E-Commerce Notes #6

Phases of development of e-commerce:

E-commerce phases can be broadly classified

E-Commerce I - Period of explosive growth (1995-2000)

E-Commerce II - Current Era (beginning 2001)

Vision behind E-Commerce I  :

• Existence of internet : availability of PCs, LAN
• Starting of Bertrand market: It’s a market where price, cost, quality  info. Is equally distributed, where infinite set of suppliers compete against one-another. Merchants have direct access to all relevant market info. Worldwide. 
• Development of shopping  bot : It’s a program that automatically searches web for best prices and delivery times.
• Cost of searching fell : There was a limit that end of wasteful ad campaigns which were meant to ….
•  Reduction of info. Asymmetry 
• Dis-Intermediation : Implies disappearance of market middleman, i.e. displacement of market middleman who traditionally are intermediaries between producer and the consumer by a new direct relationship between manufacturers and content originators with their customers. E.g. distributor, wholesaler, etc. 
• Friction free commerce : A vision of commerce in which info. was equally distributed, transaction cost are low, price are dynamically adjusted to reflect actual demand. Intermediaries and unfair competitors are eliminated. Usage of communication tech. which are universal, powerful but inexpensive. 
• First movers : E-comm I was a blessing for first-movers. The entrepreneurs a firm that is first to the market in a particular area and that moves up quickly to get a market share. Establishing a large customer base quickly, building brand names early and most benevolent.

E-Commerce Notes #10

C2C

Usage of tech. to enable customers to share resources with each other. Major revenue model : subscription, transaction fees and advertisements

M-Commerce : With the wireless tech. its possible to conduct transactions on a mobile. Revenue model : sale of goods.

E-Commerce enablers : hardware : Web Servers from IBM, Oracle, DELL; Software : OS, Server Software from Oracle (technology).

• E-Commerce software system that enables B2B and B2C.
• Networking  products like routers from CISCO.
• CRM softwares : Salesforce.com
• Online payment system : Paypal, Cybercash, etc.

Seven unique features of e-commerce technology :

• Ubiquity - No regional boundary, new market channels has been created causing expansion in the size of overall market, resulting in improved efficiency by lowering the cost of operations. Like travelling, and inventory mngmt. Cost is zero.
• Global Reach - Low cost entry in global market
• Universal standard - Easy to find a product's quality and prices. Thus a transparent market.
• Richness - Has altered industrial structure by reducing the strength of powerful distribution channel. Cutting down the intermediates.
• Interactivity - Has altered the industrial structure by increasing interactivity. Reduced the industry cost by reducing dependency on sale-forces. Direct interaction with the seller.
• Personalization / Customization - Alters the industry structure by reducing the threat of substitute by providing personalized environment to the users.
• Information Density - Has changed the industry structure by weakening the power of sales channel, shifting bargaining power to the consumers, it has lowered the cost of obtaining, processing and distributing information about supplies and consumers.

What is Industry Structure : It refers to the nature of the players in the industry and their relative bargaining power.
E-Commerce changes the industry structure and industry structure can be characterized by five forces :

• Rivalry among the existing competitors

• Threat of substitute products.

• Barriers to the entry in industry.

• Bargaining power of suppliers.

• Bargaining power of buyers.

By describing the industry structure you need to understand the general business environment of the industry and overall profit that can be generated in that environment. E-Commerce has potential to change the strength of these competitive forces.

<<DIAGRAM>>

To study the industry structure we conduct analysis : Is an effort to understand & describe the nature of competition in the industry, nature of substitute products, barriers to entry and relative strength of buyers' and sellers'.

GREAT IMPACT on Music industry, no impact on chemical industry.

INDUSTRY VALUE CHAIN : It’s a set of activities performed in a firm or industry that transforms input into final products. Each of this activity adds economic value to the final product. And industrial structure analysis helps to understand the impact of e-commerce tech. or overall business environment. Value chain analysis helps to identify more precisely how e-commerce can change business operations at industrial  level.

