Innovative E-Businesses - Coursework Example

Innovative E-Businesses Roll No: Teacher: 15th August 2009 Innovative E-Businesses Introduction There are a number of e-businesses that are operating nowadays. No one can deny the fact that e-businesses have transformed the whole business market. Nowadays, we can see that each and every company is in need of computerization. The companies are interested in becoming globalized. It is only because of internet and information technology advancement that most of the businesses working in the world are thinking to go global. E-business is a sort of business through which, consumers can access the business services from anywhere in the world. The businesses services can be reached out of borders. The world has transformed into a global village and everyone has equal chances of accessibility to the services and products provided online. There are many e-businesses that have gained a sound reputation on the basis of their innovative strategies and internet related businesses processes. The businesses working online are many in number such as Google.com, Amazon.com, Wikipedia.org, Macromedia.com, Sourceforge.net, Postcast.com, Morgagebundles.com, Esure.com, Ebay.com and many more. This paper investigates four e-businesses in terms of their innovative strategies, business procedures and future strategies. The e-businesses included in this paper are Wikipedia.org, Sourceforge.net, Esure.com and Podcast.com. Wikipedia.org Wikipedia.org is an innovative e-business that is very successful online as we can see the website so often while searching any content online. Wikipedia is a free encyclopaedia that accommodates the internet users with all kind of information that is available online. The business has a wide range of content availability and is accessed by millions of people on monthly basis (Wikipedia 2009). The business allows the participation of the users in the improvement and betterment of the published content. The users are allowed to edit the content if they find anything wrong or erroneous. According to Wikipedia, Wikipedia is an offshoot of Nupedia, which allowed only the qualified writers to contribute their work online with the company but the content contribution was quite sluggish (Wikipedia 2009). However, with the foundation of Wikipedia, the content contribution improved to an extensive extent. Now, thousands of people contribute their knowledge with Wikipedia and the readers of Wikipedia on daily basis. The content that is published gains perfection and reliability with the passage of time as people discuss over it, edit it continuously and make it more reliable with their continuous efforts (Wikipedia 2009). User participation is a bold step taken by the organization and is one of the innovative strategies adopted by the organization. For writing articles voluntarily, the users are not restricted to have certain age limits or qualifications. Anyone can contribute in this writing encyclopaedia. Any information or content that is substandard or erroneous by any means is removed. The website is accessed all over the world due to which, it can be used by multicultural and multilingual people. By keeping this fact into mind, the organization has adopted an innovative strategy of provision of content in many languages due to which, it is liked to a great extent by people of different origins, cultures and speaking different languages. All the content available on Wikipedia can be seen in more than two sixty languages that is not a negligible total (Wikipedia 2009). Wikipedia is accessed daily for accessing and sharing knowledge. The content that is published on Wikipedia is interlinked or cross referenced (Wikipedia 2009). While reading the content displayed on Wikipedia, the users can find many links in between that take them to more descriptions regarding the content items. Wikipedia is a rich resource of information and content that accommodates its users to be writers, editors, readers and knowledge sharers. Wikipedia is a website that is working for the welfare of people all around the globe in a very innovative format that is highly beneficial for readers, writers and editors. Anyone looking for any kind of information can make use of Wikipedia for getting the required knowledge. Till now, Wikipedia has enjoyed a good reputation but in the future it has to face many challenges. We can find people saying that the content published at Wikipedia is not reliable as it can be edited by anyone across the world without any specific qualification. It is one of the innovative strategies of the organization to allow users to participate in content addition and editing, however, Wikipedia is required to pay extra attention towards the quality and authenticity of the added and edited content. Wikipedia has identified the global need of information sharing due to which, it is operating successfully all over the world. Sourceforge.net Like Wikipedia, Sourceforge.net also accommodates its users to create and contribute software programs all over the world. Sourceforge.net realized the global requirements of the users and allowed people to create open source software programs through this e-business and these developed open source software programs can be accessed through this online organization. The company has more than two million registered users who make use of the services provided by the company (Sourceforge.net 2009). It is a company based in United States. The technology professionals make use of this e-business website to generate software programs and access other open source software programs created by other users. It is a type of community through which, people around the globe share their created software programs and access the development tools and services provided by the company. It is a free hosting e-business in which, the users can be accommodated fully in terms of creation and accessing the open source software development (Sourceforge.net 2009). Because of the company's availability of software development tools and other services regarding open source software development, the users are helped in terms of development of their projects. Not only can they get their required help from the website but they can also add the tools for others' help (Sourceforge.net 2009). The website Sourceforge.net manages to help millions of users because of its centralized database systems that keep the management and development tools created by other users (Sourceforge.net 2009). These tools can be used for further development of projects. Not everyone is allowed to contribute but those who have knowledge and expertise regarding software development. The site allows the users to manage their own accounts and projects by logging into the system. Their privacy is maintained by their logins. The innovative steps taken by the e-business is user participation and attaching the users through development and management tools that they can use for their own project development and creation of open source software programs. The company gained fame because it is accessed in many countries for no cost at all. The users get their required support and assistance without any fee or payment. As the world today is quite interested in computerization and development of software programs, so, the organization Sourceforge.net has gained enough reputation for the provision of its free services towards computerization and development. The number of registered users that is two million informs about the fame of the company. The company is required to identify and recognize the needs of its users related to its look, appearance, downloading speed, software availability and faster performance. Like other companies, Sourceforge.net will also have to compete with all the other organizations in order to retain its current status and improve further in future. With