E-Commerce

E-commerce

"You Hold the E"

The technology of today is vastly innovative and beneficial to those who know how to manipulate it. The Internet era is unfolding, anybody can now log on to their computers and take care of their financial business, online in the comfort of their own homes. This is called e-commerce, within the past few years; companies have been excited with the idea of online shopping and connecting with customer's worldwide. This is mainly because of over exaggerated headlines, outrageous market appraisals and so-called "instant billionaires". The hype began in 1994, when the Internet and the World Wide Web gained popularity; companies competed to be the first ones out with convenient online shopping sites, for busy, tech savvy individuals. Online shopping was seen as the future and technology stocks were benefiting from all the positive media that was being reported. Unfortunately, these predictions proved to be incorrect and in the 1999 Christmas season, companies that had invested heavily in creating online shopping sites realized that the everyday consumer still did their shopping in the "real world". Although e-commerce centers itself on selling a company's product, e-biz aids in re-engineering the transactions that run our economy. E-biz helps to bring a business closer together and organize it making it more efficient. E-biz ensures that each business system communicates with one another and shares information; sales data, order entry, billing, shipping and receiving, inventory; and many more all feeding off of one another. It also ensures that if a company's customers and employees want to access this information from anywhere and anytime, they can do so securely. The effect of e-commerce and e-biz on the economy, participants of the economy and the accounting field are proving to be both positive and worth anticipating.

E-commerce and e-biz definitely influence the economy in a very constructive way. Investors can now put in orders for stocks 24 hours a day, and trade on markets around the world in real time within seconds, individuals now have any information desired, right at their fingertips. Investors can now work from home and get stats about their stocks off the web and react to the information in a matter of seconds, meaning they can cash in on business opportunities instead of having to wait for their broker to put the transaction through. This means that the investor now has more control over the market and in turn has more effect on the growth in the economy. E-biz helps to organize all the information needed so information can move faster and orders and needs are fulfilled in shorter time frames, eliminating many middle men, resulting in customers getting what they want quicker and at a lower cost. Organization in e-biz is evident when a customer places an order on a website; since all information is integrated customers know which products are available and the sellers know how much of each product they have on hand and when they need to purchase more; this saves lots of time for the seller since all inventory is monitored on the computer, meaning faster turnovers and more sales. Increased e-commerce (online shopping) also leads to the production of 'middle wear', as companies grow, the need for technological solutions becomes more evident and smaller tech companies are called upon to create e-biz solutions to help industries cope with the new high demands of e-commerce. This produces more jobs for those in the technology industries because they are needed to assist in trouble-shooting and operating of these programs. E-commerce and e-biz are revolutionizing the way all industries work and are assuring that the futures of these industries are promising.

The effects of e-commerce and e-biz on the people working in industries are both accommodating and obstinate. Since companies are transforming their flows of information with new middle wear programs, the employees of these companies have to learn new ways of