E-commerce can reduce cycle time, improve employees' empowerment and facilitate customer support

E-Commerce is the exchange of business information using electronics formats, including Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). It is a technology designed to enable individual and companies to sell or purchase the products or services through a faster, more efficient and reliable communications between computers.

Most e-commerce studies cite speed and convenience as the reason for the e-commerce upsurge. E-commerce obliterates the barriers that have long propped up traditional retailing. It has brought various benefits and we will discuss some of them below.

E-commerce can help to reduce the cycle time by creating a fast and direct system without wasting any valuable time. Cycle time is the total time from the beginning to the end of a business process. An example would be the total time spent by receiving a customer order, preparing invoices or receipts, preparing and delivering products or services. E-commerce potentially increases the speed of operation by many ways such as reducing the phone calling and snail mailing that used to be ways in traditional business. It is costly to keep a physical store open 24 hours a day. Hence, e-commerce is a cost saving way with web sites that are always open. Comparison-shopping is also a breeze because all shops are just a click away. Through e-commerce, customers are provided with convenience, low cost, high speed, desired customization, personalization and communities that will certainly reduce cycle time. Besides that, e-commerce also enhances the interaction and relationship between the suppliers and customers.

Employees are very important human resource in all organization because they are able to contribute many creative ideas. Empowerment is the process of enabling or authorizing an individual to think, behaves, take action, and control work and decision making in autonomous ways. It is the state of feeling self-empowered to take control of one’s own destiny. Through e-commerce, employees are given the authority to make decision for customers. They have more flexibility to access information for example internet, intranet, ED and other access to global regulations and latest information. Through e-commerce, employees are able to be alert of the complaints and to handle the complaints instantaneously and efficiently. In the other way, employees can work wherever and whenever they like because everything is done through online. This will increase their flexibility and productivity. Employee empowerment can increase employees’ motivation, job satisfaction and loyalty to the organization.

Customer is the main profit sources for all organizations. Therefore, every organization should design some strategies to retain their customers by satisfying their needs. E-commerce has been used by many organizations to facilitate customer support because it can provide unlimited shopping hours for customers to place their order as it is run on a 24 hours basis. Besides, it also provides a range of technological solutions and communication opportunities to fulfill different customers’ requirements. In most e-commerce web sites, customers can always get “Frequent Asked Questions” which contains the frequently asked questions together with the answers. Apart from this, customers are able to locate the company’s information in the web site. For example, they can write any complaint or feedback to the company through e-mails. By enabling customers to find detailed information online, customer service can be greatly improved.

In conclusion, e-commerce plays more and more important role in nowadays world as it brought us a variety of benefits. Therefore, we must make use of it wisely around the globe.