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BUS 2700

W 6:30pm – 9:30pm

Instructor: Mr. Thomas Zemrowski

Internet Services and E-commerce Project

                                                                                                              Team Name: Six Brown

Members:  Danielle Carl

              Blair Florin

                Allison Long

                           Dominique Overton

                         Timothy Vandusen

Due: February 1, 2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table of Contents

 

Page 1 ~ Executive Summary (Dominique Overton)

 

Pages 2-6 ~ Part A: Explore Internet services

 

1. A Comparison of Search Engines (Blair Florin)

2. A Comparison of Internet News Services (Allison Long)

3. A Prediction of the effect the Internet will have on the future (Allison Long)

 

Pages 7-12 ~ Part B: Explore B2C e-commerce

 

1. A Comparison of Car Sites (Timothy Vandusen)

2. A Comparison 1 of Online Shopping Sites (Danielle Carl)

3. A Comparison 2 of Online Shopping Sites (Danielle Carl)

 

Pages 13-15 ~ Part C: Explore B2B e-commerce

 

1. Covisint (Timothy Vandusen) 

2. B2B e-commerce: The Future of B2B e-commerce (Dominique Overton)

 

 

Page 16  ~ Self – Evaluation : Danielle Carl

Page 17  ~ Self – Evaluation : Blair Florin

Page 18  ~ Self – Evaluation : Allison Long

Page 19  ~ Self – Evaluation : Dominique Overton

Page 20  ~ Self – Evaluation : Timothy Vandusen

 

Page 21-22 ~ References ( Dominique Overton )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Executive Summary

 

          The Internet has begun to almost dominant the world.. Today with the internets’ advancements in technology making it easy to do almost anything; i.e. a person can easily catch up on current events by going to CNN.com on one widow and on another window at the same time find the perfect gift for their mother’s birthday on Ebay. Also popular Sites like Google.com or Ask Jeeves make it easy to get all kinds of information with just one click of a mouse. The internet has created a gateway for more and more companies to service their customers. Now you can even buy a car right from your home by using such sites like cars.com or carsmart.com. Now with the use of what is called Business to Business(B2B) E-commerce businesses can communicate with other businesses strictly through the internet. This eliminates the problems of communicating through  phone with such things like e-mail. A business can now send an e-mail of what they would like delivered to their business from a partner company one minute; and that partner company gets it sent directly to them via e-mail the next minute. This leads to the conclusion that; in the future life might depend on the use of the internet and E-commerce.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Part A-1: A Comparison of Search Engines

 

 

www.google.com

www.ask.com

www.vivisimo.com

Ease of use

5

5

4

Content Scope

5

4

5

Customer Service

4

3

2

Exclusiveness

5

5

5

Usefulness

5

5

5

       Total

24

22

21

 

This table ranks each site on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the best.

 

Ease of use

          Each of the web sites is very user friendly. All three home pages have a box to type in your key word or words that you are searching for.  On Google and Ask Jeeves home pages they provide six or seven different categories to help narrow down the search.   Vivisimo does not provide any topics to pick from to help with the search.  They use document clustering which is the automatic organization of documents into groups and clusters.

Content Scope

          You can search for anything on all three web sites, but how the results are found and appear on the result page are different.  When one does a search on Vivisimo, on the left side of the result page, there are the clustered results.  At the top of that list is the key word.  Under the key word are folders with topics that can be linked to the key word.  For example, if one was looking up their favorite band, the name of the group would appear at the top of the list.  Under the group name the folders are put into topics such as music, photos, reviews, lyrics and download.  The results are ranked from the most hits to the least hits.  For example, if an individual clicked on the photos link, all 36 hits would pop up and then they could choose which ones that they would like to look at.

Google and Ask Jeeves result pages are similar.  Both sites provide the number of hits they had received.  The sponsor sites are also located at the top of the result page. 

