Ecommerce Lectures

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E-commerce Lectures

• Ravi Raman
• rraman_at_wvu.edu
• CERC, West Virginia University

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Lecture Outline

• Provide an overview of business and technical
  issues pertaining to e-commerce
  
• Introduce technologies that help implement
  e-commerce solutions
  
• Identify application areas that may be suitable
  for class projects

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What Is E-commerce?

• The interchange -- purchase or delivery -- of
  goods and services through applications and
  systems that leverage Internet communication
  protocols and specifications.

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E-commerce _at_ Work

• Books (Amazon)
• Banking (Citibank)
• Stock (E-trade)
• Shipping (UPS)
• Retail (Walmart)
• Computers (Dell)

• Travel (Travelocity)
• Auctions (e-bay)
• Labor Exchange (Monster)
• Real estate (Century21)

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The Internet Bubble

• Meltdown in the Technology sector
• A 2 Trillion loss in market value
• (cnnfn.cnn.com/2000/11/09/technology/overview/)
• Downsizing and closing of many ventures
• Irrational exuberance
• This isnt the first bubble

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Some reasons for failure(And what to avoid)

• Lack of a sound business plan
• Poor understanding of business processes
• Improper implementation of business strategy
• Poor management of finances
• Too many me-too players
• Underestimate customer acquisition costs
• Slow growth / Too much growth

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• Use appropriate technology to improve
  well-understood business processes
  

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Some elements of an e-commerce site

• Product catalog
• Order intake
• Credit verification
• Inventory
• Shipping
• Returns
• Customer Relations management

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Integration with Other Systems

• Enterprise Resource Planning
• Financials
• Human Resources
• Sales and Marketing

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Distributed Systems Technologies

• OMGs CORBA
• Microsofts DCOM
• Suns Java
• HPs eSpeak

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Simple Voice-based App
PCs
HTML, VoiceXml

• Web server

VoiceXML gateway
Scripts
Phones
voice Input grammars
Stored Voice Output
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Voice technologies

• Text to Speech
• Speech to Text
• Telephone API
• Speaker Independent voice recognition
• Voice-based authentication

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Voice User Interface Activities

• WWW Consortiums Voice Browsing
• http//www.w3.org/Voice/
• VoiceXML website
• http//www.voicexml.org/

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Microsoft VUI Activities

• Microsofts Speech SDK
• http//www.microsoft.com/speech/
• Interactive Voice Response and Web Telephony
  Engine
  
• http//msdn.microsoft.com/library/psdk/webte/wteab
  out_409x.htm

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Voice User Interface Demos

• Nuance demos
• Travel
• Banking
• Voice Authentication
• Stock Quotes
• Demo Phone Number
• 888-NUANCE-8

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E-commerce Lectures

• Ravi Raman
• rraman_at_wvu.edu
• CERC, West Virginia University