C-commerce or collaborative commerce is a new development in e-commerce which means the application and use of electronic technology in almost all aspects of the business. C-commerce can be defined as “The methods, in which enterprises interact electronically to plan, design, build, buy, sell, distribute, and support goods and services.” (Collaborative Commerce: Definition. 2007).
C-commerce plays an important role in the success of business in today’s world of cut-throat competition where technology is the key element. It also helps in the exchange of ideas business between the employees and between different departments within the same organization. “A portal is a form of web technology which is also known as portal technology.” (Soon 2005).
A corporate portal (also called an enterprise portal or enterprise information portal) is an arrangement or system which enables the company to communicate with the people inside as well as outside the organization by way of a website. In other words, it is the website of a company that provides everything about almost all the aspects of the company. There are different types of corporate portals like a customer portal, supplier portal, employees portal, managers portal, partners portal…etc. Also, there is a portal called collaborative portal which is used for the collaboration of different activities. A corporate portal helps the companies in implementing collaborative commerce, thereby saving money and time. The c-commerce and corporate portals are closely related. If the company wants to buy something, it can order electronically with the help of a supplier portal. The selling of the company’s product can be done with the help of customer portals. When the company interacts with its customers electronically, that is applying collaborative commerce; it results in saving of money as well as time. Supply chain management can be done effectively with the wise use of c-commerce and corporate portals. Collaborative commerce helps in exchanging information between customers, suppliers, and other business organizations. Collaborative computing involves grid computing and a vendor-managed inventory system. Grid computing “is a form of distributed computing that involves coordinating and sharing computing, application, data, storage, or network resources across dynamic and geographically dispersed organizations”. Vendor-managed inventory (VMI) system refers to “the practice of retailers making suppliers responsible for determining when to order and how much to order.” (Vendor Managed Inventory. 2006).
If the company has a well-designed and competitive corporate portal, grid computing and VMI can be done effectively. Collaborative commerce and corporate portals help the company in planning and implementing different activities of the business. Business research and new implementation can be done effectively with the help of corporate portals because the parties who are interested in the organization will be keeping in touch with the company by way of the company’s website. The security problems and privacy issues that may arise while implementing collaborative commerce can be overcome with the help of efficient powerful corporate portals. The different areas where the corporate portal acts as a useful tool include, interacting with customers, security, project management, research…etc. In collaborative commerce, there may be an online meeting between parties who may or may not be part of the company. Enterprise Information Portals (EIP) act as an efficient mediator in such online meetings. “The implementation of EIP in terms of application degree, implementation type, integration ability, and users of EIP, will significantly influence e-business performance.” (Yang, Yang, Ming and Wu 2005, p.348-368).
To conclude, to be successful in this era of competition, the collaborative commerce technique should be implemented with the full support of the enterprise portals as they are closely related to each other.
Bibliography
Collaborative Commerce: Definition. (2007). Web.
SOON, Lisa. (2005). A Comparative Study Corporate Information Portals and Corporate Knowledge Portals. Introduction. Web.
Vendor Managed Inventory. (2006). Electronic Commerce. Web.
YANG, Shu Min., YANG, Ming Hsien., and WU, Ji Tsung Ben. (2005). The Impact of Establishing Enterprise Information Portals on E-business Performance: Findings. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 105 (3), 349-368. Web.