Internet Services
&
E-commerce Project

 

 

 

 

 

Team Gold

Andrew Bruckman                                  Christine McDowell

Racquel Fendley                                             Nathaniel Sutter

                                                 Paris Jackson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table of Contents

 

 

 

 

 

Executive Summary:                                                             

            Racquel Fendley                                                                       2

 

Part A: Explore Internet Services:

            Nathaniel Sutter            (1)                                                        5

            Christine McDowell      (2)                                                        7

            Christine McDowell      (3)                                                        9

 

Part B: Explore B2C e-commerce:

            Paris Jackson               (1)                                                        9

            Paris Jackson               (2)                                                        12

            Nathaniel Sutter            (3)                                                        15

 

Part C: Explore B2B e-commerce:

            Andrew Bruckman       (1)                                                        16

            Andrew Bruckman       (2)                                                        19

 

Individual Assessments:

            Andrew Bruckman                                                                   22

            Paris Jackson                                                                           22       

            Christine McDowell                                                                  22

            Nathaniel Sutter                                                                        23

            Racquel Fendley                                                                       23

 

References:                                                                                        24                   

                                                                                                           

 

 

 

 


The internet and e-commerce have evolved greatly over the past decade to include sites such as google.com, amazon.com, and ebay.com, to name a few. Through the aid of diversified websites, internet users can navigate the World Wide Web to seek out virtually anything desired. The internet provides the ability for users to perform customized searches, with detailed, accurate results.

            When evaluating the following three search engines, www.google.com, www.ask.com, and www.visimo.com, five specific criteria were examined, compared, and contrasted to one another.  The five criteria’s were comprised of, ease of use, content scope, customer service, exclusiveness, and usefulness. Overall Vivisimo was ranked the highest out of the three search engines, Google, and Ask were ranked second and third respectively. Vivisimo was not as user friendly as Google or Ask, however once the user learned how to navigate the site, the accuracy of the search results far surpassed the results produced by Google or Ask. Google appeared to provide the best customer service and ease of use. Ask provided the worst content scope, customer service, and usefulness. When searching the World Wide Web the best search engine to use is Vivisimo, if you are lacking time to learn the mechanics of Vivisimo, Google is a fair alternative; Ask was not recommended due to poor content scope.

            Internet users can also access news papers, television shows/stations, and other publications that have an online counterpart such as www.cnn.com, www.nytimes.com, and www.ensnews.com. CNN.com was the easiest site to navigate, and offered many benefits to the user such as the ability to subscribe Time and Fortune magazines. Nytimes.com provided useful information in a user friendly manner with the aid of pictures and video clips. Ensnews.com presented the least amount of information and also lacked the appeal of Nytimes by not displaying many pictures or offering video clips to view.

            If a customer is searching for information on vehicles www.edmunds.com, www.cars.com, and www.carsmart.com are all user friendly, helpful, websites. Carsmart.com proved to be the most user-friendly website. It lacked the “in-your-face” web design of Edmunds.com, and cars.com; however it provided a simple, no-fuss, environment for finding information about buying, and selling vehicles. Edmunds.com and cars.com had very eye catching web pages, however, there was so much content and information presented that it was at times difficult for the user to find what they were looking for.

            Shopping is one of the largest uses for the internet; www.amazon.com, www.overstock.com, and www.shopping-bargains.com were all compared to find which site was the most effective, easiest to navigate, and had the best marketing techniques. By far, amazon.com outshined the competition with far more content and user-friendly capabilities. Overstock.com provided the best customer service, and utilities television as a means of mass marketing. Shopping-bargains.com provided the worst customer service practices, was the most difficult site to navigate and produced the for the most part inaccurate results.

            Discount and second hand shopping is a main attraction of the internet. Popular discount and second-hand online shopping destinations are www.ebay.com, www.liquidation.com, and www.onsale.com. EBay is the most well known of these websites, offering the greatest content, and customer service. Some users are unhappy with the fees associated with using eBay, however for the accuracy and quality assurance of purchased items it is no wonder why eBay one of the largest internet companies today. Liquidation was the hardest to use, the site is specifically for business surplus inventories. Onsale.com offered the least amount of content however it also had the least amount of fees.

