Aspects of eBuy Pharmaceuticals IT - Coursework Example

eBuy Pharmaceuticals IT Final Project Introduction The world of business is fast evolving from analogue and manual operations to a more competitive digital platform. The world today is a small space due to the advancement in technology. One only needs to sit on a couch, grab their computer and make the internet connections. They are then able to get what they want from any part of the world without much hustle. This has been made possible by the efficient online platform of doing business. It is popularly referred to as e-business. eBuy Pharmaceuticals is an exclusively online-based business dealing in pharmaceutical products. There is a lot of competition in this kind of business. It is therefore very necessary to create a strong and secure online platform for doing business. This avoids the many issues and challenges associated with doing business on an online platform such as data theft, hacking and spying activities by the business competitors. This ensures that all strategic information is kept out of reach of malicious entities. Security of information makes the biggest sense in online business operations. If eBuy is to weather the completion and be a market beater in the next 4-5 years as envisaged in the company’s medium-term goals, the digital platform it seeks to establish should secure, just as much as it should be easy to use by the various stakeholders. This assignment will be analyzing the business aspect of the project, the system, and the cost issues touching on the establishment of the information system of eBuy Pharmaceuticals. Business/competition Competition in the e-business is always in terms of how strong, secure and efficient the online platform is. There are already a number of similar businesses in operation. eBuy will look to curve a niche in the business by getting as a big chunk of the market share as possible within the shortest possible time. The installation information system will be a heavy investment. The information system so established should therefore aid in making it possible for eBuy to recoup the amount invested within a few starting years of business operations. The platform should be a reason for eBuy to be able to attract many global customers from other similar, but established businesses. With increased number of customers due to the efficiency of the online platform, there will be more sales and thus big profits. The take-off stage of the business will define how much success is recorded in the future years. A strong first impression should thus be created if an instant success is to be achieved. The relocation from Cincinnati to downtown New York is a way of expanding the scale of operations. The new location provides a bigger and more serene environment within which the online business operations will be made much easier. Many of eBuy’s competitors are also headquartered in New York. Social media plays a big role in business today. There are many potential customers of pharmaceutical products that are users of social media platforms such as facebook, instagram, twitter, tumblr, pinterest and more. To ensure a wider outreach globally, it will be necessary to have social media links in the website. This is still part of an information system. eBuy will thus need to have accounts with a number of social media to enable customers get to know what is going on without necessarily having to visit the website. This will be part of a digital revolution in business. Many other e-businesses have already conformed to the use of social media to compliment their efficient information system. eBuy must adopt that as well in order to survive business competition. System components The envisaged information system for eBuy will be an interconnection of networked computers and a lot of other support gadgets such as switches and routers. The complex connection starts at the ISP stations and end at the eBuy premises, from where another connection to starts. The connection starting at the premises ends at the core and at the user points. The use of satellites and transmission booster both at the ISP points and those erected at the premises will eliminate physical connections. The switches will be used for turning the system on and off. The routers will be necessary for connecting the computer systems at the different levels of connection. System and security analysis The information system comprises of the database, the website, security measures and more. System security is a concern for all businesses that have online operations. The operations may include financial transactions and messaging. There is always the need to keep all that information as secure as possible (Bhattacharya, 2009). If security measures are not taken, hackers will have a field day, doing the espionage job and totally compromising the entire system. This plays in the hands of business rivals that do business on a secure information system. Therefore, an information system for e-business is incomplete until it has a foolproof online platform for doing business. The eBuy database will be the store of all the confidential, strategic and sensitive information. The database is one of the many aspects of the envisaged information system that should be made as secure as possible. The database will contain all manner of information concerning the company and its business functioning. The security of such information will be such that confidential information can only be accessed by those permitted by the company’s top management (Bhattacharya, 2009). There will certainly be other types of information that will not require stringent security measures, and would not be as restricted the confidential and strategic ones. The database will be integrated using a middleware adapter which has an EDI and tracking capabilities. Hybrid cloud is recommended to provide security to the database. The website will be comprehensive, with an attractive interface. It will contain anything all the various users will need. The users in this case will include eBuy’s business partners, consultants, clients and customers. All the users will be required to sign up by entering all their details as they will be prompted by the user registration fields. Once they are registered, they will be members that will only be required to log-in with the username and password. The different users will have their different parts of the website where