Doing Business Using Electronic Commerce

 With the astonishing growth of the Internet, many companies are finding new and exciting ways to expand their business opportunities.  There are very few successful companies that do not use computers in their everyday business activities, which mean there are few companies that do not use E-Commerce.  To emphasize the point that the effect of the Internet is widespread in today's business communities, one online article stated that more than 100,000 companies have Internet addresses, and 20,000 companies have Web-sites on the Internet as of February 1999 (Data Quest, 1999).  These numbers have more than quadrupled since 1995, and the trend shows no signs of slowing.

 E-commerce is the exchange of business information between two or more organizations.  It became very popular soon after it proved to be an efficient mean to conduct long distance transactions.  Electronic commerce has developed very rapidly in the last few years.  It's the broad term describing the electronic exchange of business data between two or more organizations' computers.  Some examples might be the electronic filing of income tax return.

 The number one advantage that E-commerce possesses is its speed.  The Internet and World Wide Web give businesses opportunities to exchange messages or complete transactions almost instantaneously.  Even with the slowest connections, doing business electronically is much faster than traditional modes.  With increased speeds of communication, the delivery time is reduced.  It makes the whole transaction from start to finish more efficient.

 The second advantage of the electronic commerce is the opportu ...