Customer Service

          None of the sites had a direct link to the customer service page.  On the Ask Jeeves web site one had to look through the different links at the bottom of their home

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page.  Then, under policies, people can click on the Editorial Guidelines.  Finally one could find the customer service link here.  They provide customers with a dialog box so that they can email customer service.  Google was probably the easiest to contact.  They too have a dialog box, so people can get help quickly. It is still a couple of pages away from the home page.  Vivisimo was the hardest out of the three to email.  They don’t have their own dialog box, and customers have to go through their own email to send customer service a message.

Exclusiveness

          Anyone that can get connected to the Internet can use these search engines.  No membership or passwords are needed.  Google and Ask Jeeves have the opportunity to create an account so that one can keep their searches organized.  For example, one can make an account with Google.  All an individual needs is their email address and a password.  This will give them access to Gmail, Google Alerts, Froogle Shopping List,  Google Groups, and Personalized Search.  To create an account with Ask Jeeves, people also need their email address and a password.   By creating this account, it will help people get more storage, access their saved data from different computers, import their bookmarks, and upload pictures from their desktop or mobile phone.  Vivisimo doesn’t offer any of these things.

Usefulness 

          All three search engines are useful in there own ways.  Vivisimo technology will save time by quickly narrowing down searches, providing a general overview of all relevant details about a search, revealing new relationships through related folds, and assist people in discovering new topics they might otherwise miss. Ask Jeeves is known for asking the search engine questions.  It will answer question the best it can and will also give one a list of web sites that relate to their key words.  “Our mission is to deliver the most relevant answers to your everyday searches.”  Google is a good all around search engine.  It will search for anything and everything.  This site is known as the world’s largest search engine.  “Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

 

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Conclusion

          Google was ranked the best web site all around.  They provide people with the most search topics and the best results.  Ask Jeeves was the best site to ask question.  Vivisimo didn’t provide the best results.

 

Part A-2: A Comparison of Internet News Services

 

 

Ease of Use

Content Scope

Customer Service

Exclusiveness

Email Service

Usefulness

cnn.com

5

5

5

5

5

5

nytimes.com

5

5

5

4

5

5

ensnews.com

2

4

3

4

N/A

3

 

 

www.CNN.com

          In the ease of use category CNN.com received a 5 because it is very easy to navigate through the site.  Depending on what type of information you are looking for, it can be found with one click of the mouse.  Along the left hand side of the website are links to the various pages of cnn.com, including world news, US, weather, and business.

          For the content scope category CNN.com also received a 5.  This website contains a wide range of stories for everyone.  In addition to CNN.com stories they also have links to stories from the websites of their partners, including Time Magazine, Sports Illustrated, and Fortune Magazine.

          Customer service at CNN.com also received a 5.  There is a “contact us” link on the homepage, which allows contact to any of the five branches of CNN.  For example if someone wanted to contact CNN TV, they would select that link, and then choose whether they wanted to give feedback, post a comment about a specific story, or ask a specific question. 

          CNN.com received a 5 for the exclusiveness category as well.  CNN has a wide range of television shows and through CNN’s homepage the websites for these individual shows can be accessed.  Including Lou Dobbs Tonight, American Morning, Anderson Cooper 360, and Larry King Live.  This makes CNN.com very exclusive because these show’s websites could not be accessed through any other news website. 

          CNN’s email newsletter is very useful; therefore this category also received a 5.  They want you to sign up to become a member with CNN.com which has many advantages.  You can receive breaking news email alerts, follow the news that is important to you with personalized news tracking service, and get sports news and scores from your favorite teams.

          The overall usefulness of CNN.com received a 5.  This only makes sense as every other category is ranked by a 5 as well.  CNN.com is an excellent place no matter what type of news you are looking for, you can find any information from breaking news, entertainment news, as well as travel news.

