Potential Disadvantages of an Online Business Presence
In this task I am going to describe the potential disadvantages of an online presence and give examples of businesses that may suffer such problems. I am also going to identify and describe the potential difficulties that a business may come across when implementing it e-business operations and the considerations on the desired timescale of change. Potential disadvantages of an online presence Problems relating to exposure When a website goes online it immediately exposes to the wider world. Some of the exposure is good as it attracts new customers and new markets.
On other circumstances the exposures can be problematic, for the reasons I am going to explain bellow. Hostile chatrooms and negative publicity is one of the disadvantages. An online business presence can irritate its customers by poor deliveries, uncompetitive prices and late deliveries. Customers can give negative publicity using chatrooms. A business can find itself under attack in several chatrooms because the public can communicate and express themselves more easily online and to a far wider audience. An Example of business that may suffer such problem is laptopsdirect.
co. uk because it offers poor delivery. The customer fears over payment security and unfamiliar trading conditions over the internet makes a disadvantage of an online presence. Customers are worried to give credit card details online because of fraudsters. Also the customers are worried if they know what to do to buy online. But the media helped the customers to give information and advice how to buy online and recommendations that they use well known stores for security. But new customers prefer buy in local stores instead of buy online.
Also if a customer does not have a credit card, it makes a disadvantage to a business operating online. The problems of defamation are another disadvantage. People can defame a website by saying or writing something untrue or true about the website. If is untrue people may be breaking the law. Also people can publish something on the internet or print off from it. These are the ways which a website may suffer from defamation. The most defamation is from the strong competition which has more power. Examples of websites that may suffer from defamation are laptopsdirect.
co. uk and dabs. com. The last potential disadvantage relating to exposure is the inability to cope with massively increased marked interest. If an online presence website has too many people trying using it simultaneously it can result in the site crashing. This means that the enquiries cannot be answered quickly or the orders cannot be filled because there is few staff to process them. The online presence can lose customers and there is chance that they never contact it again in the future. An online presence that may suffer such problem are zonepoint. co. uk
Vulnerability to hostile attack Large businesses are threatened by phishing, spoof websites or denial of service attacks. Small businesses are more vulnerable to staff misuse of company websites and lack of care in relation of security. But all businesses are threatened by the virus. Businesses can suffer from DOS attacks and other cybercrimes. A DOS attack occurs when a website is overwhelmed with data in a short time. Nowadays websites suffer more from hacking. Hacking is when a person gains authorised access to a computer for the purpose of stealing information.
Cybercrime and DOS attacks cost billions of pounds for businesses. ISP collapses is another disadvantage. Online Businesses presences are dependent upon their ISP stay online. The Internet access can be lost if a system develops a technical fault. This can create huge problems for businesses if the website is “down” for a long period of time. Some examples of online businesses presences that are regularly “down” are pc-wizards. co. uk and maccentre. com Potential unpopularity with staff When people develop an online presence it can create worry and anxiety for staff.
Staff may be concerned that their jobs may change. New staff will be needed with specific skills such as managing the website and keep-up-to date. Also the jobs and the working methods of existing will change. Existing staff will need to learn new skills, dealing with customer queries online, and ways of working. To perform an online presence, staff will need to adapt new skills to their jobs. If the adaptation fails it can create a disadvantage to the online presence. Financial uncertainties This section covers the disadvantages relating to money.
The major disadvantage is to having an expensive online presence which brings few financial benefits. The initial investment cost is very important. An online presence will require extensive hardware, sep-up costs (ISP charge), staff training and marketing and promotion costs. This cost large amount of money. The first stages of an online presence are very feeble as they require to invest lot of money to set up the business. But then, if the customers cope with the business, it would bring many financial benefits. Then the online presence can think about improving the services and the website.
In conclusion, the initial investments of a new online business presence are a disadvantage as they will require to invest a large amount of money to set-up the business. Potential pitfalls associated with e-business implementation When an online business presence goes online there is a big risk not having the right staff, budget, equipment and time. Without these, the business will fail the customer demands. It is very important that an online presence creates a website that stays competitive and helps the business.
