Services

Delphi Group suggests that B2B services be organized into six major categories:-

E-Infrastructure 

The term e-Infrastructure refers to a new way of conducting scientific research by the creation of a new environment for academic and industrial research in which virtual communities have shared access to unique or distributed scientific facilities (including data, instruments, computing and communications), regardless of their type and location in the world. 

By means of the e-Infrastructure researchers have the possibility to share, federate and exploit the collective power of European scientific facilities. 

The e-Infrastructure may be considered as an integrated ICT-based Research Infrastructure, which creates a cohesive workspace capable of aggregating the efforts and the resources of national initiatives and availing a world-class infrastructure for research communities and scientists. 

E-Infrastructure implements a more efficient way for all scientists to work on global research challenges that would otherwise be difficult to address, rationalizing at the same time the investments in expensive resources and fighting digital divide.

One of the aims of the European Commission is to extend the e-Infrastructure from e-Science to other sectors like, e-Culture, e-Learning, e-Commerce, e- Government and e-Health. 

E-Infrastructure Layers 

The e-Infrastructure strategy is made up of three layers: 

1) High Throughput Network: Within the e-Infrastructure activities the European Commission has established a high-capacity and high-speed communication network for all researches in Europe which during the years of its operation has positioned itself as a world leader in research networking.

 

2) Computing Infrastructure: Grid technology and supercomputers are another element related to e-Infrastructure. The main objective of the network is connectivity while the grid infrastructure will focus on information processing.

 

3) Scientific Data Repository: The aim of the Scientific Data Repository layer is the storage and management of high-volumes of scientific data for distributed access and sharing between scientific communities.

E-Processes 

The essential e-commerce processes required for the successful operation and management of e-commerce activities. The figure below outlines the nine key components of an e-commerce process architecture that is the foundation of the e- commerce initiatives of many companies today. One will concentrate on the role which these processes play in e-commerce systems, but one should recognise that many of these components may also be used in internal, non-commerce e- business applications.

An example would be an intranet-based human resource system used by a company's employees, which might use all but the catalogue management and product payment processes shown in figure 2.11.

E-commerce processes must establish mutual trust and secure access between the parties in an e-commerce transaction by authenticating users, authorising access, and enforcing security features. 

Companies engaged in B2B e-commerce may rely on secure industry exchanges for procuring goods and services, or web trading portals that allow only registered customer's access to trading information and applications. Other security processes protect the resources of e-commerce sites from threats such as hacker attacks, theft of passwords or credit card numbers, and system failures. 

E-Markets 

A market is a medium for the exchange of goods, services, and information between many potential buyers and many potential sellers. 

Electronic markets are markets in which the exchanges are conducted electronically among buyers, sellers, market employees, and support services, (e.g., financial institutions) in an efficient and effective manner. E-markets are more efficient because they increase the amount of information, the speed at which it is sent, and its accuracy. At the same time, they may reduce the flow of pi:ysical goods. 

For example, in a B2B flower exchange, it is not necessary to bring the flowers to the auction place. The flowers can go directly from a seller to a buyer. The same is true for many other goods, such as used cars. 

Even if the flow of physical goods is not decreased, the information provided in e-markets makes participants more informed, and therefore better able to make decisions. This helps in reducing market friction, which benefits the entire economy by making it more efficient. This is the primary reason why many governments provide incentives for e-commerce.

E-Content 

According to the business concept, "e-content" is based on content marketed on the business' own platform within a network. Primarily, the goal is to make the content available or manageable online as well as easy to understand, comfortable to read, and visually appealing. Information can be informative, entertaining or instructive, and sales are either direct (purchase of content) or indirect (advertising sold because of the content). 

For example, the provider LZ-net.de receives a direct revenue stream, offering downloads of professional articles only after the user has paid a fee, whereas all news items are available for free on t-online.de and income is generated via advertising (banners).

E-Communities 

B2B applications involve many participants - buyers and sellers, service providers, industry associations, and others. Thus, in many cases, the B2B implementation creates a community. In such cases, the B2B market-maker needs to provide community services such as chat rooms, bulletin boards, and possibly personalised web pages. 

According to the Delphi Group, e-communities are connecting personnel, partners, customers, and any combination of the three. E-communities offer a powerful resource for e-businesses to leverage online discussions and interaction in order to maximise innovation and responsiveness. It is therefore beneficial to study the tools, methods, and best practices of building and managing e- communities. Although the technological support of B2B e-communities is basically the same as for any other online community, the nature of the community itself, and the information provided by the community, is different. 

B2B e-communities are mostly communities of transactions, and as such, the major interest of the members is trading. Most of the communities are associated with vertical exchanges; therefore, their needs may be fairly specific. However, it is common to find generic services such as classified ads, job vacancies, announcements, industry news, and so on. Service providers are also available for the design of exchange portals and their community services.

E-Services 

E-service represents one prominent application of utilizing the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTS) in different areas. 

E-Service is a highly generic term, usually referring to 'provision of services via the Internet, thus e-Service may also include e-Commerce, although it may also include non-commercial services (online), which is usually provided by the government. 

Lu (2001) identifies a number of benefits for e-services, some of these are: 

1) Accessing a greater customer base 

2) Broadening market reach 

3) Lowering of entry barrier to new markets and cost of acquiring new customers 

4) Alternative communication channel to customers  

5) Increasing services to customers  

6) Enhancing perceived company image  

7) Gaining competitive advantages  

8) Potential for increasing customer knowledge

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