 

5

www.NYTimes.com

NYTimes.com received a 5 in the ease of use category.  The website for the New York Times is laid out similar to CNN’s website.  There is a menu on the left hand side of the homepage directing you to the information you are looking for.  The main headlines for the day are in bold in the center of the homepage, so they are very easy to access when first entering the site. 

A 5 was also given in the content scope category.  NYTimes.com contains lots of information covering many categories.  In addition to the national and world news headlines, there are stories on technology, education, as well as books and movies.  It is also possible to search the New York Times archives for past stories.

The customer service category receives a 5 also.  From the “contact us” menu it is possible to choose what department you want to contact.  It is possible to contact different people within the company, write a letter to the editor, place an ad, as well as many other options.

NYTimes.com received a 4 for exclusiveness because unlike CNN.com, there are few stories that are exclusive to the New York Times.

The quality of the email news letter receives a 5.  Becoming a member gives you free access to breaking news alerts, reviews, online classifieds, and much more on NYTimes.com. 

The overall usefulness of NYTimes.com receives a 5.  If you are only after the main stories of the day, they are there for your immediate access, or if you are looking for more in depth stories, or stories in the archive, you can access those as well.

         

www.ensnews.com

          This website received a 2 for the ease of use category.  This is not your average news website; it is very complicated and is not straight forward about how it is to be operated.Ensnews.com received a 4 for content scope, as well as exclusiveness, because the information found on this website is not found anywhere else because they are discussion postings from people from around the world. 

          Ensnews.com received a 3 for the customer service category.  There is an FAQ page that they says has the answers to most questions; if you want to contact them it is not very easy. There is no free email service to sign up for through UseNet.  You must pay to become a member. The overall usefulness of this webpage receives a 3.  The basic point of this webpage is so the users can remain private while participating in online discussions in a particular group. So for some people this is a very useful form of receiving information, but for others who want the straight forward story, a webpage such as CNN.com or NYTimes.com is more useful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Part A-3: A Prediction of the effect the Internet will have on the future

Many lives have already been changed because of services the internet provides.  An increasing number of people are doing online banking, booking airfare online, as well as doing all their Christmas shopping online.  Since the internet has not been readily available for that long, only the youngest generation has grown up using the internet.  Years from now this will have changed, everybody, no matter what their age, will know how to access the World Wide Web. 

          This will impact the personal lives of people in many ways.  Online shopping will increasingly become the preferred way to shop.  Online travel sites will become more popular as people realize how easy it is to book your airfare, hotel, and car rental through one website.  Internet search engines such as Google will allow access to information from any website around the world, giving exposure to many companies and online services, that would have remained ignored if not for the internet

          The future of businesses will also be impacted by the internet.  Whether the company provides a good or a service, they can advertise and sell this product on the internet.  Businesses will also continue to benefit from the communication aspect the internet provides.  If a business has branches in different parts of the country, or even overseas, they can participate in web conferencing or online discussions instead of dealing with long distance telephone conversations.  The internet will also become the preferred way to hire new employees.  Prospective employees can submit their resumes online, and then be called in for an interview at a later time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Part B-1: A Comparison of Car Sites

 

Criteria

www.edmunds.com

www.cars.com

www.carsmart.com

Ease of Use

5

5

5

Content Scope

3

4

5

Privacy Policy

5

5

5

Customer Service

4

3

2

Exclusiveness

3

3

5

Security

3

3

5

Total

23

23

27

 

Ease of Use:

All three car websites were extremely easy to use, as their rankings show above in the table.  A search can be made by one click of the mouse, and each website is very easy to find what you are looking for.  Edmunds has more advertisements than the other two websites, but cars and car smart are just as efficient with ease of use.

Content Scope:

          Car smart beat the other two websites in this category because it had the most resources and information about new and used cars.  Car smart had a wide range of new and used car links that helped the viewer move through the website easily and efficiently.  Edmunds and the Car website have nice layouts but they are not as resourceful as Car smart.  Cars.com has a nice drop down system in the website but it does not have as much information and choices as Car smart.  Edmunds has a very busy layout and is more difficult to navigate through.  It has a good amount of material on the website but it is very hard to find exactly what one is looking for.  Car smart has a great arrangement of information.  It is very accessible and has been designed for easy navigation throughout the site.