Every industry can be characterized by the set of these value-added activities : e-commerce effect each player as well as overall operational efficiency of the system. e.g. : manufacturer can reduce cost by having direct relationship

<<needs revision>>

Distributers can build an efficient online inventory management system

Retailers : Customer

<</needs revision>>

Firm value chain : Set of activities a firm engages into to create a final product from the raw input. A firm developer supports activities that coordinate the whole process contribute to the overall efficiency of the system. Primary activities of firm value chain are :

• Inbound logistics.
• Operations logistics
• Outbound Logistics
• S & M
• After sale services

E-Commerce Notes #11

Business Strategies  are set of plans for achieving superior long term returns on capital invested in a firm. It includes strategies for making profit in the competitive environment in the long run. This profit represents economic value (Economic Value is created when a customer is willing to pay for a product with a price which is more than the cost of the product)

Four strategies that are commonly used are based on :

• Differentiate strategy - Refers to the different ways through which a producer can make the product unique & different to distinguish them from competitors. Opposite to differentiation is commoditization - when there's no difference in products and services and the only basis of choosing a product is price. In such a situation when the price alone is a parameter for competition. There are many sellers and buyers in the market and there is a great fall in the price of the product eventually the price of the good falls to the cost to produce it.
• Cost strategy - Most of the businesses compete on cost so it very important to develop a cost strategy for e-commerce it is important that the firm uses internet ubiquity by lowering the ordering cost. Leveraging global reach and universal standards through single order entry system. (E.g. - Tata Nano)

• Scope strategy - Strategy to compete in all markets around the globe rather than local, regional or national markets.

• Focus strategy - Strategy to compete within a narrow market segment or a product segment. This is a specialization strategy with a goal of becoming premier provider in a narrow market. (e.g. - Amazon - for books)

PART 2 :: THE INTERNET : TECHNOLOGY BACKGROUND

Internet - Interconnected networks

• Innovation (1961-74) - Developing the basic idea and technology  conceptualization of fundamental building blocks, e.g. - hardware, software, client-server computing

• Institutionalization (1975-1995) - Ideas brought forth communication.
• Commercialization (1995 - present) - The govt. agencies encouraged private, corporates to take over expansion of backbone of internet and availability to common man. 

FNC - Federal Network Council

According to FNC, logically linked computers having unique IP address, supports TCP/IP, provides high - level service publicly or privately, will form internet.

Internet works on Packet Switching - Data/Information Is divided into packets ( To Bits, Header is attached which contains the info. regarding destination address, source address, etc., Sequence | At the destination the first thing is re-ordering of packets )

TCP/IP - Is a protocol/rule used to establish connection.

E-Commerce Notes #8

Chapter - 2 - E-Commerce Business Model

--------------------------------------------------------

Business Plan - Document that describes B.M.

Ingredients :

• Value Proposition (WHY ?) - It defines how a company's products or service fulfills the needs of the customer. To develop and analyze a value proposition, one needs to include
• Personalization and customization
• Reduction of search cost
• Reduction of price discovery cost
• Facilitating transaction. (Services should speak for themselves)

• Managing Delivery

• Why should a customer come to you ?

• Why should he buy products from you ?

• Revenue Model - ( Colloquially -  How will the website earn money ). A firm's revenue model describes. How exactly a firm is going to generate profit, earn revenue an produce a superior return on its invested capital. (Also called finance model). Research about all the ways of generating money.

// Breaking point - A point where earning = expense.

<<DIAGRAM>>

• Types of models :
• Advertising - Like at the bottom or top of emails
• Subscription - Like freelancing sites which provide service on payment.
• Transaction Fee - Small commission  charged from customers on each transaction
• Sales revenue model
• Affiliate
• PPC (Pay per Click)
• PPL (Pay per Link)

• Market Opportunity - Refers to companies intended market space and the overall potential financial opportunities available to the fir m in the market space.

// Market niches - is a small segment of market space

• Competitive Environment - A company's environment refers to other companies that are operating in the same market space selling similar products.
• Direct competitors - When the two competitors are in the same market segment and their products can act as a substitute for each other.
• Indirect competitors - like a camera & mobile.

