Hardware and Software in the M-commerce and E-commerce world

Being aware of new and old hardware and software can help a small business act like a large firm. Using proper software and hardware can make the difference in how you handle customers, their information, and how a business markets itself.

1. Customer Care Cards -- Basically these are scannable, refillable, and swipeable cards with magnetic strips. These cards can be stored on one’s smart phone. Much like the “Gold card” for starbucks, these cards are used to keep track of loyal customers and to reward them with perks like free refills. Also, these cards act as Personal information managers which store data on purchasing habits and customer info. (1)
2. Self Serve POS-- Point of Sale systems allow People to order things for themselves. Using a touch screen and graphics--venues can have customers placing their orders and paying without ever having to talk to a human(2). Additionally, these systems can be hooked up to mobile apps so customers can order online or from their phones.
3. Display Monitor- The Self Serve POS would be nothing without proper display. Allowing information to be displayed on a monitor or on one’s phone allows for m-commerce and E-commerce to function.
4. Online Call Center-- Websites like grasshopper.com allow small business to appear large and professional. One can set up a calling number, a personalized answer, different lines for people to call and extensions for employees. Additionally, grasshopper will save all your incoming messages and turn the call data into usable output for managers and employees. All this information can be accessed online or on their phones with a mobile grasshopper app.
5. Applications- Applications allow small businesses to enter into the smart phone market. This helps a business sell, buy, and inform its customers over the internet and on their phones. It also makes a business seem legitimate and professional.
6. Tablet Computers- In some restaurants, tablets have replaced menus and are being given to waiters to show pictures of food. Additionally, they can display purchase orders, calories in a meal, and quickly add customer information to a client database.

Fishing, Polls, and Gadgets

I added fun gadgets that will entertain and draw in readers. I used a gadget which displays fish which anyone can view, feed, and corral with a mouse pointer. I also added a poll to see which readers were being active in the blog posts.

Setting this up was extremely easy.

HOW TO SET UP YOUR FISHING POND:

1. Sign into your Google account
2. Go to the top of the page and click 'more", find blogger and then click it
3. Scroll down and click your blog.
4. Click 'Layout"
5. then look the right of the page, there should be a hyperlink that says "add Gadget", click that.
6. Go to 'popular' gadgets on the left, or search for 'fish'
7. Add it (after you customize which colors you want for your fish and how many you want).
8. Then find the gadget in the layout (probably on the right side of the layout)
9. Drag it into the main screen above or below your post.
10. Save layout, and view blog. TADA!!! Fish pond.

Repeat the steps for the poll but just search for 'poll' instead of 'fish'

Enjoy!

The Peoples Facebook

 The People's Facebook

 

People may think that, on Facebook, “my update is MY update”. But, they would be wrong. When one updates their Facebook status or their twitter feed or even their pinterest--the world watches. This problem of Facebook owning our information, rather than us owning it is wrong.

Our information is valuable, so much so that according to Gary Kovacs, the CEO of the Mozilla Corporation, tracking our behavior online is “Very big business”. At over a Billion dollars a year, people are paying Facebook and many other behavioral tracking websites to know what we like, or dislike.

Now, not all information sharing is bad. In fact, it’s great when a website can suggest things to me based on my taste. But when a company holds my information, they can do whatever they want with it. That is why I suggest we make an alternative to Facebook. This alternative will be owned by those users who occupy the site. We will all have a share and stake of the website and we will be paid to sell our information to behavioral tracking websites.

Its simple. Our information is being sold and we do not benefit from it, at least not via monetary compensation. A people’s Facebook will benefit society by putting our information in our own hands and it will add value to our shopping experience. That is, marketers will know the information is accurate because it is in the users’ best interest to keep it accurate.

About The Author

 About the Author

 

Please answer the following questions by starting a new topic.