\Privacy Policy:

           The privacy policies are all similar, and pretty long in length.  Each website has their privacy policy divided into sections with titles and subtitles.  All websites have the

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link for their privacy policy on the bottom of the homepage, and can easily be found by anyone visiting the website.  Each goes into great detail explaining their policy and how they protect their customers.  Overall each website’s privacy policy has many similarities in the content, but differences in the style they are set up.

Customer Service:

          Edmunds has excellent customer service options.  The website offers the viewer to contact the company by a wide range of means.  It also has a frequently asked questions link that enables viewers to search through a variety of questions about the site without calling or emailing the company.  Cars.com has the next best customer service applications.  They have a contact link that is very useful but is not as ‘friendly’ as Edmunds contact option.  It also has some links about the company that is very helpful.  Car smart has a help link but it only gives the viewer an option to search through question and answers.  Car smarts website is not as consumer friendly as the other websites.  Edmunds has the best customer services between the three sites. 

 

Exclusiveness:

          Some websites are only accessible by members.  Some sites allow anyone to look but only members that have login names to actually use the site.  Car smart is one of these websites.  They allow a consumer to search used and new cars in their site but the also have members that use a login name and password that enable them to use all the resources of the site that are not readily available to the average consumer.  Even though it is not costly to acquire a login name and password it is still time consuming and the consumer must submit their email to the company.  The other two websites do not use a login within their sites.  They are completely open to the public.  This is convenient for the average consumer that wants quick and easy quotes.

 

Security:

          In each of the privacy statements there is a section titled security in which the company explains how they keep personal information physically secure.  All three websites use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption technology to protect credit card

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information or insurance application information.  Cars.com and Edmunds can’t guarantee 100% security of its servers and databases therefore they received a poorer rating than car smart.

 

Part B-2: A Comparison 1 of Online Shopping Sites

 

Criteria

www.amazon.com

www.overstock.com

www.shopping-bargains.com

Ease of Use

5

4

3

Content Scope

5

4

5

Privacy Policy

4

5

4

Customer Service

4

5

2

    Marketing

   Techniques

4

5

3

Security

4

5

5

Total

26

28

22

 

 

www.amazon.com

          Amazon’s website was very easy to use. All the categories and topics were listed to the left of the page, and included everything one could imagine. The content scope varied from musical instruments, Home and Garden, electronics, DVDs, Sports, books, and even to a Wedding Registry. Amazon provides many different services; selling your used stuff, discussion boards, wish lists for those items you cannot purchase quite yet, charity links, purchase circles, top sellers, and even special occasion reminders for those of us who forget Grandma’s birthday every year. Amazon’s homepage was very colorful and attention grabbing, with good use of pictures. They display company logo’s, such as Babies R’ Us, and use many third party links. Amazon is a member of the Safe Harbor Program, which are privacy principles agreed upon by the U.S. and E.U. The website uses a Secure Sockets Layer to encrypt any information input, requires user names and

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passwords for entry into an account, and only displays the last 5 digits of Credit Card numbers. Amazon also states in their Privacy Policy that the exchange of your personal information is only used for fraud protection and reduced credit risk. Any other reason for your information to be used requires your consent prior to.

 

www.overstock.com

Overstock’s homepage was pretty easy to use, except at first glance the site can kind of be intimidating; there’s too much to choose from! The website contains everything from jewelry, electronics, apparel, and sporting goods to home and garden merchandise. The customer service was great, with a complete section just for customer help, offering many different addresses, emails, and phone numbers to call. The marketing technique of Overstock focuses on Outlet Shopping and bargain prices, which it did a great job of emphasizing and drawing attention to. Overstock also uses SSL for their security and only staff and limited third parties are allowed access to your personal information for things such as statistical information, error corrections, and to measure ad effectiveness, but your identity is kept anonymous.