the advancement of technology and developments, the e-business will always have to facilitate the users with newly developed systems and tools so that further progress can be there. The developers that form a community on Sourceforge.net are quite supportive for new as well as old users in terms of the development of their projects. People can access the site globally and can gain their services of development and sharing. Esure.com Esure.com is also an e-business that is quite reputable online. Esure.com provides online insurance facilities related to various disciplines such as car insurance, home insurance, pets insurance, travel insurance, motorbike insurance and van insurance (Esure.com 2009). The organization insures its customers through internet. The foundation of Esure.com can be traced back in 2000. From its foundation, the organization is working online. The founder started the insurance company with the view that he is going to make use of latest and advanced technology in gaining business. Previously, the company operated by means of telephonic business, however, in 2000, the company started its working as an internet company (Esure.com 2009). The innovative step the company took was to offer insurance services online. The company has more than one million customers who rely on the company services and regard the company as a trustworthy company. Initially, the company offered services for car insurance only but with the passage of time, it offered other services as well such as home insurance, pets insurance and others. The features offered by the organization are customer friendly and offer ease to the customers due to which, the customers show appreciation for the company. With boost in internet and information technology, the company administration identified the need of the hour and organized a company that offered the customers with insurance services that were easier to get. The company also offers low fees for the insurance holders (Esure.com 2009). The company offers insurance facilities to not only people related to a specific locality but globally. People can access the website and get insurance services from the company without keeping in consideration their location. The insurance services that the company offers are the most crucial services and people usually need these services such as home insurance services, travelling insurance services and vehicle insurance services. The company has also initiated many marketing campaigns, which have attracted the customers towards getting insured with Esure.com (Esure.com 2009). Esure.com took many innovative steps such as organizing the business online, provision of services to global consumers, lower insurance costs, consumer friendly conditions and setting of marketing campaigns. In marketing campaigns, the company took technology and advancement into consideration in order to inform customers about their services. In the future, the company is required to take further supportive steps for the betterment of the company and its customers. Many other insurance categories can be introduced in order to facilitate the old and new consumers of the company. With growing e-businesses and further advancement in internet technology, the company will face many challenges in terms of maintenance of its position in the business market. Further enhancements and improvements will be required to be initiated. Further expansion of business can be there and online marketing campaigns can be there for improvement and expansion of the organization. Business through internet is faster, easier and much more accommodating as the customers can get the better services in a very short span of time. Therefore, Esure.com has succeeded till now because of its faster performance because of its provision of online insurance facilities and its advanced services that it has provided to its global consumers. Podcast.com Postcast.com is an e-business that has a wide collection of podcasts. It is the largest storage house of podcasts on web. The audio and video files that are available on internet for viewing and for listening can be called as podcasts. Podcasts can be a series of videos and audios. On this website, users can add a podcast and they can access thousands of podcasts of their interest. The company has a wide range of podcasts available on their website related to a huge number of fields such as arts, entertainment, books, foods, games, health, family, music, sports, technology, science, travelling and many more. The company has gained fame due to its massive availability of various kinds of podcasts. On the website Podcast.com, the podcasts are shared, organized, viewed and listened. The users of the company website make use of the podcasts for their interest and the site is accessed by many people daily. The site is accessed globally by people. The company provides global services to its users worldwide. The users can maintain their accounts through which, they can add podcasts to the website, access other podcasts, view and listen to them and share them. Postcast.com can be seen as a large storage centre that contains a wide amount of podcasts in its storage that can be accessed globally. The company has taken an innovative step in starting a business that is online. The company works on online basis as podcasts are the videos and audios that are published on internet and can be accessed by internet users only. Not only the company has organized a global business but also it has accommodated the users with a massive storage of podcasts. The podcasts available on the website are divided into a number of fields due to which, people can have the podcasts of their interest within no time. With divided fields, the users can reach their required podcasts without any hindrance or extra surfing. They can just click the field of their choice and can view and listen to their required podcast. As the website is operating globally, therefore, it contains podcasts of various cultures and traditions. People belonging to different communities can get access to their required podcasts. Along with that, people belonging to one community can also view podcasts of other communities due to which, they can gain information about other cultures and communities. Podcast.com provides accessibility to podcasts not only on computers but also on mobiles. Podcast.com has adopted such innovative strategies that are supportive in making the organization a much better organization with the passage of time. The company started an online business, created a massive storage of podcasts, allowed the users to share, organize, view and listen to podcasts, and divided the podcasts into different fields, all these features added to the reputation of the company. In the future, the company will surely face many challenges as with the passage of time, there are advancements in the technology and more companies show interest towards online businesses. Podcast.com is a well reputed company that has gained fame and name because of its services that it provides to its consumers. Conclusion The businesses that are operating online have gained a lot of reputation because of their online processing. People are able to access online businesses on a global scale because online websites of e-businesses can be accessed all over the world. The e-businesses also offer their services on a wider scale as people belonging to different places can access the services provided by online businesses in suitable rates. All the companies that have gained reputation and a prominent status have gained it because of their innovativeness and their business procedures that they have designed for their online businesses. References Esure.com 2009, www.esure.com Macromedia 2009, www.macromedia.com Sourceforge.net 2009, www.sourceforge.net Wikipedia 2009, Wikipedia, www.wikipedia.org Read More