            Automotive technologies services company Covisint offers many benefits to businesses. This site is not particularly for an individuals use. The site offers a wide variety of services and information on such topics as healthcare, and providing business information and helpful tools. Covisint also has programs that would enable automotive companies to electronically communicate documents, shipping schedules, and perform other important electronic communications. One of the most notable perks to Covisint is its economical business software programs that will allow companies to get ahead of the competition.

After reviewing all the search engine sites, the ratings speak for themselves.  Google is by far the easiest to use and has quick, accurate results that make it the favorite among many web users.  Vivisimo isn’t as user friendly as many the other search engines, however once you learn how the site works and practice with it a little, it is the best choice.  Ask lacks overall content, which is rather apparent when conducting a search.  Vivisimo and Google have a good amount of content, but Vivisimo has clusters or related information which makes the vast content easier to sift through and more user friendly.  Google has very good customer service; it also has a help center that guides you through using the site. Vivisimo offers a similar service, however it’s not as concise or easy to use as Google.  Ask has a poor customer service interface, with only an email submission query page to help you. Vivisimo’s content was very exclusive; the clusters gave you an extremely accurate picture of what you were searching for. When you use Google.com, on the right side of the screen, there are additional links you can go to and receive additional information on what you are searching for. Ask provides significantly less useful tools than the other search engines, additionally, all information found on Ask, can be found on a better search engine with less user-effort. Overall there is a lack of effectiveness when using Ask, Google provides a much better service and result; however, Vivsimo comes out on top.

When searching, your best option is Vivisimo if you want to take a few minutes to learn how to navigate the site, discover how it works, and how it filters and cluster information. For an online user looking for a quick search, and doesn’t want to spend the time to learn the mechanics of Vivisimo, Google remains a good option for quick, accurate results.  A user should avoid using Ask due to its lack of content and exclusiveness.

 

 

www.google.com

 

www.ask.com

 

http://vivisimo.com

 

 

Ease of Use

 

 

5

 

 

4

 

 

3

 

 

Content Scope

 

 

4

 

 

3

 

 

5

 

Customer Service

 

 

5

 

 

2

 

 

4

 

 

Exclusiveness

 

 

4

 

 

2

 

 

5

 

 

Usefulness

 

 

4

 

 

2

 

 

5

 

After reviewing the following three websites www.cnn.com, www.nytimes.com, and www.ensnews.com; CNN and the New York Times were among the easiest websites to use. CNN has pictures to grab the readers’ attention and hold it. Clicking on one of the pictures will bring the reader directly to the corresponding full length article. Throughout CNNs webpage are bold headers that navigate readers to additional articles. These headers range from topics featuring entertainment, and sports, to articles on business, and health. CNN.com is overall a great website to get updated on the latest news. CNN.com also offers subscriptions to TIME and FORTUNE magazines (if interested in subscribing to TIME, one will receive four free trial issues). “CNN.com is among the world's leaders in online news and information delivery. Staffed 24 hours, seven days a week by a dedicated staff in CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, and in bureaus worldwide, CNN.com relies heavily on CNN's global team of almost 4,000 news professionals. CNN.com features the latest multimedia technologies, from live video streaming to audio packages to searchable archives of news features and background information. The site is updated continuously throughout the day (CNN.com).”

            The New York Times, on the Web, is very similar to CNN.com. NYTimes.com also utilizes color pictures to grab the readers’ attention. Similarly to CNN, after clicking on the picture it prompts the corresponding, detailed article. The website also has informational videos for the readers to watch. The New York Times, on the web, displays  more bold headings than the CNN website, which provides readers with articles that are more accessible via the front page. NYTimes.com is user extremely friendly; it also allows anyone to subscribe to their newspaper. They however do not give a free subscription, but give a free membership to the website. Once a member, one can get emails regarding important news and anything else one chooses to receive. The NYTimes.com has great customer service; there are many informational facts on the website to answer any questions that a user might have. There are also email addresses given incase the questions someone has is not answered on the website. Overall, NYTimes.com was very easy to use and had a lot to offer.