 

www.shopping-bargains.com

Shopping-Bargains was perhaps the hardest webpage to navigate between the three. The categories were a little fuzzy in terms of what they contained. For example, the category “Tools and Automobiles” and “Education and Art” didn’t really seem to go together that well. The content scope was great, with even more categories than the first two, including food, self-help, toys, travel, vision, and even a category dedicated to saving money (coupons, clearance, and rebates). However, there was no Help button to be found! There wasn’t a contact info link available, or at least there wasn’t one obviously visible like there should have been. The website didn’t contain nearly enough pictures, and too much text. The only thing on the site that would meet customer approval was that it was rated by the Safe Shopping Network at 100% safe, any personal information used for demographics is not identifiable, and the site runs security checks on any company who wishes to advertise on the page. 

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Part B-3: A Comparison 2 of Online Shopping Sites

Criteria

www.ebay.com

www.liquidation.com

 

www.onsale.com

 

Ease of Use

5

4

5

Content Scope

5

3

2

Fees

4

3

5

Customer Service

5

5

4

Security

5

4

4

Total

24

19

20

 

www.ebay.com

EBay’s ease of use was great, with a search box right at the top of the page and eye catching, and a list of clearly defined categories along the side of the page. As the TV commercial goes “Whatever it is, you can get it here”, and the commercial is completely true. From antiques to computers, from new and used, it’s all on there. Customer service was perhaps the most shockingly pleasant of all; live help! Customers connect with a live agent in an Instant Message set up, and can ask whatever they want. You’re answered within minutes! Fees to use this service were reasonable. Seller’s pay an insertion fee (for example, a seller would pay $0.60 to display a product ranging from $10.00 to $24.99) and a final value fee (such as 5.25% of the final value the product was sold for). You don’t pay anything if it doesn’t sell. EBay has its own center dedicated to the site’s security where you can request help and receive solutions for a number of problems. Also posted are discussions on new security technologies, safety tips, and fraud news. EBay uses encryption for personal information, as well as requires customers to enter their user names and alphanumeric passwords. EBay also enforces a set of strict rules and encourages the rating of seller reputation to allow buyers to preview a seller’s dependability and quality before buying.

www.liquidation.com

Liquidation is a business to business marketplace that provides customers with very advanced searches that can help one find exactly what they need. The content is not

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as varied as EBay, with mostly computers, tools, and electronics. Customer service options were very detailed and provided numerous email addresses, street addresses, and numbers to call for each separate category concern so there is less of a wait to speak to someone and solve your problem. Liquidation is part of the TRUSTe privacy program that securely guards your banking and credit information. The fees to use this service are equal to a percentage of the gross transaction price for a completed transaction. The company remits payment to the seller by check, less commission and any other fees. The site doesn’t seem be keeping up with EBay’s PayPal technology, and sellers will receive their money in 2-10 business days.

 www.onsale.com

OnSale was a very easy to use website, with listed categories on the left side of the page, and brands a customer might be looking for on the right. OnSale is an online discount wholesaler with a very limited variety of items; systems, software, hardware, electronics, components, and digital imaging. Customer service allows you to place an order either online or by phone, and there are no fees to use this webpage. All areas that contain personal information use Secure Sockets Layer and transaction history is kept behind a firewall. Part of their security includes requiring extra verification information if you request to have your purchases shipped somewhere other than the billing address.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Part C-1: Covisint

Covisint is a company that allows other businesses to connect with their partners easily and efficiently through Covisint systems.  Their solutions to business queries allow companies to network connect and feel secure with fellow businesses throughout the world.  One industry they have focused on is the automotive industry where they have made it possible to contact trading partners effortlessly.  Covisint is trying to convey their products as necessary assets to the automotive industry.  Covisint has displayed three individual solutions to the communication and security problems automotive businesses have been incurring, they are Covisint Connect, Covisint Identity Management, and Covisint Communication portal services.

