The Implementing of Business-to-business E-commerce Application: An Australian Case Study

Abstract

This paper will discuss the effects of implementing e-commerce applications on a non-profit organisation, both pre- and post implementation of this form of business application. The commonality of the problems between a not-for-profit organisation and a typical profit-making organisation makes this paper applicable for both types of businesses.  Currently, organisations are effectively “bandwagon jumping” into the e-commerce form of business without sufficiently studying the total effects that such a move create and the problems created by insufficient investigation into this tactical move. Consequently, too many enterprises are slow to restructure their organisation and their processes and then adapt to this new mode of business operations.  They will therefore lose opportunity gains and competitive market positioning. 

Here is explored the non-profit organisation #A. Initially, this paper analyses Organisation #A’s integrated value chain to identify its current business processes.  The use of this method suits the investigation into the information flow of a business operation, whether e-commerce based or not.  The influence of technology however, is emphasised here as improving the business processes which in this case is the use of web-based service applications such as workflow systems, legacy EDI, and Internet application program interfaces.

Following this is a description of the importance of architectural framework using the Papazoglou’s (2000, 2008) framework, which permits the flexibility, interoperability, and openness needed for e-commerce applications.