Week_4_Assignment

Club IT, Part II As a club that offers live music, dancing, and refreshments, the mission of Club IT is to “build a community that meets regularly at Club IT” (About Club IT, Our Mission Statement). The owners of Club IT, Ruben and Lisa, recognize that e-commerce is a market that other businesses within their trade have not taken advantage of. E-commerce is a market that is growing in popularity, and is becoming more and more common place. Many of Club IT’s guests are of the net and millennial generations, and regularly use many different forms of wireless communication, so e-commerce is a logical addition to Club IT’s infrastructure. There are different types of e-commerce; this one in particular would be business to customer, or B2C. This type of e-commerce focuses specifically on activity between the business and its customers. Club IT already operates a web site in which they advertise their merchandise and provide information to the guests about their menu and music. B2C e-commerce can expand on what they already have by allowing the customers to buy their merchandise online. In addition to their merchandise, Ruben and Lisa have expressed the desire to sell advance tickets to their special Friday and Saturday night concerts. The virtual terminal would be the best form of electronic payment system for Club IT, since most providers only charge a per transaction fee (Managing and Using Information Systems, Ch. 7). Ruben and Lisa are not selling a huge inventory of merchandise on their website, so it would not be feasible to have a very complicated electronic payment system. Another form of e-commerce is business to business, or B2B, which focuses on transactions between businesses only. Currently, Ruben and Lisa are ordering their business supplies or purchasing them directly at the store. They now have the opportunity to order their supplies online from Sysco, a major restaurant supplier. By doing business with Sysco, Club IT can create a supply chain management (SCM). Club IT and Sysco can share certain information about Club IT’s supply needs over a shared network, so that they can both access the same information and communicate directly through it. The supply chain management between Club IT and Sysco can help Ruben and Lisa to keep track of their inventory. They can compare what they physically have on hand to what is shown in their shared network. Ruben and Lisa will also be able to place orders for supplies, and track those orders. If they receive anything that is damaged or if they receive an order that was meant for another Sysco customer, this can also be handled through their shared network, and orders are delivered directly to Club IT. Sysco can also see when Club IT’s inventory is low, and a system can be set up that would allow Sysco to automatically send supplies when Club IT’s inventory goes below an amount agreed upon by both parties. Sysco will also be able to see when orders were delivered and if any of those orders were rejected and are being returned. . Payments for supplies can be made online through the Sysco website, or Ruben and Lisa can send physical checks as they are billed. With expanding their infrastructure to include e-commerce, Club IT would benefit by using a third party company like VeriSign to operate their infrastructure. VeriSign, and companies like it, can encrypt the data so that cyber thieves cannot read it. “Encryption is the translation of data into a format that can only be read by the intended receiver” (Managing and Using Information Systems, Ch. 7). The intended receiver is the only one who has the key to decode the encrypted data so it can be read in normal text. VeriSign also provides authentication, a security process in which they obtain proof that the users are truly who they say they are. With identity theft becoming a growing concern, many people will not do financial transactions online out of fear that someone will see or intercept their credit card information and use it. Security is a serious issue that must be addressed; security for the B2C customers, as well as for Club IT. Ruben and Lisa can offer their internet customers security and safety from e-criminals. Verisign can also protect the information that is shared within Club IT’s intranet and SCM application. By expanding their infrastructure to include e-commerce, Ruben and Lisa will provide better service to their guests. Offering them the opportunity to buy tickets online, creates an added convenience that many will take advantage of, which will help Club IT achieve its goal of building a community where people meet. References http://higheredbcs.wiley.com/legacy/college/rainer/0470169001/club_it/about.html Managing and Using Information Systems, Ch. 7 http://www.cio.com/article/40940/Supply_Chain_Management_Definition_and_Solutions http://verisign.com http://sysco.com