1. What is your major?

Marketing

2. What operating system do you have on your computer?

Windows 7

3. Do you have the right to upgrade the software on your computer?

Yup

4. What Internet and computer related courses have you already taken and what are your usual activities on the Internet (Facebook, email, chats, etc.)?

I haven't taken any courses for computers. However, I am familiar with twitter, chat, facebook, Odesk, some HTML, email, some microsoft office, some mac shortcuts, firefox, chrome, and IE, also I use rockmelt fairly often.

5. Have you taken online courses before?

Yes, we used moodle, So using it again provides some form of comfort.

6. Do you have MS Office on your computer? If yes, which version?

Yes, Office 2010

7. Do yo work anywhere now?

I do some consulting work for Mint Consignment NJ, with they're shopify account.

8. When do you graduate?

May 2014

9. Add anything you want about your interests, skills, job projects, etc. that might help the instructor and students understand you and your computer/Internet skills and interests better.

I've always been good with computers. Though, I would like to be a bit better. I have a friend who is studying to do IT work and security for Xerox. He shows me a couple of neat things with my computer and other linux OS's.

My brother has always been a huge nerd when it comes to computers, but instead of mocking him for it, I use this to my advantage. He has taught me how to format, download, upload, connect drives, and do many other things on multiple OS's.

Though I know more than most when it comes to computers, luckily there is always more to learn and I would enjoy learning more in this class. Specifically about connecting network drives. For some reason I'm having issues with maintaining connections between laptops on my network and I'd like to figure out why this is occurring.

10. What are your hobbies or what do you like to do outside of school and work ?

I enjoy reading. I like my PS3. I spend time traveling, learning, and exploring with my girlfriend. Hopefully I will be working for Alex Olbrecht at the Eastern Economic Association here at Ramapo, this coming September.

I have been a photographer since highschool. I play guitar( not well, but i can get around). And I enjoy TED talks.

Artificial Intelligence, Computer's saying "checkmate" and Computer diagnosing humans.

While reading through the book fundamentals of Information Systems, one subject caught my attention and drew me in. That is, I was fascinated by Expert Systems, which is a way for humans , companies, and governments to save precious experience, and specific skills which may be lost if the human which posses said information, dies. 

 Human beings have always been looking for ways to save and preserve their knowledge, from the first papyrus scroll, to the inscriptions in the tomb of a Pyramid. However, now, we actually have a way of saving skills and experience in remote locations. 

For web MD, the knowledge and diagnosis of a doctor can be gathered from their "easy diagnosis(1)" engine. Rather than using an expensive doctors visit, patients and visitors to the website can find out what their issue is from the comfort of their own home. Web MD--Using symptoms, gender, age, and descriptions of yourself--will diagnose your problem. Though Web MD may not be the most reliable expert system, it is still a step forward for the medical world and for information systems.  Perhaps, one day, we will cut costs of healthcare by using  Expert systems to diagnose patients.

Now, in similar fashion, diagnosing a patient is sort of like chess. There are pieces to the puzzle(symptoms) which the player must recognize and then create an appropriate plan of action towards success. For a doctor, that is a healthy patient. For Chess, that is a check mate. For Rybka(2), a computer based chess playing information system--using past experiences, games played, and all available content on chess-- makes Rybka, another step forward for Information Systems, programmers, and chess enthusiast.  Rybka doesn't use abstract thought to make its decisions, it uses programming, algorithms, and raw processing power to discover what available moves are allowed for her game and which ones have the highest chance of success. Imagine, a computer which can beat a man in chess, that is what Rybka is programmed to do. If Rybka were a person, and she passed away, her information would be lost. Luckily, her information can always be saved as binary. 

