What do we mean by e-business?   Why is the Internet different from other computer and network technologies?    Why should one care about electronic business?    What is the electronic marketplace?    How much will it cost my company to set up an e-business web site?   How does e-Business over the Internet differ from traditional Business?   What are the e-business options for business?   How important is my own domain name   electronic payment systems

What are the e-business options for business?

These are some basic Internet/Web e-Business transaction models:

The web brochure:
Simple product description web site. Relies on pushing customers to traditional outlets. Email contact is usually provided for further inquiry.

The enhanced web brochure:
Can take orders by email, fax, phone, including credit card purchases. Product is shipped. Credit card numbers usually are not secure when passed over the Internet.

The e-Business mall site
Places your web site on a web mall (host) with other e-Business merchants and usually includes shopping cart, secure server and credit card processing. A mall may or may not provide credit card authorization and end to end credit card transaction processing.

The e-Business host site
Similar to above except you are an independent entity on the web host and have more control of the setup and software yourself. May or may not provide credit card authorization and end to end credit card transaction processing.

The in-house site
You do the lot yourself, that is, setup and run the web servers, backup, and connectivity in-house. You can be as sophisticated as you like with electronic payment systems and end-to-end secure credit card processing. You need to be well resourced with technical support staff to ensure reliability and efficacy.

The business to business extranet
Business to business e-Business is predicted to be the largest value sector of the industry within a few years. This model may incorporate elements of the EDI (electronic data interchange) standard and will perhaps use XML (extensible markup language) as a content description language (XML-EDI).

E-Business extranets are secure Internet networks, usually with router encryption, over which merchants and customers can exchange order information and funds securely. Integration with the administrative backend may also be a feature. That is, order and financial information will be automatically incorporated into corporate accounts via the web interface