• Competitive Advantage - Is achieved when a firm is able to produce a superior product or is able to bring a product at a lower cost in the market. Any kind of advancement, (like first movers, or able to en-cash, ).
  Scope : - Firms also compete in scope, many firms are able to develop global market, while other have regional or national reach. A firm that can produce a superior product at a lower cost in a global market can achieve great competitive advantage. Reach , i.e. clientele. If reach is more, u get competitive advantage.
  E.g. : Tata Nano - As it was the cheapest car.
  Can also be due to asymmetry whenever a participant has more resources in the market as compared to other participants. This asymmetry may help a firm to come to the market with a better product at a faster rate sometimes with a lower cost.
  Can be due to first movers, in case first movers develops loyal following or a unique interface that is difficult to imitate.
  Can be due to unfair factors.: If a firm develops advantage on the basis of factors that other firms cannot purchase it is called unfair competitive  advantage.
  
  Brand
  -Loyal
  -Trust
  -Reliable
  -Quality
  
  In case of a perfect market, there is no asymmetry and no competitive advantage as all the firms have access to all the factors of production equally. However in the real world, markets are imperfect. Companies are said to leverage to achieve more advantage over surrounding market.
  Publicity, popularity gives a competitive advantage.
  
  E.g. : Coke, Google
   

• Market Strategy - Is a plan you put together that details how exactly you intend to enter a new market and attract new customers.

• Organizational Development - It describes how a company organizes work that needs to be accomplished.

• Management Team - Employ of the company that are going to make the business model work.
• Technical Team
• Marketing Team

E-Commerce Notes #9

B2C Business Model

• Portals - Vertical | Horizontal
  A portal is any website which is into consumer sale. These offer integrate packages of services and contents, such as news, e-mails, shopping , download. These generate revenue by charging money from advertisers, subscription fees, transaction fees, etc.

Horizontal -Portals which sell  variety of products. E.g.: Yahoo, amazon, aol are horizontal portals because they cater/provide services to  all uses of the internet, i.e. they have a wide market space.

Vertical Portals (Vortals) - Which sells product of a particular sector. These attempt to provide similar service as of horizontal portals but are  focused on around a particular subject matter or a market segment. E.g.: iBoats.com

• E-tailers :
• Virtual Merchant : Amazon, Snapfish : It’s a online version of retail store where a customer can shop day or night without leaving home or office, i.e. travelling cost.
• Click and mortar : It's an online distribution channel for the company which also has physical stores. Walmart, tupple mortar, amway
• Manufacturer Directly : Online sale made directly by the manufacturer : Dell.com
• Catalogue Merchant : Online version of a mail catalogue.  Barnes and nobles, alibaba
• Online Mall : e.g. : http://shopping.indiatimes.com
• Content Providers - These are info. Or entertainment sources, e.g. : newspapers, sports. They provide customers updates, tips, guidance, etc. Earn through advertisement subscription fees and affiliate network. About.com.
• Transaction Broker - Processes of online sale transaction, such as stock brokers, travel agents that increase customers' productivity by helping them by getting the things done faster and cheaper. Earns through transaction fees and commissions. E.g. : etrade.com, investopedia,
• Market creator - They are the web based business that use internet tech. to bring buyers and sellers together. Many of them conduct online auctions, e.g. : ebay.com, indiamart.com.
• Service provider - Who provides services.
• Community provider - Online communities where people come together share their thoughts, discuss their interests and hobbies. Earn through, ads, affiliates

B2B Models : Implies businesses focus on selling to other businesses. The market of B2B is earning 3x B2C.

1. (Market place - Vertical) (Exchange - Horizontal) : (also known as B2B Hubs) a digital elec. Market place where suppliers and commercial purchaser can come together and conduct transactions. B2B Hubs make it easy to gather info., checkout suppliers, prices, sellers's benefit by excess of expanded database of buyers, transaction cost, inventory management cost is low.
   
   Vertical market places serves specific industries such as steel automobiles, chemical industry.
   Horizontal market places sells specific products services to variety of companies.

2. E-distributers : A company that supplies products and services directly to individual businesses.

3. B2B Service Provider : Providing service to other firms, e.g. accounting service, HR resources, printing, etc.
1. Traditional : Financial serivce, accounting ,etc.
2. ASP (Application Service Provider) : provides software/application services.

