Page 40 - DCAP306_DCAP511_E-COMMERCE_AND_E-BUSINESS

Unit 3: Internet Environment for E-Commerce

3.2 Providers and Vendors of E-Business Software

Companies such as SAP, Baan, and PeopleSoft are the leading suppliers of Supply Chain Management
(SCM) software. Many innovative suppliers are providing more affordable solutions for medium sized
enterprises.

i2 Technologies (www.i2.com) is regarded as an innovator in coordinating materials
and production throughout the supply chain.

Other vendors provide specific inventory tracking, distribution, and warehousing tools such as the
smart tags based on the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) protocol from Philips and Motorola.
Datasweep Inc. (www.datasweep.com) is a developer of supply chain software that uses a Web browser
based system to enable companies to track customized products at unit level. It then provides
customers, suppliers, and the manufacturer with a real time view into any part of the process.
ClearCross, formerly Syntra (www.syntra.com) provides companies and e-marketplaces with the ability
to manage the financial aspects and logistics of their e-procurement and fulfillment operations. It sells
its supply chain services on a per transaction basis. TheSupplyChain.com (www.thesupplychain.com) is
a developer of B2B SCM software that enables companies to handle procurement, fulfillment, and
inventory management. The software also supports reverse auctioning, purchase orders, requisitions,
invoices, and logistics.

Companies like MicroStrategy (www.microstrategy.com) have developed Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) tools that integrate personalization functions with data-mining software,
transaction engines, and multimedia broadcast services. The major vendors provide a standard suite of
tools that encompass an increasing number of functions. SAP (www.sap.com), Oracle
(www.oracle.com), and Siebel (www.siebel.com) are some of the leading vendors of CRM tools.
Web-based tools can have a significant impact on the manufacturer’s value chain. Anything that
improves a company’s efficiency at the front end of the process will have a significant financial impact.
Schneider Automation (www.modicon.com) was the first company to incorporate the idea of a Web-
based server into automation hardware, when it introduced a Web-based controller in 1998. Most
recently, a number of industrial automation software vendors have added Web-based tools for plant
floor decision support. Wonderware (www.wonderware.com) and Intellution (www.intellution.com)
are expanding from traditional Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and Manufacturing
Execution System ( MES) software to decision support tools that look at overall production and quality
data in terms of order history and process conditions.

3.3 E-Business Enabling Technologies
E-Business involves communications and doing business electronically through the Internet. E-
Business can be significantly improved by strengthening the links in the value chain between businesses
(B2B) and consumers (B2C). Today’s e-Business environment enables manufacturers to automate and
integrate functions as never before - from customer relationship management, to supply chain
management to e-manufacturing operations on the production floor. Companies use the Internet to
implement Customer Relation Management (CRM) and Supply Chain Management (SCM) capabilities,
which enable them to link their operations seamlessly with customers and suppliers. Traditional
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems take care of internal value chain whereas, e-Businesses
establishes the value chain across the market and other industries. Organizations construct their
systems’ architectures by integrating ERP systems with e-Business. They use Web-based interface with
outside entities plus add-on modules such as CRM and SCM in the integration.

Information and Communications Technology
E-Commerce and e-Business are used interchangeably. However, they are distinct concepts.
In e-commerce, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is used in inter-
business or inter-organizational transactions and in business-to-consumer transactions. In e-
Business, on the other hand, ICT is used to enhance one’s business. It includes any process
that a business organization conducts over a computer-mediated network.

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