            Ensnews.com is an uncensored website that allows people to access websites that are also uncensored. There is not a lot of information presented on the website itself, additionally; there are no pictures or videos provided. The lack of information coupled with the nonexistence of pictures or videos makes this website very plain. “Usenet is older than the internet itself. Originally set up to allow academics and others in specialized fields to engage in group discussions with their peers across the globe, it has since evolved into an uncensored system of exchanging virtually anything that can be transmitted between computers (ensnews.com)”. This website does not offer a strong, accessible, customer service. On the main page there are no links to click on regarding questions or facts. A user is not able to subscribe to anything on this website because there is nothing being offered unlike the other two websites. Use of ensnews.com is not recommended when CNN.com and NYTimes.com are available and far more superior.

 


www.ensnews.com

Rank: 1

Ensnews had the least amount of useful information. It was also very plain and it did not have much eye appeal.

 

www.nytimes.com

Rank: 3

Nytimes is very user-friendly, also utilizes videos and pictures to grab the users attention and provide more in-depth information.

 

www.cnn.com

Rank: 5

Cnn.com was the easiest site to navigate and provided the most information. A user could subscribe to a publication, watch videos, and view pictures.

 
                                    

 


                  

 

 

 

 

 

 

            The internet has evolved so greatly in the past 10 years that it has been in existence; it is difficult to imagine what other evolutions can take place when the internet is already seemingly perfect to most users. Everything is now offered on the internet. People have the ability to buy, sell, and trade virtually anything and everything via the internet. Ebay.com is one example of how the everyday person can buy and sell items through the aid of the internet. The internet has already impacted people in many ways on personal and business levels.

            No one knows for sure what the future has to offer for internet users. However, we can predict what may occur. Many feel that the internet has already accomplished a great deal. The internet offers user customization and personalization in terms of their searches. Users can find results on topics ranging from dating to job hunting. The internet has made life easier and more convenient. In the future, the internet will most likely be problem free.  Business-wise, companies will presumably all be run on the internet and most people will work at home, which will help companies save time and money.

            However, businesses will require more security on their websites, because, with all of the new technology that will be presented in the future, they will have to be well aware of hackers and how to counter their attacks. In the long run, many feel that the internet will be a lot faster and more reliable; therefore more companies will be operating solely over the internet.

Edmunds.com is a very straight forward, easy to use system. It allows you to look at, and do research on new and used cars. There is an extremely large amount of content to the website, almost to the point of distraction. However, the copious amounts of content will better aid the consumer if they truly take advantage of all there is to offer and are not frightened away by all of the tabs, pictures, and options to click on. The website gives detailed insight and information on all of the cars offered, whether they are new or used, being bought, or sold. It also allows the customer an opportunity to research the car they would like, as well as receive the back ground history. Edmunds.com privacy policy is rich in detail; they inform customers that they use the TRUST system.  TRUST is an independent non-profit organization whose mission is to build user’s trust and confidence in the internet. They accomplish this by promoting fair information. They also explain to the user what cookies are, and why your zip code and subjects of that matter may be required at certain times. Customer service on Edmund.com is quite efficient. Edmunds.com is not exclusive; any internet user can access the site to buy/sell a vehicle. The website contains so much information that it is almost cluttered and hard to focus on what you are immediately looking for. It takes some time to find the exact link you are seeking; however once you have found it, there is a great amount of information provided.

