Lesson 1
Elements of the e-business Solution
No matter what your company sells or how long it has been around, if you want to survive in business today, your business has to become an e-business.
Why e-business is growing fast. Traditional brick-and-mortar businesses are taking steps to become e-businesses, and approximately 20 years ago, several e-businesses, the dot-coms, with no brick-and-mortar foundation have sprung up. If this evidence is not compelling enough, just count the number of times in a single day that you see and hear the words "e-commerce" and "e-business" in the newspaper, in the magazines you subscribe to, on radio, TV, and the Web.
Elements of the e-business Solution introduces students to the tools and products needed to build an e-business solution from start to finish. The course begins with an overview of the history of e-business and the reasons why you should care about it. After exploring those reasons in detail, the course teaches you how to build that solution. You will learn which infrastructure and enhancement technologies you need, which packaged products and services you may use, and which issues to consider when purchasing and/or implementing the various elements of your solution.
Why e-business is growing fast. Traditional brick-and-mortar businesses are taking steps to become e-businesses, and approximately 20 years ago, several e-businesses, the dot-coms, with no brick-and-mortar foundation have sprung up. If this evidence is not compelling enough, just count the number of times in a single day that you see and hear the words "e-commerce" and "e-business" in the newspaper, in the magazines you subscribe to, on radio, TV, and the Web.
Elements of the e-business Solution introduces students to the tools and products needed to build an e-business solution from start to finish. The course begins with an overview of the history of e-business and the reasons why you should care about it. After exploring those reasons in detail, the course teaches you how to build that solution. You will learn which infrastructure and enhancement technologies you need, which packaged products and services you may use, and which issues to consider when purchasing and/or implementing the various elements of your solution.
Course goals
After completing the course, you will be able to:
- Understand the history and importance of e-business today
- Describe the principal networking technologies of an e-business infrastructure
- Describe the core technologies of an e-business infrastructure
- Describe the Web technologies of an e-business infrastructure
- Identify the function of integration technologies
- Identify the enabling technologies available for your solution
- Describe the component services and point products available for an e-business solution
- Define the enterprise applications that will interface with an e-business solution
- Describe the suites and third-party services available
The series
This course, Elements of the e-business Solution, is the second of two courses in the e-business Solution Series., Elements of the e-business Solution.
The first course, entitled e-business Architecture, examines the components and process for creating a solid, scalable e-business architecture. Specifically, it examines the role of an e-business solution architect(s);
the market/technology forces and market/technology changes that have defined the architecture as it is today; the building blocks that comprise e-business architecture.
Easy Reference
On the Resources page, you will find a folder titled Easy Reference. The Easy Reference folder contains a variety of lists, tables, and questions that are presented or mentioned in the course.
You can download and print these resources, as you need them. You may access all of these at once by going to the Resources page, or you may do so one-by-one as they are mentioned in the course by clicking on the Easy Reference icon.
The resources are listed by topic, not by module number.
- QuickChecks QuickChecks are unscored opportunities for you to self-check your understanding of key points before you arrive at an Exercise or Quiz that is scored. You will encounter the QuickCheck icon throughout the course. Click once to see the question, and then click again to see the correct answer in a short, animated sequence.
- Problem-solver Exercises: To provide an opportunity to practice what you learn within a context, and to troubleshoot common e-business problems, we have created exercises throughout the series in which you apply your knowledge to various scenarios. The next lesson is about the prerequisites to this course.