One industry solution Covisint explores is Covisint Connect.  Covisint Connect is a program that is implemented by businesses to join with numerous trading connections through the web.  This system has an assortment of different communicational tools.  It includes translators and security tools to route messages between traders.  Covisint connect makes business trade simpler and more efficient.  It reduces the complex formats and networks to one simple system that can enable a business to work with more trading partners without losing the strong business ties.

Another service Covisint offers is Covisint Identity Management.  This system has been created to provide businesses tools to define the roles and rules that define access to certain business applications.  It grants access to certain individuals and administration.  It also will define what actions one may perform and also what one may view within a system.  Covisint Identity Management also allows the authority figures to allow or reject user access.  This system will help control the businesses transactions in a way that will keep the business safe from intrusion.

Covisint also offers Covisint Communication portal services.  When infiltrated into a business, communication portal services are extremely useful in transferring information and allocating ideas with partners.  It can also be installed at a smaller expense than constructing and sustaining within the business.

These three solutions will enable businesses to feel secure within their business.  They will assist in the communication between businesses and their trading partners. 

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Covisint systems are an essential asset to all automotive companies that will lead the industry into the future of communication and stability.

Part C-2: The Future of B2B e-commerce

Business to Business e-commerce is a fast growing trend in the business world. It all started when Electronic commerce took on the form of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) in the early 1970’s and was developed for two distinct purposes, financial and non-financial transaction processing. Early development was slow and fragmented for the first decade until sufficient interest forced a move to standardization. Business-to-business transactions are the exchanges that occur when one economic entity sells a product or service to another. These transactions are transmitted, collected, and managed by transaction management software, which organizes, routes, processes, and tracks these transactions. (Shilling, Dr. Dennis J. Ph.D. 2001)

The business rational for using electronic commerce can be explained by the simple equation: profit=revenue-cost. Businesses use technology to either lower cost or increase revenues. Depending on how it is applied, electronic commerce can increase revenue by opening new markets for products or by establishing new service delivery channels to better service the customer. It is often shown that making customer service easier, results in better customer satisfaction, and that will in itself will have the effect of increasing sales or at lease help to increase customer loyalty. Customer loyalty in turn will lead to increased sales. The conclusion is simple; a successful business in today’s market must provide electronic commerce. So the question is what that does this mean for the future of this vastly growing way of B2B communication? (Shilling, Dr. Dennis J. Ph.D. 2001)

By the looks of things in a short while more and more companies involved in B2B transactions will be created. There are a number of positive forces fueling future growth of B2B marketplaces and electronic exchanges. Now that most companies are actively using an e-commerce product or service, the market segment that promises to provide the majority of future growth is small and mid-sized businesses. Based on the 25,000 companies operating in exchange and 165 private marketplaces, the most compelling

 

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reason for joining a B2B marketplace is the ability to sell products and services through a highly efficient, cost effective channel. Most businesses place a higher value on generating new income opportunities than they do on driving costs out of their procurement spend. (Bannan, Karen J. 2005)The ability to interact with new customers in areas well beyond their normal trade zone is very appealing. To do so without incurring the costs of establishing and managing a traditional channel is what makes Marketplace participation a high priority for growing businesses. Getting these companies online is crucial to forming the critical mass that will make this relatively new commerce vehicle an industry standard.