The Cars.com webpage is an incredibly easy website to navigate. Directly at the top of the website are tabs which can direct a user to four categories; buy, sell, research, shopping advice. These tabs help users direct themselves to the specific areas they are seeking. Below the tabs a user can input information and specify what features they would like their used car to have; they can also click on “Build Your New Car” and take their customized search to an entirely new level. Located on the sides of the webpage, users can access other helpful tools such as, Blue, Book Values, and Payment Calculators. The websites privacy policy is not that clear in content. The website could help potential customers by making their privacy policy more apparent. Cars.com has great customer service; they offer much information to help the customer from blue book values to shopping advice and to other reviews such as, best/worst cars and most popular cars. Cars.com is not an extremely exclusive website, anyone can access it, however whether or not your car is sold, or you purchase a car, is based on your own personal credibility with the other person involved in the transaction; cars.com does not interfere with this aspect of its service.  The Cars.com website is exceptionally laid out and very eye catching. It is much less cluttered than the Edmunds website, however it could use some more simplification. It can seem a little cluttered, however it is truly to the users benefit. If the user takes a few extra seconds they will find virtually anything, and everything they need to buy, sell, and research the car of their dreams.

            The website for Carsmart.com isn’t as full of color and pictures as is the Cars.com website, however, this website is still appealing in a not so “in-your-face” manner. The website has tabs located on the left side of the screen that can direct a user to different areas such as New Cars, Used Cars, and Car Research. There are also “sub-tabs” below those which can help a user get into more detail within their search. Carsmart.com just like Edmunds is licensee of the TRUST which means the website will do the best to protect you in a purchase as well as if you’re just browsing with the aid of TRUST. The privacy policy is very clear and easy to find In addition, the privacy policy discloses two separate contacts you can get in touch with regarding any questions, or concerns.  Carsmart.com offers an excellent customer service, “CarSmart.com can help you research and buy your next car, whether you're looking for a new or pre-owned vehicle. We can help you sell your existing vehicle, and once you've bought your new car, assist you in maintaining it by providing service reminders and recall notices. Whether you're looking to buy, sell, or maintain your vehicle, we can help with easy to use services.” All of the services that Carsmart.com offers are free to the customers. Anyone can access the website however Carsmart.com deals more directly with each customer by having the customers account secure and personal information in order to aid you.  The website is not as colorful and “in-your-face” as some of the other websites however the information seems easy to access via the tabs on the left side of the webpage.

 

 

www.edmunds.com

 

www.cars.com

 

www.carsmart.com

 

 

Ease of Use

 

 

4

 

 

3

 

 

5

 

 

Content Scope

 

 

5

 

 

5

 

 

4

 

Privacy

Policy

 

 

3

 

 

4

 

 

4

 

Customer

Service

 

 

3

 

 

4

 

 

5

 

 

Exclusiveness

 

 

3

 

 

3

 

 

4

 

Webpage

Design

 

 

4

 

 

4

 

 

3

 

At first glance the Amazon.com website seems very cluttered, however, if the user is willing to take their time, the website has enormous amounts to offer. The website even offers great gift ideas for the customer.  The website offers a large content, which is broken down into helpful categories such as electronics, home and garden, and so on, to better aid the customer in finding exactly what they are looking for. A user seeking information about Amazon’s privacy policy can easily find it at the bottom of the page by clicking on the link “privacy notice.” The link takes the user directly to its privacy policy and even informs the user about certain things that Amazon will not require and explain why they must require certain facts/information. The information is also safe through (SSL) and security software that protects your information.  By clicking on the “Help” tab a user can find information about customer service and certain helpful features provided by Amazon.com. The marketing for Amazon.com seems to be more “word-of-mouth” oriented. Rarely will a user see a “pop-up” for Amazon.com and occasionally an advertisement will appear on a website such as Yahoo.com. Many feel that the lack of “in-your-face” advertising gives the company a more credible feel. The security of the site is a little difficult to find. A user would have to click on the “Conditions of Use” tab on the bottom of the page, there a user can read about what security features are offered and explain how the “personal account” aspect of the website functions.

