Journal 6

E-Commerce

Online commerce is predicted to be a huge growth area, as long as the details of restructuring current operations to take advantage of the technologies offered, and appropriate methods of syncing data between different applications, are worked out. Virtual consumer communities would shift the balance of economic power from the manufacturer to the consumer. These virtual communities erode the price-setting power of large companies, since a small company with a better product and better customer service can provide a better buyer experience, and the net effect of many such small companies would contribute to the shifting of power.

Commerce based on global Internet Protocol (IP) based networks is growing rapidly; revenues jumped 68% from 1998 to over $500 billion in 1999. In addition, one out of three companies did not exist before before 1996, roughly when E-commerce began taking off. The figures point to dramatic growth rates of businesses and creation of other businesses due to E-commerce.

With the growth of E-commerce, security issues underpin the concept of information security which, in the traditional sense, is about the availability, integrity and confidentiality of information. What does this mean to a business? Firstly, it is about businesses having information available to them when they need it. It is about having software that works, networks that do not crash and power supplies that do not fail. Secondly, it about businesses being able to trust in the integrity of information; that transmitted invoices or orders have not been altered and that they are from whom they appear to be from. And finally, it is about being able to trust that the information you receive, on a confidential business or personal basis, has not been seen first by others.