There is an anticipation of the emergence of industry coalitions— where businesses with similar industry and product/service focus are teaming to form their own marketplaces Interoperability refers to the ability of a buyer or supplier to participate in multiple B2B marketplaces. As it stands, hundreds of e-commerce and e-procurement systems will not permit a user to access different marketplaces without incurring the cost of software or membership fees. Interoperability is an issue today and will grow in importance in the very near future as more and more B2B marketplaces and exchanges are launched and begin to establish critical mass. Many of the early adopters, the pioneers of marketplace participation, such as TapeInfo.com, are facing the issue today. Like most leading edge businesses, they are doing so without a body of standards or a series of proven interface/interchange tools available. Standards do indeed exist. From a payment authentication and settlement standpoint, SET (Secure Electronic Transaction) standards provide Marketplace owner/operators with a common set of standards for clearing electronic transactions.

The B2B world should expect that SET, CXML, and other industry-sponsored standards will continue to improve the ability to interact within and between multiple e-Marketplaces.  TapeInfo.com has begun the exchange-to-exchange (E2E) or marketplace-to-marketplace (M2M) connectivity by linking its private marketplaces with its exchange, and the B2B world looks forward to being part of the evolution of interoperability and the continuing growth of B2B e-commerce.

 

Self – Evaluation: Dominique Overton

 

From this exercise I learned that B2B e-commerce is a highly profitable way to do business. This world of business will surely create new opportunities for businesses to make money. I think that soon this way of doing business will grow so much that I might become the most dominant way that businesses communicate. When I start my business I think it will be highly possible that I will use B2B E-commerce when buying things like supplies and other things I need. I will use the information given to me in this assignment to make the right decisions on how to use this way of business properly. I will not use this form of business in my personal life because it deals strictly with the business.

 

 My team functioned well, once everyone figured out what their responsibilities were they executed them well.  The team building skills that I learned was to ask for help when I needed it because when we meet to see how we each were doing everyone compared what they had done just to make sure that everyone understood the project. Because I usually work on my own, I learned that others opinions are worth listening to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

1.     Hamm, Steve (2005).  Linux marches on. Retrieved January 21, 2006, from BusinessWeek.com,site:http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2005/11/linux_marches_o.html

2.     Hamm, Steve (2005). An eBay For Business Software. Retrieved January 21, 2006, from BusinessWeek.com, site: http://www.businessweek.com/print/magizine/content/05

3.     Claburn, Thomas (2005). APIs Make Money For Amazon. Retrieved January 21,        2006,InformationWeek.com,site:http://www.informationweek.com/story/showarticle.jhtml?

4.     Bannan, Karen J. (2005). TapeInfo.com. Retrieved January 21, 2006, from BtoBOnline.com, site: http:/www.btobonline.com/printwindow.cms?articleID

5.     Shilling, Dr. Dennis J. Ph.D. (2001) B2B E-Commerce: A Practical Guide to Creating a Unix Based. Electronic Commerce Application in the Financial Services Industry.

6.     Google, Inc. (2006).Google. Retrieved January 25, 2006, from the World Wide Web: http://www.google.com

7.     Ask Jeeves, Inc. (2006).Ask Jeeves. Retrieved January 25, 2006, from the World Wide Web: http://www.ask.com

8.    \Vivisimo, Inc. (2006).Vivisimo. Retrieved January 25, 2006, from the World Wide Web: http://vivisimo.com

9.     CNN, January 28, 2006, http://cnn.com

10. New York Times, January 28, 2006, http://nytimes.com

11. Usenet, January 28, 2006, http://ensnews.com

12. Amazon. January 26, 2006 <www.amazon.com>.

13. Ebay. January 24, 2006 <www.ebay.com>.

14. Liquidation. January 26, 2006 <www.liquidation.com>.

15. OnSale. January 24, 2006 <www.onsale.com>.

16. Overstock. January 26, 2006 <www.overstock.com>.

17. Shopping-Bargains. January 26, 2006 <www.shopping-bargains.com>.

18. Edmunds. January 27, 2006 <www.edmunds.com>

19. Cars. January 27, 2006 <www.cars.com>

20. CarSmart. January 26, 2006 <www.carsmart.com>

21. Covisint. January 29, 2006 <www.covisint.com>