Speaking of Rybka, this program would be nothing without its knowledge base, which is a collection of data rules, procedures and relationships that must be followed to achieve value or the proper outcome. In Rybka's case, that is a check mate. But for the army, the outcome is bringing troops home from a mission. The U.S. Army uses Knowledge and Information Fusion Exchange (KnIFE). According to www.corpsman.com "US Joint Forces Command's (USJFCOM) Joint Center for Operational Analysis (JCOA) Knowledge and Information Fusion Exchange (KnIFE) went operational in June 2008 and is designed to help warfighters rapidly adapt to improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on a constantly changing battlefield and provide information to units preparing for deployment. (3)"If we relied on pen and paper, we could potentially lose soldiers when we don't need to. This helps our men and women in uniform come home safe. 

Clearly, Expert Systems are helpful for humans. We no longer have to be worried about our knowledge dying off with us. It can live on inside computers. Expert Systems help us create new worlds. One day we may not need doctors to diagnose and treat or soldiers to plan our battles. However, we will need humans to create, invent, and use abstract thought to bring us to new conclusions. Although, perhaps one day we will have an Expert System which can accomplish this as well. It's a brave new world, and Expert systems are leading us to it.

1. Web MD, Easy Diagnosis 2012  http://symptoms.webmd.com/default.htm#./introView

2. Rybka Chess Program http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6381

3. Knife description : http://www.corpsman.com/forum/showthread.php?29043-USJFCOM-KnIFE-for-IED-D

Shopify.com-- an all-in-one information system E-commerce solution

Shopify.com at a glance

Shopify is a superb example of what a great e-commerce provider can do for small or large businesses.

By allowing users to pick from easy to customize website templates, small businesses can create an online presence for themselves quickly and easily. They provide 30 days of free service and charge affordable rates ranging from $29 a month to $150 based on a stores sales traffic.

Shopify hosts and stores all content necessary for selling items online. They help with creating mobile friendly versions of your website and for a nominal fee will even help you create and connect a mobile app to your website. Allowing your business to branch out into M-commerce as well as E-commerce.

Additionally, Shopify gathers information about users, visitors, and buyers who go to your website. Shopify also offers secure sales and storage of customer information. They save the data in an easy to access database and turn it into information with their easy to understand "information output section". Rather than only providing users with data, shopify creates charts, lists, and histories. They save IP addresses, visiting time, and daily revenue as well as many other metrics to see where your website can use help or is succeeding.

Input for Shopify.com

Shopify stores information on who views, buys, and shares your website by reading the webserver log files. They also allow e-commerce stores to create a database of sell-able items.Additionally, shopify.com allows customers to email and provide feedback to store owners. All communication can be saved in your store's account. 

Shopify also tracks where people are finding your website. They see the search terms which lead a viewer to your page and on average how many pages a person views before purchasing or leaving the website. This important feature allows a business owner to see which metadata is effective and which is not. 

Processing for Shopify.com

All the data which shopify collects is almost useless until it is compiled into workable information. The shopify database processes all this information and then creates a helpful output for Managers. The processing aspect of shopify uses statistics, based number of sales, revenue, revenue earned per item, visits, time spent browsing, location of viewers and many other equations to create useful information.

Output for Shopify.com 

Shopify's draws processed data from the shopify.com database to create useful graphs, charts, and suggestions to see where changes may be made to a user's website. The website owner, team members, and managers can access these statistics and track progress. Allowing the enterprise to reach its goals. However, if the enterprise is not reaching its goals, shopify provides these metrics and aids to get the business on track. It is in shopify's best interest that stores stay open because then they have continued subscription fees. Which means the information they provide users is realiable, accurate and useful.  

Feedback for Shopify.com

Shopify's feedback provides managers and owners with the tools to reach their goals or, as previously stated, to create course corrections so that they may reach their goals. Shopify.com has an incredible customer service team which helps you out if your store is in trouble. If there is something that confuses store owners, either the human resources or the information provided by the e-commerce database output will guide the store to success. Shopify.com provides start-ups, brick and mortar stores, and e-commerce ventures with a viable solution for creating e-commerce based revenue and online presence.

Thanks!
Thanks for reading! All comments and questions are welcome.