            The Overstock.com website is rather easy to use and produces results directly related to the topic you were search for. There are many tabs to click on to narrow down your search. Once you have the results of your search, you can then choose how to sort your results, either by title, or price (i.e. highest to lowest). Overstock.com offers a wide variety of content ranging from sporting goods, to home and garden accessories. At the bottom of the page is a link for information regarding the privacy policy of overstock.com, there, a customer can search by topics, and topic solutions to find their needed information. Customer Service information can be found in the same location on the webpage. Again, a customer can search by topic and/or topic solutions. Overstock.com is a fairly unheard of online e-tailer. They have commercials on television, however throughout the internet there is not much advertising to draw in customers.

            The Shopping-bargains.com website is the most difficult of the three websites to navigate. A user can only search for stores not for a specific item. The closest a customer can come to searching by item is to search by “department,” and use the tabs on the left side of the website. There is a moderate amount of content, not as much as provided on amazon.com or overstock.com. The privacy policy is located at the bottom of the page, from reading the privacy statement of shopping-bargains.com it would seem that they are somewhat secure however, there is a disclosure stating “we may use customer information for new, unanticipated uses not previously disclosed in our privacy notice,” which most consumers are probably unaware of, and if the user did have knowledge of these practices, they would most likely not want to participate with shopping-bargains.com. There is a noticeable lack of customer service as well, with a disclosure stating “No Warranties, Expressed or Implied,” and another disclosure stating Policies and Terms Subject to Change Without Notice:” There is a noticeable lack of marketing for shopping-bargains.com. Many potential consumers are unaware of its existence due in large part to its lack of advertising. The security of the site and/or user information is unknown, that area of the website was difficult to find, and once found, the page was unable to display.

 

 

 

 

 

 

www.amazon.com

 

www.overstock.com

 

www.shopping-bargains.com

 

 

Ease of Use

 

 

4

 

 

3

 

 

2

 

 

Content Scope

 

 

4

 

 

4

 

 

2

 

Privacy

Policy

 

 

3

 

 

3

 

 

2

 

Customer

Service

 

 

4

 

 

5

 

 

2

 

Marketing

Techniques

 

 

4

 

 

3

 

 

1

 

 

Security

 

 

4

 

 

4

 

 

1

 

EBay is the premier online marketplace, there is no denying that.  Although the fees associated with using EBay are somewhat undesirable, there are plenty of other aspects that overshadow that slight downfall of the website. The site demands a premium for the amount of content, user friendliness, and customer service.  Liquidation was the hardest to use, because the site is specific for business surplus inventories.  A lot of the site isn’t practical for a final consumer.  EBay offers anything you could possibly want, and for a good value.  Even with all this content, the site has very good flow and is easy to navigate.  Liquidation and Onsale mostly have consumer electronics, clothes, jewelry, etc.  The customer service with EBay is also very good.  Onsale does not have much in the way of customer service other than a phone number and contact email.  Overall EBay is the e-tailer king, providing a market for buyers and sellers for any thing you can think of.  The other sites have there strong points, but are more specific for certain markets and less refined then EBay.

 

 

 

www.ebay.com

 

www.liquidation.com

 

www.onsale.com

 

 

Ease of Use

 

 

5

 

 

2

 

 

4

 

Content Scope

 

 

5

 

 

4

 

 

3

 

 

Fees

 

 

3

 

 

4

 

 

5

 

Customer Service

 

 

5

 

 

4

 

 

3

 

 

Usefulness

 

 

5

 

 

4

 

 

3

 

Covisint is the leading provider of services that present important business information and processes between partners, customers, and suppliers. The site consists of three main areas to choose from; Industries, Solutions, and Business Now.  It also has three general areas of customer aid; Resources, Contact Us, About Us.

The first category is Industries; this feature gives a person using the site plenty of options.  It contains an Automotive and Healthcare section.  In the Automotive section there are three features labeled EDI Network Consolidation, Reduce Cost and Complexity of EDI, and Section 404 SOX Compliance.  The EDI Network Consolidation helps to reduce the complexity and the cost of dealing with multiple trading partners electronically.  The Reduce cost and complexity sector of EDI examines the cost and complexity of exchanging a multitude of electronic business documents that can be minimized with modern data messaging technology.  Another area is the Section 404 SOX Compliance which is a complete federated identity access management and collaboration platform to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley.  Sarbanes-Oxley helps in accounting practices, financial disclosures and corporate governance of public companies.  The Healthcare section has many beneficial features.  For instance, the payer portals is the Covisint Interoperability Platform that supports secure collaboration for payers and their partners to support key business solutions.  Another feature is the Reduce the Impact of HIPAA and Sarbanes-Oxley Regulations.  The Covisint Interoperability Platform helps organizations shield themselves from the requirements of ever-changing regulations.  Covisint stays on top of the latest changes in regulations and rapidly adapts technology to address the requirements. 

