Dear BUS320 Class, Our first class discussion topic comes from Chapter 1 "The Revolution Is Just Beginning". Please watch the video case 1.1 below "The Importance of the Internet for E-commerce" and a

L: 2:46 case The Internet is one of the fundamental technologies powering all of e-commerce. Defned as a worldwide network of computer networks built on common standards, the Internet has become the foundation for all business in the modern world. Sending and receiving e-mail, completing fnancial transactions, purchasing retail goods, reading the news, and countless other tasks are now performed using the Internet. The Web is often mentioned synonymously with the Internet, but the two things are not the s ame. The Internet is a collection of computer networks, but the Web is a service that allows users to access information available on those networks, such as web pages. The Internet before the Web was used for text communications similar to instant messaging, fle transfers, and remote computing; the Internet after the Web opened up a world of new possibilities in addition to these baseline functions.

Copyright 2020 Kenneth C. Laudon and Carol Guercio Traver. This work is protected by United States copyright laws and is provided solely for the use of instructors in teaching their courses and assessing student learning. Dissemination or sale of any part of this work in any form, including online, for any other purpose is not permitted. This work should not be made available to students except by instructors using the accompanying text in their classes. All recipients of this work are expected to abide by these restrictions and to honor its pedagogical purpose.

E-commerce 2019: business. technology. society . KENNETH C. LAUDON AND CAROL G. TRAVER continued video case 1.1: THE IMPORTANCE OF THE INTERNET FOR E-COMMERCE 2 video case questions More than a billion computers and wireless devices are connected to the Internet at any given point in time, and many of these devices belong to businesses of all shapes and sizes.

The Internet, and by extension, the Web, have become indispensable for practically every business because of its importance in serving and retaining customers. Increasingly, the frst impression of a business that a prospective customer will have is on the Web. If a company’s website is fast and easy to use, customers will quickly be impressed. But if a company’s site is slow and information is difcult to locate, it will lose prospective customers just as fast.

While the Internet and the Web are two of the fundamental technologies behind e-commerce, the third pillar is the mobile platform. As wireless networks have improved and as smartphones and tablets have become more powerful and multi-functional, the mobile platform has usurped the desktop as the most common way to access the Internet and use the Web. But even on the mobile platform, web applications are still commonplace.

As the video describes, an overwhelming majority of businesses consider web applications critical to their ability to serve and retain mobile customers.

As the Internet has grown in size and activity, companies that specialize in the distribution of computing power and content have flled the growing needs of Internet users. One such company is Akamai, which posted the video used in this case on its YouTube channel.

Akamai is a cloud services provider and operator of a content delivery network used by nearly every Fortune 500 company with a global Internet presence. Akamai maintains servers around the world and ofers space on those servers to companies hoping to optimize their website speed by distributing content from areas closer to each user. The continued growth of the Internet is a boon to Akamai’s bottom line.

1. What are some examples cited in the video as to how a customer might use the Internet on a typical morning?

2. Why is a company’s web presence important for attracting and retaining new customers?

3. According to the video, how important are web applications? Copyright 2020 Kenneth C. Laudon and Carol Guercio Traver. This work is protected by United States copyright laws and is provided solely for the use of instructors in teaching their courses and assessing student learning. Dissemination or sale of any part of this work in any form, including online, for any other purpose is not permitted. This work should not be made available to students except by instructors using the accompanying text in their classes. All recipients of this work are expected to abide by these restrictions and to honor its pedagogical purpose.