Effective Utilization and Management of Emerging Information Technologies: The 1998 Conference Proceedings in Boston Massachusettes - Softcover

Khosrowpour, Mehdi

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1878289500 ISBN 13: 9781878289506

Publisher: Igi Global, 1998

Synopsis

Idea Group Publishing is pleased to announce that the 1998 Information Resources Management Association (IRMA) International Conference Proceedings was published in a bound-book format. Effective Utilization and Management of Emerging Information Technologies contains more than 200 papers that were presented at the 1998 IRMA International Conference on numerous timely issues of managing information technology in organizations around the world.

About this title

About the Author

Mehdi Khosrowpour is currently an Associate Professor of Information Systems at Penn State Harrisburg. He is the editor-in-charge of the Information Resources Management Journal, the annals of Cases on Information Technology Application and Management in Organizations and Information Management and consulting editor of the Information Technology Newsletter. In addition, he also serves on the editorial review boards of six other international information systems journals and has authored/edited 10 books and more than 30 articles published in various scholarly and professional journals

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

(From Electronic Software Marketing and Distribution by Patrick Haertsch). Until today only a small number of consumers are making purchases using the electronic markets. It is however assumed that the customers will soon accept these new possibilities. These new sales opportunities will provide the consumers the following advantages: Interactive; Easier to make comparisons between different providers and products,; Ordering without media breaches; Independency of location and; Shopping 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. The Internet is a platform for Electronic Commerce. The number of connected computers is continuously increasing, but it may be some time before a large number of consumers feel comfortable with this new shopping possibility. According to Forrester Research revenues of Internet retail should grow to $6.9 billion by the year 2000. The Internet will provide significant opportunities to those who learn how to apply and make effective use of this new technology. At the same time, it is to be assumed that a firm will not initially generate sales involving millions of units. Rather the experience of presenting a firm on the Internet and seeing how business can be conducted via this medium is strategically significant for the future. In comparison to other media, the Internet presents itself as a fundamental new environment for business activities. The difference to conventional business transactions is to some extent so large, that previous business activities have to be completely transformed and redesigned since they in their present form cannot or should not be implemented on the Internet. Companies and their business units have to adapt themselves to the new medium, the Internet. It will be investigated to what extent marketing and distribution of software will be changed due to the influence of the Internet. This issue is currently being dealt with at the Institute for Media and Communications Management at the University of St. Gallen. The largest share of software is obtained today via specialized dealers. Information concerning the desired software is collected and the purchase is made at a software retailer. The acquired application is obtained generally using a CD-ROM or a floppy diskette. In addition, the software comes with manuals. The Internet serves at the present time mostly as a distribution channel for patches and bug fixes. There is however an indication that a shift in the distribution of software to the Internet is taking place since business transactions via telematic infrastructures have significant advantages. Software is available in digital format as is the case with transmitted data. Thereby no more media breaches are taking place. Microsoft intends for example to distribute its office software package via the Internet. With respect to online distribution today, the size of the application and the available bandwidth are potential obstacles. For example, the transfer of Microsoft Word via a modem would take 90 minutes whereas 30 minutes would be required using ISDN. With future satellite transmission technology, the transfer could take place within six seconds . It can be assumed that platforms will be set up on the Internet which will serve as a basis for software retail, similar to how software is sold in stores nowadays. On the one hand, these platforms can serve the retailer as a means to present its assortment of goods. On the other hand, a model is imaginable in which the distributor makes his platform available to other software manufactures for a service fee.

Edition details

• Publisher: Igi Global
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 1878289500
• ISBN 13: 9781878289506
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 952