            The second category is Solutions.  Covisint Connect is contained under this area.  The automotive industry utilizes this feature.  The feature  provides advanced document routing and delivery services to and from all your trading partners, along with any-to-any document translation capability designed to handle both EDI and XML technologies interchangeably in one environment.  It is simple and cost effective to deploy wherever you are in the supply chain.  Many automotive companies use this feature including General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and DaimlerChrysler.  These companies use this because they have an interest in creating and adopting business document exchange standards to lower the cost of transactions.  For instance, Ralph Sygenda, Group Vice President and Chief Information Officer, General Motors said, “ Covisint Connect will give us a more reliable, cost effecting messaging solution that will further improve our processes and drive real-time integration with our suppliers.”   Another feature included under Solutions is called Web- based EDI.  This Covisint Supplier Connection helps leverage the return on a companies EDI investment by economically extending it to the entire supply base.  It can electronically communicate documents such as forecasts, shipping schedules, and advance ship notices to trading partners without traditional EDI connections. 

            The third category is business now.  This has much to offer to any company looking to get ahead of its competitors.  Covisint business now services offer fast, flexible, economic alternatives to conventional business software and enterprise applications.  The service targets specific business processes like quality and transportation management.  It supports speed to market leveraging the best practice technology tools that can be shared with your organization, and across your trading partner community.  Business now includes a problem solver, logistics visibility, and partner activation.  The automotive industry can greatly benefit from business now.  For example, with business now large and small businesses can securely share common business capabilities, reducing total cost of ownership, improving flexibility, and speed to market. 

            Covisint  provides a framework for collaboration called an Industry Operating System.  The framework provides many solutions.  It provides safely sharing internal applications with external users, automated external partner user lifecycle management and administration, affordable partner portal for exchanging vital information and structured communications, and reliable data messaging between partner applications and systems.  Covisint provides a chart to give a visual aid of what it does.

Overview

            Overall you can see how Covinist has a lot to offer to any company looking to get ahead in the market.  It provides so many areas to work with that can improve companies.  The site provided a deeper knowledge of what the internet has to provide.

It is hard to predict the future for B2B e-commerce, however it does look promising.  There are many different articles concerning this subject that have a positive outlook into the future.  For instance, in article from InformationWeek called “On-Demand Startup Looks To Simplify Travel Booking” has a positive outlook for future business traveling. With the business world being so competitive this e-commerce travel booking method will help many businesses stay ahead of there competitors.  This technology provides clients with many travel booking options.  They will have access to a booking tool that combines personalization, corporate travel policies, and a wide assortment of travel content in a one-stop shop for travel services.  The goal of this product is to avoid purchases made by individual employees that don’t fall under the corporate purchasing umbrella. How many times have people been rushed into trying to book a flight and not gotten what they wanted. Travel booking will help in booking flights and hotels to dinner reservations and concert tickets.  The tool then automatically populates employee calendars with all the appropriate items.  The future of this product wants to give companies a complete picture of their spending on travel services, focusing almost exclusively on airfare, hotels, and car rental fees. World Travel is confident companies will use this service because of the promise of cost-savings as their travelers become more effective purchasers.  The future of this B2B e-commerce product has a promising outlook.  Companies will be able to travel much easier and more efficiently with the use of this product.  Another article that is giving future promises to B2B e-commerce is the company SAP.  Founded in 1972, SAP is the recognized leader in providing collaborative business solutions for all types of industries and for every major market.  It is the world’s largest inter-enterprise software company.  The German software maker SAP said it had a more optimistic outlook than was expected for the coming year in both profitability and licensing, shooting its shares up by more than 9 percent.  This company has grown 70% annually for six year bypassing IS and selling to CEO’s.  SAP has gone to the economic buyers and convinced them that this software was going to change their businesses.  The future outlook for B2B e-commerce concerning SAP is a very positive one.  Worldwide B2B e-commerce will increase from 282 billion in 2000 to 4.3 trillion by 2006, establishing a compound annual growth rate of 73%.  The U.S. markets predicted to reach 6 trillion by 2005.  Online B2B transactions are expected to reach more than $6 trillion by 2005, representing 42 percent of total business-to-business non-service spending in the United States, says a new industry study.  Overall the B2B e-commerce industry is going in the right direction.  Most articles that were researched had a positive outlook for the future.  The B2B e-commerce is growing at a rapidly fast pace and will be a top priority in the future markets.