they can sign in and excess the information that is relevant to them. This will make it easy for the users to access what they need. The website will be designed using both HTML and flash skills. Proper client maintenance will be done using data management platforms such as WordPress, Drupal and Code4Design. There will be yet another security level at the user level, provided by a demilitarized zone (DMZ). The DMZ will provide a buffer between insecure internet zones closest to the users and the secure ones. Insecure internet zones are those zones that are not so trusted. To enhance security, even the DMZ will not interact with the secure and trusted internet zones directly. There will be firewalls connected to the DMZ using routers. The firewalls will get the information required by the user from the secure zones, and relay them to the user points through the DMZ. This will seal any security loopholes that may utilized to the disadvantage of eBuy by any malicious users. The details verification role that the DMZ will play will be important as well. The will be done by scanning all the user information each time they logged into the system using their accounts. Firewall will be the most used in providing data security. It is one of the software best known for dealing effectively with malwares and other forms of security threats. It is should be used to provide a link between other forms of data security and the secure/trusted internet zones. Cost analysis This project will consider both the cost and quality issues. There will be a balance between the cost and the quality of the project to be adopted. Having a too small budget for it will mean a compromise on quality. This being the most important aspect of the business, the information technology department of eBuy will get some of the best quality appliances, hardware and software components, which obviously will be a bit costly but worth the money spent (Rainer & Casey, 2012 ). The suppliers will be sourced for in a competitive manner, and that will help to lower the overall cost due to competitive bidding which will be involved. Money will also be spent on travels and consultancy issues. Consultancy will be important because it is the surest way of ending up with the best and most efficient information system. The consultancy will be professional and will entail advice and suggestions on how best to go about the whole installation. That way, eBuy will be sure to have ended up with the best and most secure information system, giving it a leap over business rivals. The project will require services, as was stated earlier in a preceding section. This, as well, will be costly to maintain and run, but would be important for back-up services. Here is the breakdown of some of the major costs: Consultancy: $80000 Travels: $30000 Software costs: $500000 Hardware: $$3.2m Annual ISP costs: $2.4m Routers/switches and others: $320000 Site preparation activities: $380000 Hiring expertise: $500000 Annual system maintenance: $120000 Miscellaneous costs: $263000 A budget of $10m will be just enough to cater for everything that needs to be accomplished to deliver a functional IT project for eBuy. Many businesses have failed to scale the heights of online business success because of low investment in the IT aspect of the business. eBuy wouldn’t want to take that path, because it is only important to learn from the mistakes of competitors. The information system is all that makes sense in the business. It is, in fact, the business. Therefore, it deserves the heaviest long-term investment that is commensurate with what the role it plays in the business. Once the system is in place, there will be need to maintain it periodically, so that it doesn’t break down to a level where no business is possible. The maintenance will be carried out about thrice a year, and by contracted IT practitioners. Customers, clients and other business partners will want to have a sense of a reliable business partner in eBuy. They always want a partner that is ever efficient and not dysfunctional at any given moment. Considering eBuy will be purely an e-business, the reliable partner being referred to here is the information system on which the entire business is dependent. Maintaining the system and replacing worn-out switches and routers will cost quite some sum of money annually. Conclusion This project, if adopted as planned, will benefit eBuy’s online business in countless ways. Security of sensitive information will be assured. The efficiency if the project, if completed as envisaged, will be a match for the amount of money spent in setting up and maintaining it. The project is a product of several professional, technical consultations. It is a hybrid of a number of quality suggestions, making it the better of many others used in the business today. eBuy would be a market beater in a few years if the project is adopted because no potential business rivals has such an efficient information system for doing the online pharmaceutical business. Users of the eBuy system, and noting its efficiency, will be so much endeared to the company that they would invite many of their friends and family members. Referrals will mean not spending several dollars annually in intensive marketing campaigns. Apart from an attractive user interface, the eBuy website will contain as much information as may be required by customers (Lucas, 2005). One would be able to do all that they would wish to in their capacity as a customer, client or a business partner. The live chat tab on the website will ensure that users get instant solutions and responses. Such are some of the little things that potential business rivals either score really badly in. Adopting the project proposal would thus be the best thing the executive team would do, if eBuy is to achieve instant success in the pharmaceutical e-business. References Bhattacharya, B. (2009). Algorithms, architectures and information systems security. Hackensack, NJ: World Scientific. Lucas, H. (2005). The analysis, design, and implementation of information systems (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Norman, T. (2007). Integrated security systems design concepts, specifications, and implementation. Amsterdam: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann. Rainer, R. & Casey G. (2012). Information System: Transforming Business Fourth Edition. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Read More