2.1 What is Information Way? e In general, E - Commerce is associated with buying and selling of information, products and services via computer networks today and in the future via any one of the myriad (a vast number) of networks that make up the Information Superhighway (I-way). e So in short, E-commerce needs Network infrastructure to transfer the content. e I-way is also known as electronic interactive or multimedia super highway.e Basically the term describes high capacity (broadband), interactive (two-way), electronic pipeline to the home or office that is capable of simultaneously supporting large no. of E-commerce applications and providing interactive phone like connectivity between users and services and between users and other users. e The I-way will transform information transport technology for e-commerce applications and provide an economic windfall (bonus) similar to what the interstate highway system did for productivity in the nation's manufacturing, travel and distribution systems. e It is also called National Information Infrastructure (NII) in the United States, data-dori in Japan, and jaring which is “net” in Malaysia.e Example e EDI (Electronic Data Interchange), combined with JIT (Just-In-Time) manufacturing methods, E-mail to accelerate the document- based business which complete SCM (Supply Chain Management). « Early the focus was only on moving existing non-electronic methods to an electronic platform to improve internal business process efficiency. e But today, the emphasis is on invention of entirely new business applications for reaching close to the customer. e Earlier efforts resulted in small gains in productivity and efficiency, but integrating them into the |-VVay will fundamentally change the way business done. ¢ These new ideas demand fundamentally changes in the design of the entire business process.¢ The effects of e-commerce are already seen in all areas of business, from customer service to new product design, as it facilitates new types of information- based business processes for reaching and interacting with customers by on-line advertising and marketing, on-line order taking and on-line customer service etc. It can also reduce costs in managing orders and interacting with a wide range of suppliers and trading partners (areas that typically add significant overhead to the cost of products and services). It also enables the formation (configuration, origin) of new types of information-based products such as interactive games, electronic books and information on demand that can be very profitable for content providers and useful for consumers.e In short, companies believe that e- commerce can result in improved efficiency in: |) Finding and interacting with customers 2) Communicating with trading partners 3) Developing new products and markets. e Akey element of e-commerce is information processing. e All steps of commerce, (except for production, distribution and delivery of physical goods,) are forms of information gathering, processing, manipulation and distribution, which computers and networks are perfectly suited to handle.¢ The business transactions that are observed in information processing activity are as follows: |) Transactions between a company and the consumer over public networks. 2) Transactions with trading partners using EDI. 3) Transactions for information gathering. 4) Transactions for information distribution. e From a management perspective, all of these transactions require coordination and control among many participating organizations in order to minimize the exposure to risk. e If these transactions are to be managed for global sourcing (market), the complexity increases due to: |) Long transportation distances 2) Currencies 3) Customs regulations 4) Language barriers.e Coordinating these transactions through software via the |-way can reduce the complexity of the task. e E-commerce creates contribution to the way government, business, and individuals conduct business.