 

 

 

 

Individual Assessments

 

 

-Andrew Bruckman-

As a member of a business group, being able to work together to accomplish a task or set goal is very important to your ability to make it in the business world. The project had many interesting aspects that appealed to me.  Our group assigned portions of the project equally among the 5 of us.  This way it was fair and gave us the opportunity to really go in depth on our areas assigned.  The group in general got along well when we met after class to discuss the project.  I have no complaints to how the group reacted to the assigned portions they were given for the project.  I feel everyone did there job in getting their assigned portions in on time.  I am looking forward to another group project in the future.

-Paris Jackson-

The assignment allowed me to really look at the websites as a whole and it also allowed me to really compare them as far as in different areas.  It was very
insightful and interesting because of how different the websites were.   It allow me to see the quality of each website and the service of each website.  This project was a good learning experience for me.

-Christine McDowell-

After doing research on the internet about different websites, I feel that I learned a more about cnn.com, nytimes.com and ensnews.com. I never really noticed the difference between each website when I had visited them before, but after comparing each, I become aware of different items each website had to offer. Personally I will now use cnn.com whenever I need to find the latest information about the news. I am glad I got to do research on these websites because I most likely would not have visited them. I choose to do research on these and my group did not mind. We all picked what we wanted to do and no one had a problem when we picked our topics. We all worked together in an efficient manner and got the project done. We met after class a couple times to discuss our project in greater depth. Overall, I think my team and I did a great job on this report and look forward to working with them on future projects.

-Nathaniel Sutter-

After doing my part of the internet services and e-commerce project i felt that i gained a knowledge of the websites i reviewed, as well as a knowledge of how to properly review website for the specific needs I might have for them.  The work was tedious sometimes, finding what you were looking for, clicking through the site, but it all paid off.  I found out that although some websites offer similar services or sell similar products, they can be very different.  It is important to spend the time to review a site and get familiar with it before you choose to give if your business.  You might find its not all you though it to be, or find that an alternative site may be better for your needs.  Overall this project was interesting, although labor intensive.  At the end of it I gained a new respect of good websites and the hard work it takes to make things easy us, the consumers.

-Racquel Fendley-

            From this project I gained a new perspective on team projects and the communication and organization needed to complete them. As captain I took on more than I intended to with this project, however I am very pleased with the end result. I also had a chance to learn quite a bit about the different websites and plan to utilize several of them in the future.

 

 

References

www.google.com

www.ask.com

www.vivisimo.com

www.cnn.com

www.nytimes.com

www.ensnews.com

www.edmunds.com

www.cars.com

www.carsmart.com

www.amazon.com

www.overstock.com

www.shipping-bargains.com

www.ebay.com

www.liquidation.com

www.onsale.com

www.covisint.com

Covisint.com - “A Subsidiary of Compuware Corporation.” Compuware Corporation 2006
 
Informationweek.com – “On demand start up looks to simplify business travel booking.” CMP Media LLC 2006

SAP.com – “From Walldorf to Wall Street: The SAP Success Story” SAP 2006