A2 IT E-Business

A2 IT E-Business

1. Electronic funds transfer

   • Many businesses now use electronic funds transfer to buy and sell goods
   • This is where money is transferred from one account to another virtually - no actual money will change hands but could be paid with things such as credit cards
   • Direct debit
     • This is where a business and a customer agrees that the business is allowed to take an agreed amount on a regular basis
     • Commonly used for bills that must be paid periodically
     • This is beneficial as people dont have to be aware of this bill as it is paid automatically
   • Issues
     • People are concerned having their important financial information available on businesses servers
     • People can take your credit card details and use it to purchase items - unnoticeable until large payments cannot be identified by you
       • Identity theft
   • Always be sure the website you are accessing is secure i.e. it has https:// at the start of its address

2. Automatic stock control

   • It is important for businesses to keep track of how much stock they have to be as efficient as possible
     • With large warehouses it can be difficult to keep track
       • Too much stock can mean more storage space needed i.e. more costs
       • Having too little stock means that not enough products can be produced
   • How it works
     • Products will have unique barcodes attached to them
       • This data can be scanned and stored on a database whenever it moves in or out of the storage unit
         • Systems can then be programmed when the stock level is below a certain amount to automatically re-order stock
           • This means it saves businesses time to count up stock and manually re-order
     • Automatically counted stock can be measured against the physical count - if it doesn't match, this could be a sign of theft which is important for businesses
     • Methods of automatic stock control
       • Real time
         • Where the process adds or subtracts each product to the database after it has been scanned and sold/bought
           • Used by businesses with large volumes of stock with quick stock rotation
       • Batch
         • When products are scanned, these are added to a database file known as the transaction file which is then later added to the master file to be processed

3. Electronic data exchange

   • Computer to computer
     • EDE is used more often than physically exchanging data nowadays. This means that people now use e-mail to send attachments are used a form of communication instead of using the post
       • However, emails still have to involve humans in it to handle the processes
         • With EDE, the files go from the buyers internal computer system to the suppliers straight away through a single channel with no human interception onto the appropriate application
   • Business documents
     • Confidential business documents can be safely transfered because of no human interaction between

4. Business to business buying and selling

   • Businesses are able to pay for goods using digital currency or using electronic funds transfer in order for them to reduce the amount of physical cash they can use which can be easily lost or stolen
   • Automatic stock control allows businesses to automatically order more stock from their supplier in large bulks, which can reduce unit cost for the buyer and increase revenue from the seller

5. Commerce is largely affected by technology. Online businesses are now more popular than retail stores as its seen as an easier way of buying goods. Goods and services are also often cheaper online because of the reduced costs from no rent or reduced utility bills

6. Online stores

   • While products can be physical, most transactions (the action of buying and selling of an item or service) are digital
   • Provides a more convenient platform on which to sell items to a customer or purchase items as a customer
   • Benefits
     • Ability to receive products quickly
     • Applications developed to order products on your smartphone i.e. shop on the go
     • Better for the environment as less cars are used to go to retail stores
   • Disadvantages
     • More transport vehicles so affects pollution
     • Difficult to judge and view actual products
     • Can increase return in products which increases transport use