E-business is also known as electronic business and is defined as the use of elements of information technology (ICT) in the provision of support of all the key activities of a particular organization. The methods applied in the electronic business enable firms to link up both their internal and external data processing facilities and systems in order to improve efficiency and flexibility. This enables the firms to work hand in hand with their suppliers, partners and employees so as to come up with better satisfaction of the needs and demands of their clientele. The concept of e-commerce has brought about enormous transformations in business corporations, markets and the general consumer behavior ( Laudon and Traver, 2007,p5).
It is important to note that e-business has more details as compared to e-commerce. The key difference is evident even in terms of their fundamental definition. The difference is that e-business refers to the more strategic focus that am firm employs in order to emphasize on its key functions while using electronic means and capabilities-commerce on the other end is just a mere subset of the entire e-business strategies entails the business processes that covers the whole value chain: the key processes covered are the electronic purchasing of goods and services and also the management of the supply chain. There is also the electronic processing of orders, automated customer service and a mutual cooperation with other business partners. The implementation of special technical standards enables the safe and encrypted exchange of sensitive business data between the corporations many branches and head office. The adoption of the e-business solutions allows for the seamless integration of intra and extra corporation business processes. The process of e-business can be carried out using the web, intranet, extranet and internet.All these processes are carried out while riding on a variety of protocols such as Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), which has over time become the main communications protocol for the Internet and intranet communication ( Laudon and Traver, 2007,121).
In this paper, we are going to study how e-business has been successfully adopted by Combolift Ltd., a world renowned forklift manufacturer in the process of streamlining its key business functions.
Background Information
Combolift limited was the pioneer company in the whole world to come up with an engine-powered all wheel drive and four-way forklift which has by now been very successfully exported to over thirty three global nations. Their product is known for its unique qualities such as its ability to lift long loads while gaining an eminent advantage over the other forklifts by being able to operate optimally while requiring less operating space than the earlier forklifts that had been in the market.
Since the adoption of the e-business system into its key business functions, Combolifts turnover has skyrocketed by an enormous 98% increase as compared to last year! The long-term objective however is to nurture the Britain, the U.S.A. And Germany to be the main target markets. Years ago, the company began exporting to the United States of America which has proudly given it the opportunity of having a 15% sale total linked to the American Market
The installation and initiation of the e-business initiative was mainly aimed at achieving three major roles. The first role that was to be played by the move to adopt the IT frameworks was so that they could create a connection for everyone within the company in order to improve the internal communications and processes management accelerations. Initially all computers were configured as standalones. This enabled them to avoid "reinventing the wheel." They would be therefore be able to archive information regarding solutions that they had previously formulated and revise where necessary for new clients. Anyone in the firm would be able to access the solutions in the networked environment and at the same time allow for the efficient reuse of existing the information. The key intention was to get rid of departmental overlap that existed earlier and to improve the level of coordination.
All these were done in order to improve the rate at which customers were served .The second move was concerned with the process of creating a very new and well designed website that would act as a way of reaching out to the customers. This was a move adopted in order to increase the communication channel between the firm and the general market. News regarding product releases and improvement were all communicated through the site.
The existing web site...
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