4. Matchmaker :

5. Infomediary : Gather info. About consumers and help the advertisers to find most appropriate audience.
1. Audience Broker
2. Lead Generator

E-Commerce Notes #7

E-commerce II

E-commerce II started in 2001 with stunning technology popularity, developed digital infrastructure.

E-Commerce - I	E-Commerce - II
Technology driven	It was business driven
Emphasis on revenue growth.	Emphasis was on earning profit
It was ungoverned	Strong regulation and governance
Dis-intermediation	Strengthening intermediaries
Belief in pure online strategies	Believed in traditional financing
Entrepreneurial setup	Mixed click & brick strategies
Beneficial for first movers	Survival in imperfect markets

Technology :

1. Mainframes (50 - 75) - Transaction automation used for payroll account receivables

2. Mini - These were used for automation for business functions, e.g. HR functions, etc.
3. PC (1980) - Desktop automation, word processing, etc

4. LAN (1980) - used for doc sharing, communication of workgroups, proj. management, messaging &amp; e-mail.
5. Enterprise Wide Network - It is used for resource planning, integration of resources, e.g. - human resource planning, manufacturing designs, etc.

6. Internet (1995) &amp; WWW - For industrial system automation, Supply-Chain Management, CRM (Customer Resource Management)

Business : It includes following business concepts :

1. Nature of elec. Market.
2. Business models.

3. Information goods.

4. Industry structure

5. Consumer behavior in elec. Market, etc

All other disciplines have a behavioral approach the researchers of info. Systems are interested to identify and build and concrete strategies. There are technical groups that focus on data-mining, AI, search engines, etc.

Economist focuses on consumer behavior on a website, responses to ad. Campaigns, branding, consumer segregation, improving ROI (Return on Investment), etc.

Management Scholar focuses on entrepreneur behavior, interested in challenge .. by young firms, in developing infrastructure, etc.

E-Commerce Question Bank

                                              

1. What is the difference between e-commerce and a e-business portal?


2. Discuss the seven unique features of E-commerce technology?


3. Discuss E-commerce I and II? Contract their pros and cons?


4. Discuss evolution of Internet in detail?


5. Discuss C2C model in detail?


6. Discuss potential limitations of e-commerce in detail?


7. What is a business model? How does it differ from a business plan?


8. What are the eight components of an effective business model?


9. What are Amazon.com’s primary customer value proposition?


10. Describe five primary re venue models used by e-commerce firms?


11. why is targeting a market niche generally smarter for a community provider than targeting a large market segment?


12. Describe the different type of information that can be shared through peer to peer sites?


13. What are the four generic business strategies required for achieving profitable business?


14. Discuss the current and potential future impacts of e-commerce technology on publishing industry?


15. Check put ebay.com and find various type of auctions available over there? In case you were considering in establishing rival specialized online auction business what do you think will be yours top three market opportunities?


16. What is an application service provider? Give e.g


17. beside advertising and product sampling what are the other marketing strat3egies of yahoo,AOL.


18. what are the major differences between virtual store fronts such as marthastewart.com and clicks and bricks operations such as walmart.com? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?


19. What do you understand by reverse auction? Give e.g.?


20. Discuss Kozmos business model? What elements do you think have been faulty?


21. What is latency and how does it interfere with functioning of the internet?


22. Discuss packet switching networks in detail?


23. Discuss the various methods available for connecting to Internet?


24. What is the difference between Client server mode and peer to peer network?


25. What do you understand by Domain Name System?


26. How IP addressing is done? Discuss the various IP address classes in detail.


27. Discuss in details how the system connects to a particular requested web address.


28. What is unicasting and multicasting?


29. How many layers are there in the TCP/IP model? Discuss in detail.


30. What are ARP and RARP?


31. What is Asynchronous transmission mode of data?


32. Discuss hybrid network topology.


33. Define the terms :          a) routers

                        b) Repeaters

                        c) Bridges

                        d) Gateways

34. Write short notes on web Server?

35.  What is the difference between Paired tag and Singular tag

36. Discuss about :

                                                               i.      URL

                                                             ii.      HTTP

37. Discuss briefly following terms:


1. Internet Server


2. Internet Service Provider


3. TCP


4. E-Mails


38. What is web hosting?


39. What are the factors we need to keep in mind while designing website for the client.


40. Compare and contrast intranets, extranets and internet as a whole?


41. What are some of the challenges of policing the internet? Who has the final say when it comes to content?


42. What are the major technological advancements that are anticipated will accompany Internet II? Define and Discuss importance of each?


