublic
k lik h I O networkliketheInternet.Oneor
morecomputersalsorunoutside
thefirewall,intheDMZ.
Firewall positions within the e business infrastructure of the Figure 3.6 Firewall positions within the e-business infrastructure of the
B2B company
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Information exchange between a web browser and web server Figure 3.7 Information exchange between a web browser and web server
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Web browsers and servers Webbrowsersandservers
Webservers storeandpresentwebpagesaccessedbyweb
browsers.
StaticwebpageApageonthewebserverthatisinvariant.
DynamicwebpageApagethatiscreatedintherealtime,
oftenwithreferencetoadatabasequery,inresponsetoa
userrequest.
TransactionlogfileAwebserverfilethatrecordsallpage
requests.
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Web 2 0 Web2.0
Web2.0conceptbecamepopularin2004.Itreferstoa
collectionofwebserviceswhichfacilitatecertainbehaviours
online such as community participation and user generated onlinesuchascommunityparticipationandusergenerated
content,ratingandtagging.
Characteristics: Characteristics:
Interactiveapplications:Flicker,Googlemaps,bloggingservices.
Encouragingcreationofusergeneratedcontents:Wikis
Enablingratingofcontentandonlineservices
Adfundingofneutralsites:GMAIL,GoogleAdsense
h b h h b d d d d DataexchangebetweensitesthroughXMLbaseddatastandards RSSis
basedonXML
RapidapplicationdevelopmentusingAJAX Googlemap p pp p g g p
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The TCP/IP protocol Figure 3.8 The TCP/IP protocol
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URLS and domain names URLSanddomainnames
Web addresses are structured in a standard way as follows: Webaddressesarestructuredinastandardwayasfollows:
http://www.domainname.extension/filename.html
Whatdothefollowingextensionsorglobaltopleveldomainsstandfor?
.com
.co.uk,.uk.com
.org or .org.uk .orgor.org.uk
.gov
.edu,.ac.uk
.int
.net
.biz
.info
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Webpresentationanddata
exchangestandards
HTML(HypertextMarkupLanguage)
A standard format used to define the text and Astandardformatusedtodefinethetextand
layoutofwebpages.HTMLfilesusuallyhave
the extension HTML or HTM theextension.HTMLor.HTM.
XMLoreXtensibleMarkupLanguage
A t d d f t f i t t d d t Astandardfortransferringstructureddata,
unlikeHTMLwhichispurelypresentational.
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Home page index html for The B2B Company in a web browser showing Figure 3.9 Home page index.html for The B2B Company in a web browser showing
HTML source in text editor
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XML example XMLexample
Product> Product
<ActionValue5Delete/>
<ProductID>118003008</ProductID>
</Product>
<ProductType5GoodSchemaCategoryRef5C43171801>
<ProductID>140141002</ProductID> <ProductID>140141 002</ProductID>
<UOM><UOMCoded>EA</UOMCoded></UOM>
<Manufacturer>Compaq</Manufacturer>
<LeadTime>2</LeadTime>
<CountryOfOrigin>
<Country><CountryCoded>US</CountryCoded></Country> <Country><CountryCoded>US</CountryCoded></Country>
</CountryOfOrigin>
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Media standards Mediastandards
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) A graphics format and GIF(GraphicsInterchangeFormat) Agraphicsformatand
compressionalgorithmbestusedforsimplegraphics
JPEG(JointPhotographicsExpertsGroup) Agraphics ( g p p p) g p
formatandcompressionalgorithmbestusedfor
photographs
Streamingmedia.Soundandvideothatcanbe
experiencedwithinawebbrowserbeforethewholeclipis
downloaded e g Real Networks rm format downloadede.g.RealNetworks.rmformat
VideostandardsincludeMPEGand.AVI
Sound standards include MP3 and WMA SoundstandardsincludeMP3andWMA
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Managing infrastructure Managinginfrastructure
Managinghardwareandsystemsoftware
infrastructure
M i h li i i f Managingtheapplicationsinfrastructure.
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Managinghardwareandsystem
softwareinfrastructure
Systemssoftware layerII
Thekeymanagementdecisionisstandardization
throughouttheorganization.
>thisleadstoreducednumbersofcontactsforsupportand
maintenance maintenance
>reducethepurchasepricesthroughmultiuserlicenses
Systems software choices occur for client server and Systemssoftwarechoicesoccurforclient,serverand
network
Client:whichbrowsertostandardizeon,standardizepluginsand
systemsoftware
Server:standardizethewebserver;eg.Apache,thiscanhelp
maintenance maintenance
Network:networkingsoftwareshouldbedecidedon;eg.Novell
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Managinghardwareandsystem
softwareinfrastructure
Transportornetwork layerIII
Decisionsonthenetworkwillbebasedontheinternal
companynetwork.
>whichebusinesswillbeintranet
>forexternalnetworkwhichwillbeextranetorVPN,orlinkstothe
publicInternet
The main management decision is whether internal or Themainmanagementdecisioniswhetherinternalor
externalnetworkmanagementwillbeperformedbythe
companyoroutsourcedtoathirdparty.
Standardizationofhardware
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Managinghardwareandsystem
softwareinfrastructure
Storage layerIV
Storagecanbemanagedinternallyorexternally
e.g.intranetandextranetarecommonlymanaged
internally,
whileInternetstoragesuchascorporatewebsiteis
commonlymanagedexternallyorattheapplication
i id serviceprovider
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Managingtheapplications
infrastructure
Ebusinessapplicationsinfrastructure:
Applicationsthatprovideaccesstoservicesand pp p
informationinsideandbeyondorganization
EnterpriseresourceplanningERPapplications:
Softwareprovidingintegratedfunctionsformajor
businessfunctionssuchasproduction,distribution, p
sales,finance,andhumanresourcesmanagement.
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Figure 3.10 (a) Fragmented applications infrastructure, (b) integrated applications g ( ) g pp , ( ) g pp
infrastructure
Source: Adapted from Hasselbring (2000)
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Differing use of applications at levels of management within companies Figure 3.11 Differing use of applications at levels of management within companies
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Elements of e business infrastructure that require management Figure 3.12 Elements of e-business infrastructure that require management
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Activity how would you respond Activity howwouldyourespond
You are ecommerce manager for the BBC YouareecommercemanagerfortheBBC.
Howwouldyouevaluateyourresponsetothe
launchofthe3Gphone.
That is which sources would you use to base Thatiswhichsourceswouldyouusetobase
yourresponseon?
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Mobile access technologies Figure 3.13 Mobile access technologies
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Components of an interactive digital TV system Figure 3.14 Components of an interactive digital TV system
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