Discuss how e-commerce can reduce time cycle, improve employees’ empowerment and facilitate customer support.

In the business environment, traditionally there is a need for a tangible and permanent form of communication in a transaction between buyer and seller. However, in e-commerce there is the ability to communicate in an electronic form where a computer is able to recognize, reproduce and store means that business could now be conducted in a paperless environment. Electronic commerce is the process of trading across the Internet, that is, a buyer visits a seller's website and makes a transaction there.

E-commerce eliminates the traditional purchase approach, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Issuing purchase orders, obtaining multilevel approvals and tracing invoices can lead to high transaction costs. Internet procurement automates this process and helps companies increase the speed and reduce the cost of purchasing transactions. Orders will be placed electronically and the product will be produced and shipped out without the cost of middlemen. Perhaps most importantly, order status and inventory levels could be made available to both the seller and its customers. This should relieve the sales and customer-service departments of phone calls and e-mails to track orders and verify inventory levels. Cyber space can be an outstanding way to nurture the business revenue base.

Customers can reach a company on the Internet globally for 24 hours. It creates new markets and segments, allow customers to make wise purchasing decisions and increases business competitiveness. E-commerce would provide consumers with benefits such as interactive communications, fast delivery, and more customization that would only be available for consumers through online shopping. Product information in the Internet is more compact and it ranges from various sites. Users have more opportunity to choose and compare products they want to purchase or easily find and select specialized products.

Progressive leaders, such as those in many high-tech firms and Internet companies are less likely than traditional leaders to give specific instructions to employees. Rather, they’re more likely to empower employees to make decisions on their own. Empowerment means giving employees the authority (the right to make a decision without consulting the manager) and responsibility (the requirement to accept the consequences of one’s actions) to respond quickly to customer. The increasing use of computer to do routine tasks has shifted the kinds of skills needed for employees in the e-commerce industry. Employees are giving power to handle a variety of responsibilities, interact with customer and think creatively.

While the growth of the Internet is opening up new opportunities for e-commerce, however the limited understanding of e-commerce technology may leads to the cause of failure for the firms which start implementing doing their business online.