43. Name and describe five services currently available through the web?


44. Discuss the systematic approach for developing a e-commerce website?


45. Discuss in detail logical and physical design of a website?


46. What are the prons and cons of developing website inhouse or outsourcing it?


47. Discuss the 2 tiers and multi tier website architecture in detail?


48. Discuss web server software with e.g.?


49. What are the various site management tools that are available?


50. Discuss the eight important factors that contribute to successful e-commerce site design?

Projects

1. look for top 10 cookies stored in your computer? Check corresponding sites and describe the type of sites they are? What purpose do you think the cookies serve? Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of cookies?

2. Visit mysimon.com and investigate the different types of purchasesmp3 player, book, roses. What did you find when you searched results? Describe the process, search results and any limitations you encountered? What are the major advantages and disadvantages of such intelligent agents?

3. Gather information regarding internet services from local ISP, cable provider and DSL provider. Prepare a brief report summarizing features, benefits and costs of each? Which one you thin is fastest?

4. Find three certification authoritied and compare features of each company’s digital certificates? Provide a brief description of each such company.

Layered Protocl Model

A Layered Protocol Model.

A three layer model is looked upon to compare payments schemes.

Policy: The linguistics of the payment scheme. It includes refunds policies, and the liabilities incurred by users, merchants as well as for financial institutions.

Data flow: Very vital steps from online transactions parse, it includes data flow fro payments, refunds, account enquiries and settlement also.

Mechanism: The process which endeavor is to achieve security requirements for messages and stored data

Payment Protocol Models.

Payment Protocol Models includes following instruments which have been introduced in aforesaid discussion:

a. Cash: Cash consists of a token which doesn’t need much authenticity it’s usually achieved through use of self authenticating tokens or tamper proof hardware. 

b. Cheque: Cheque are payment tool whose validity requires reference to the issuer. 

c. Card: Card payment schemes provide a payments procedure through the existing credit card payment set-up. Such schemes have similar guidelines to cheque models except that solutions are constrained by that structure. A key vital point to highlight with card payment systems is that every transaction carries insurance. 

Electronic Payment Schemes

Now, let’s start rolling the e- related stuff!

The twenty-first century way to pay is by electronic or digital cash (or one can say virtual cash also), which allows consumers to pay for goods/ services by transmitting a number from one computer to another. These numbers function much like the serial numbers on "real money”, they are unique and represent a specific amount of actual cash.

Unlike credit-card transactions, electronic-cash transactions are anonymous. E-cash works just like paper cash. Once it is withdrawn from an account it does not leave a trail of digital crumbs. E-cash by its nature is portable and therefore more convenient for mobile commerce (Internet-capable cell phones and personal digital assistants).

Couple of well known players in industry on this domain:

Pay Pal - A U.S.-based system that allows individuals in the United States to send money to each other via email.

First-E - A European, Internet-only bank.

Mondex - Electronic cash that is made available via "smart card."

eCash (formerly DigiCash) - One of the early developers of electronic payment systems

There is variety of options for electronic payments; usual ones include use of credit, debit and charge cards. In order to accept any of aforesaid cards, e business, must have a merchant account, payment-processing software and procedure to protect its customers and itself (most importantJ) against any type of fraud, phishing, hacking related activities.

Electronic cash

    Electronic cash and payment schemes-Internet monetary and payment schemes,  Payment and Purchase order process, on line  electronic cash

Now its time to know more about  E-Payments.

 Basics

Before jumping to e-com related jargons, let’s spend a while on basics on banking /payment systems.

Banking originated in ancient era, where royal palaces, temples were used as secure place for safekeeping of grain and other commodities. Receipts for stored commodities were used for transfers not only to the original depositors but also to third parties, including tax gatherers and traders.

