SMEs Providing a Service

The electronic enabling of the supply chain has facilitated the exchange of electronic integration, automation and collaboration of documents and information. These are the key elements for communication between SMEs and organizations. EC has affected our daily transactions from the way phone bills are paid and banking is done to booking holidays and buying books. In this briefing we will review an EC process in an SME service industry. The service industry process is one of pure EC where no digital or physical commodities apply. aspire are a pure EC SME that provide a consultancy service and support through their website.

aspire Marketing is a small SME based in Cork that employ 4 people. It was founded in 1995 by Simon O'Keefe, aspire Marketing provides marketing management services for owner-managers. aspire creates marketing processes that allow clients to focus on their core business while still retaining control over their marketing policy. Monthly Marketing meetings are held with aspire and their clients, but the remainder of the business is conducted through the Internet or by phone. This enables clients to keep track of what is happening throughout the month by logging onto the website and accessing meeting minutes and agendas, working progress, budgets, reports, and other project schedules. aspire has developed a business which is not dependent on physical proximity to their premises; the support and service are virtually delivered. The target audience for the site is owner-managers and managing directors who want to avoid the time-consuming demands of marketing, while at the same time leveraging marketing knowledge to the maximum. The website plays a vital role in developing and managing relationships with clients. The audience for the site is divided into existing clients, who want to use the site to track the work that aspire have been doing for them, and visitors, where the site acts as a marketing tool to attract new business. Sections of the web site are restricted to member clients only by means of their own private web space that is password protected.

Prospective clients can see the kinds of services offered, while also being given access to a private area for 'viewing', where there are samples of typical client documents. Prospective clients are shown solutions that have been developed for clients in the 'ideas' and 'reference' sections while the 'people' section introduces the staff and also acts as a recruitment page. Technologically innovative use of the "interalianet" has allowed them to set up new relationships with clients. Embracing technology has allowed aspire to provide effective and efficient means of meeting and informing clients and discussing issues with them. Everyone in the company deals with clients electronically.

Future of aspire

Client's use of the site has gone from nothing to being a weekly point of interaction. The website becoming a space for meeting clients casually. Presently, all business is with Irish clients, aspire are currently in discussion with a German advertising company to try and possibly attempt to set up a joint venture, (Enterprise Ireland, 2001).

Service Fulfilment

Service Fulfilment is the successful handling of a business service aimed towards customers. Companies offer different types of services in order to accommodate customer needs:

• Providing registered customers with a full compliment of products and services, support, news update differentiates your loyal customers from the general public.
  
• Provide registered members with live chat groups, to rectify problems of common interest.
  
• Providing a transparent order tracking system, where customers can go online at any time and track the status of an order.
  
• Providing a personalized shopping system e.g. making available an online shopping basket in order for the purchasing process for users to be more user-friendly.
  
• Online customer service, this will enables customers to e-mail queries directly to the technical support section of the company.
  
• Customised support service. When a customer logs into the site they are presented with a list of services they have purchased and associate support relevant to those services.
  
• A secure payment process gives your customers confidence to order.

Making payment over the web

B2B sales are growing rapidly on the Internet and there are benefits for e-commerce transactions involving multiple buyers and sellers, logistics and inspection being fully integrated online for greater efficiency. Escrow.com is an online service that protects buyers and sellers from fraudulent transactions.

When Buyers and Sellers don't know each other, they need a third-party they can trust to turn to. Escrow.com ensures transactions are secure and worry-free, they are the single point of contact to track and manage all aspects of the transaction, even third-party suppliers. It gives customers the confidence to buy and sell online. Buyers receive and inspect the merchandise before the seller is paid. The seller receives payment if the buyer accepts the merchandise/service.
This is a highly reliable Internet settlement solution that:

• Automates legal contracts.
• Collects and disperses funds.
• Tracks and confirms performance of all participants.
• Proactively sequences business steps.

Escrow.com helps to provide some of the most comprehensive and successful settlement solutions and services currently available for e-commerce. Simultaneously, they're preparing themselves and others for the aggressive and exponential growth of e-business in the future.

Paypal is another example of a service provided for making and receiving secure payments through the Internet. The above methods mentioned are an excellent medium for securely purchasing online. Escrow proves to be a better third party payment service as opposed to Paypal due to its cheaper applied rates, international support and verification on delivery for products and funds. It's worth checking out the different services and applied rates.

Credit Cards.
Three basic areas of security need to be considered by a business accepting credit cards from customers over the Internet:

• Getting the customer's credit card data to the web site in an acceptably secure manner.
  
• Protecting the credit card information from theft.
  
• Passing credit card data to the processor in a secure manner.

For example, E-commerce transactions on Visa cards continue to grow at a higher rate than physical world sales and while there is no doubt that the number and value of e-commerce transactions are increasing, it is also clear that cardholder concerns over security prevent the market from fulfilling its true potential. Consumers want the convenience of online shopping with the same security protections that exist in the physical world.
The single biggest barrier to online shopping is the need for authentication - providing proof that a genuine cardholder and genuine merchant are taking part in the transaction.

Visa is working with banks and retailers around the world to launch "Verified by Visa" (Fig 5.5)

Fig 5.5

"Verified by Visa" service will enable financial institutions that issue Visa cards to confirm a cardholder's identity for a merchant during the virtual checkout process. Enabling merchants to verify card holder's identity puts another barrier between criminals and cardholder information. Verified by Visa enhances existing Visa cards so that they can be used more safely for online shopping. Using a personal password, Visa cardholders can verify that they are indeed the authentic card holder when making a transaction. This is likely to be the method used by all the major credit card issuers and since credit card is one of the means of payment used by SMEs, it is of particular reference to them.

Bank of Ireland - Business online (BOL)

BOL- Bank of Ireland's new internet-based banking service for business, has been developed in order to give Irish businesses control and flexibility in carrying out financial transactions. Embracing the very latest internet technology, BOL provides online access to accounts and offers many additional benefits over previous electronic banking systems. BOL is a highly advanced service and is unique in the Irish market. It responds to individual business requirements by offering three levels of banking service that accommodate users with different banking requirements,

• Level 1: Standard Domestic Banking Needs
• Level 2: Domestic and Cross-Border Payments
  
• Level 3: Comprehensive Electronic Banking and Treasury Service