Internet and Electronic-Business Methods - Essay Example

Insurers can now provide services twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week at a low cost and over a broader geographical area. Besides these opportunities, this research will highlight the problems associated with e-business in insurance sectors for both the insurer and insured, e.g. privacy issues, security payments, lack of information, the level of advice needed, and other issues related to electronic business.

The researcher will use structured questionnaires to collect data and then test results to answer and understand the questions, thus evaluating the current potential of e-insurance in the UAE market.

As both insurance companies and brokers have not exploited this opportunity as fully as they have in other countries, such as the United States and the European Union (EU), this research will point out the areas where companies and local authorities in the UAE need to overcome any current issues so they can activate and develop this important sector. This will contribute to a reduction of production and administration costs and raise the level of services provided to end-users. This is in the interests of both parties.

Chapter 2
Literature review:
This component of the research undertakes the definition of the key elements and aspects of the main components of the research. This includes the structures of e-business and e-insurance, the Emirati society, and other relevant elements needed for the successful implementation of e-insurance strategies in a given nation.

2.1 E-business
Since E-business forms the framework within which e-insurance operates, there is a need to look at it in detail.

• 2.1.1 Defining e-business
"Electronic business can be defined as the use of the internet to network and empower business process, electronic commerce, organizational communication and collaboration within the company and with it customer, suppliers and other stakeholders" (Combe, 2006).

In other words, it refers to the use of the Internet and another electronic system to conduct business. This enables people to conduct business over a considerably large distance and attain the same results as those who do so in a face-to-face manner.

The difference between e-commerce and e-business lies in the wider range of processes that e-business applies. Authors like Chaffey (2004) state that e-commerce can best be conceived as a subset of e-business, i.e. it represents selling and buying transactions in the wider e-business world, containing other procedures and elements, such as online customer services, electronic marketing, secure payments, and other processes.