Bank notes were introduced during 1694 by Bank of England as central banking system
On following steps during 1775 continental congress issued paper money to finance revolutionary war. Thereafter in 1800s and early 1900 saw issuance of state bank notes, gold certificates. And finally in 1913 Federal Reserve act was created to further structure roadmap.

Cheque: Its written order on a bank or other financial institution to pay money belonging to the owner of cheque to cheque presenter. Personal cheque is drawn on individual bank account, while cashier cheque is drawn on financial institution.

Money Order: It is an order for the payment of a specified amount of money, usually issued and payable at a bank or post office. It’s feasible for people who don’t have back account or circumstances where cheques are not accepted in payments.

Credit Card: It is a valuable piece of plastic J, i.e. plastic card used instead of cash or cheques to pay for buying goods/services. Credit card companies send monthly statement of charges made by credit card. Users can make full payment or partial payment, later one comes with interest/finance charges attached to same.

Debit Card: It’s also plastic used to procure good/services, but it’s important to note it’s linked to bank account. Bank deducts transactions made directly from account. It good workaround for people, who for contend (i.e. not to fell in trap of credit card companies)

And want to avoid carrying actual cash with them.

Before you learn more about electronic payments you need to  get an idea about online transaction. Check out the various events that lead to an Online Transaction.

1. Online Shopping: The user short list an item to procure on the net.

2. Starting the Transaction Once you feed shipping and credit card information, the user is presented with summary which includes items, price, billing information, delivery schedule, terms n conditions (if any). The payment process is secured with industrial strength encryption and forwarded with the order form to the merchant's CyberCash CashRegister.

3. CashRegister Picks up Merchant Information

• The merchant's identification information is automatically added to the encrypted payment request.

4. Path from CyberCash Firewall till the Bank

• Remains encrypted, payment request is forwarded over the Internet cloud and is received via a secure firewall by CyberCash CashRegister server.


• CyberCash swift passes payment request to the merchant's financial institution, which float it across to consumer's credit card bank to approve or decline payment authorization.

5. Credit Card Bank / Institution Sends Approval

• Users credit card bank revert its response through the merchant's financial institution to the merchant's CashRegister.


• The shopper also receives confirmation of credit card approval.


• The entire authorization process takes under 20 seconds.(Courtesy technology J )

6. Transaction is Completed and Captured

• The merchant delivers the items to the shopper.


• The merchant requests financial settlement, of the transaction through the CashRegister server.

Funds are transferred to the merchant's account by its financial institution

Factors affecting growth of E-commerce

a.  Security

Without iota of thought it’s on mind of everyone who even thinks to do business online. Today hackers have become so personal, that it takes minutes to conquer / take over website having loop holes. Firewall, IDS, encryptions, digital signatures all have same endeavor to provide secure and peaceful life over internet cloud!

b. Scalability

It relates to your capability to run show, no matter what how large business gets. Usually new players/ freshers to e-commerce community don’t have strong vision. Most silly mistake players do, they under-estimate growth rate, never forget your playground is spread across globe. From day one, you should keep your seats belts tighten. One example in past, where we saw failure was “alladvantage.com” They failed to anticipate the network effect, and the company found its business model did not scale with unanticipated customer growth. They added one million customers within three months of launch; their revenue model was based on selling demographic date to advertisers.

c. Perceived Risk with Product/Service

If there are thousands of e-commerce savvy personnel’s, lets not forget there are millions of others, who don’t agree too much with concept due to risk with final product/service they will get after buying online. Different people, different perception some are scared with fraud, some worried about delivery schedules, some say there is no meaning of warranty when you buy goods online !

Tips and Tricks to organize manager’s work place

Managerial tasks are the tasks that require vigilance,alertness but at the same time need to be done in a cool easy going manner. Three basic task of a manager are managing people,managing processes,managing information. Here are some tips and tricks to organize manager’s workplace in order to increase his efficency in office.

1. Check the placement of your computer screen on your desk
   
   
   • At your workplace there should be no overhead lighting that will glare on a 12° tilt back screen.
   
   
   • You should not have window and a screen at the same time in your field of vision
   
   
   • You need to have check on height of the monitor. The top level of your monitor should be placed at your natural gaze level
   
   


2. Avoid noises in offices
   
   • The ideal level of noise is as low as 50 dB in managers’ offices
   
   
   • Human voices may interfere with your intelligence
   
   The human voice is a priority source of information that the brain cannot help but process. Our focus strongly prioritizes the perception of human voices and faces. Our concentration in a noisy office may, prompted by safety concerns, choose to focus on the human voices surrounding us, even though we may be trying to concentrate on a difficult file.



3. Organize your desk


4. Organize your work space by task, by activity, by objective
   
   • Hang a whiteboard in front of you and write on it what's important.
   
   
   • Close your door if you have important work. Don't be interrupted.
   
   
   • You can put a photography of your family if it's a stable couple.
   
   


5. No human face in your visual field.Human faces may interfere with your intelligence


6. Work on a clear desk 
   You will find it much harder to concentrate if you are studying a document on a desk full of papers and files than if you perform the same task on a clear desk.


7. Respect the proximity rule
   Frequently used objects must be placed closer to you.Office audits show that this rule is seldom applied


8. Hang a head-up display in front of your desk
   
   • Objectives out of sight, objectives out of mind
   
   
   • Buy a whiteboard, note down your personal objectives on it and hang the board just in front of your desk.
   
   This is a habit of many professionals who thus manage to concentrate on the essentials. Each time they lift their head from their desktop, they know what purpose the day should serve. If the same information were written on a computer screen or a piece of paper, it would be less effective.

Source: Management Organization by Patrick M. Georges

Thank God I use Gmail at my workplace

In office when you get hundreds of mails and you need to read,mark and categorize them as per official need. You may need to customize mail for the client and need to store a lot of e-mail IDs. Things may get messed up if your e-mail service is not . In most office there is an official e-mail software used in case you don't have one what you need to use.

Work Around

- Use Gmai Account for managing your e-mails.

Some of the popular features of Gmail are listed below:

Labeling E-Mails Gmail provides facility to label e-mails. These methods provide user facility for categorizing e-mails by labeling them. An e-mail can be labeled any number of times. User can display e-mails with a particular label and can also use it as a criterion for searching e-mails.Managing Contacts As you send e-mail via Gmail contact list of gmail gets updated. It also has auto-completion feature that pop ups e-mail ID, primary name as user writes address in the To,Cc,Bcc column. Auto Save feature Gmail is equipped with auto save feature that saves the current e-mail as draft in case the window gets close accidentally due to browser error or any other issue. G-Mail Notifier G-Mail is an Official Tool provided by Google for getting new mail notifications. The notification icon is installed in the task bar in PC and on right hand side of Menu bar in MAC OS and it signals whenever there is new mail in the Inbox. G-Mail Chat feature With G-Mail chat you can chat with other people who have g-mail account. It can also be synchronized with Google talk network and thus enables interaction with google talk clients. Key board short cuts Gmail provides keyboard shortcuts that can be used while browsing g-mail. These short cuts are enabled by default and need to be enabled by the user Support to Multiple languages Gmail provides support to about 40 languages. All web pages and e-mails are encoded in the Unicode standard (UTF-8). This enables sending and receiving e-mails containing Cyrillic, Asian and Latin special characters. G-Mail’s RSS feed feature G-Mail has RSS feed feature that enables feed as single line on top of the page. User can scroll the feed to read through the content. Anti-Virus Scanning Gmail introduced a feature which automatically scans all incoming and outgoing e-mail attachments for viruses. If a virus is found on an attachment the reader is trying to open, Gmail will try to remove the virus and open the newly cleaned attachment. Provides access to Google Docs & Spreadsheets Google Docs & Spreadsheets can be used to view word processor documents and spreadsheets. It is a free web-based word processing and spreadsheet program. It accepts popular file formats such as DOC, XLS, ODF, ODS, RTF, CSV, etc. You can share a document with another user and invite the user by email address. Invited visitors can sign and access the document for viewing or editing. Document can also be shared among multiple people. It has provision of a screen chat window that provide updated information which user changed which document and when.

Join Anti-Phishing Work Group

Phishing is one of the popular crime I discussed in some previous posts. TO fight phishing you need to know various methods that can lead to phishing. Phishing can be done via Social Engineering or via technical subterfuge.

Social-engineering schemes use 'spoofed' e-mails to lead consumers to counterfeit websites designed to trick recipients into divulging financial data such as credit card numbers, account usernames, passwords and social security numbers. Hijacking brand names of banks, e-retailers and credit card companies, phishers often convince recipients to respond.

Technical subterfuge schemes plant crimeware onto PCs to steal credentials directly, often using Trojan keylogger spyware. Pharming crimeware misdirects users to fraudulent sites or proxy servers, typically through DNS hijacking or poisoning.

A new kind of phishing scam has been discovered where phisher uses voice recordings to pilfer money from PayPal accounts. This is one of the latest social engineering attack where identity thieves have lured users into dialing a phone number and giving up credit card information. Phishing e-mails are sent to the peopple which do not ask for personal information but urges the recipient to call a phone number and verify account details.These phone numbers are em

Work Around

- Join Anti-Phishing Group



To fight such notorious crime we need to be part of anti-phishing process. The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) is the global pan-industrial and law enforcement association focused on eliminating the fraud and identity theft that result from phishing, pharming and email spoofing of all types. You can report phishing emails, pharming sites and crimeware to the Anti-Phishing Working Group and help stop this insidious threat to e-commerce. Some of the features of the group are:

1: Avaialbility of Phishing and Crimeware map.

Phishing and Crimeware map displays the most recent data collected by Websense Security Labs (WS Labs) and provides a historical look into where Phishing and Crimeware related websites are hosted on the Internet. Upon discovery, each site is looked up via its IP Address to track the country of origin through the appropriate IP registrars and plotted on the map

2: Report Phishing Crime

Anti-phishing work group is in process of building a repository of phishing scam emails and websites to help people identify and avoid being scammed in the future.

Source: http://www.antiphishing.org

Related Post: 

• Using Anti-Phishing Software



• Using Microsft outlook Anti-Phishing Features


• Fighting Spyware


• Fighting against e-mail spam

How to write a better Business letter?

Many times at work place you are stuck while writing a business letter. Your boss may be demanding a formal business letter. Business Letter,apology letter,sales letter , complain letter, resignation letter, thank you letter needs to be professional and impressive. Some times you may feel you need a letter writing expert for writing a strategic business letter. Such letter writing needs effective business letter cover plan. Business letter headings and closings needs to be appropriate. In short there are some business letter etiquette that needs to followed. You need to have a tool that helps you in writing a professional business letter without wasting much of your time and at low cost.

Work Around


- Use a Business Letter writing software

Business Letter Professional is a letter writing tool available for writing impressive, attractive letters.

Features
Business Letter Professional includes about 1000 typical business letter templates. It has an embedded text editor that allows you to edit, copy, paste, search, preview and save your letters. It also enables you to set an external e-mail program to send your finished letters directly.


Some basic tasks which can be accompolished using Business Letter professional are:

1. In accounting & Finance for raising capital, applying for grants, improving accounting methods etc



2. Marketing & Sales:Helps in planning market campaign, sending a press release and more.


3. Thanks & Greetings: Provides help for congratulating on success, expressing satisfaction with certain products or service, acceptance of suggestion or giving greeting on a special day.


4. Complain & Apology: complain about goods and bad service, eliminate misunderstandings, stop illegal use of properties, and explain mistakes on customer service.


5. Cooperate & Legal: protect your Intellectual Property, protect company secrets, better negotiate your office lease, and use By-laws, shareholders Agreement & Articles of Incorporation to setup your business.


6. Marketing & Sales: increase your sales with better communication, improve response time to customer inquiries, plan a marketing campaign, send a press release, and sign distribution/partnership deals.


7. Personnel & Employees: hire/fire employees, contractors and consultants, write detailed company policies and procedures, prepare professional job descriptions, conduct personnel evaluations, manage your workforce, and sign confidentiality agreements.


8. Proposal & Request: request and sign agreements reselling products, and expand your market reach with co-branding opportunities and affiliate marketing.

Source:getfreesofts