Course Title- Management Information System Course Code-CIT-3303 Section- C

Report on E-service
Prepared For Syed Mustafizur Rahman Chowdhury
Lecturer, Department of Business Administration Northern university Bangladesh

Prepared By:
Towhidul Alam Shahrokh Akanda Sajal Kumar Singha BBA 110103944 BBA 090103109 BBA 090300991

Date of Submission: 23/07/2012

Table of Contents
S.N 1 2 3 4 Introduction What is E-service? Definition of different Writers Issue and Considerations Classification of E-service Challenges to E-services in the Developing World E-service benefits and costs Advantages of E-service Disadvantages of E-service E- Service in Bangladesh Impact of E- service Conclusion References Page No 3 4 5 6

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Introduction
Information Technology is a powerful tool for accelerating economic development. Developing countries have focused on the development of ICT during the last two decades and as a result, it has been recognized that ICT is critical to economy and is as a catalyst of economic Development. So, in recent years there seems to have been efforts for providing various e-services in many developing countries since ICT is believed to offer considerable potential for the sustainable development of e-Government and as a result, e-Services. Many government agencies in developed countries have taken progressive steps toward the web and ICT use, adding coherence to all local activities on the Internet, widening local access and skills, opening up interactive services for local debates, and increasing the participation of citizens on promotion and management of the territory. But the potential for eGovernment in developing countries remains largely unexploited, even though. ICT is believed to offer considerable potential for the sustainable development of eGovernment. Different human, organizational and technological factors, issues and problems pertain in these countries, requiring focused studies and appropriate approaches. ICT, in general, is referred to as an enabler, but on the other hand it should also be regarded as a challenge and a peril in itself. The organizations, public or private, which ignore the potential value and use of ICT may suffer pivotal competitive disadvantages. Nevertheless, some eGovernment initiatives have flourished in developing countries too, e.g. Brazil, India, Chile, etc. What the experience in these countries shows, is that governments in the developing world can effectively exploit and appropriate the benefits of ICT, but eGovernment success entails the accommodation of certain unique conditions, needs and obstacles. The adaptive challenges of eGovernment go far beyond technology, they call for organizational structures and skills, new forms of leadership, transformation of public-private partnerships. Since its conceptual inception in the late 1780s in Europe and formal introduction in 1993 by the US Government, the term E-Government has now become one of the recognized research domains especially in the context of public policy and now has been rapidly gaining strategic importance in public sector modernization. E-service is one of the branches of this domain and its attention has also been creeping up among the practitioners and researchers. E-Service (or eService) is a highly generic term, usually referring to The provision of services via the Internet (the prefix 'e' standing for electronic, as it does in many other usages), thus eService may also include e-Commerce, although it may also include non-commercial services (online), which is usually provided by the government. 'E-Service constitutes the online services available on the Internet, whereby a valid transaction of buying and selling (procurement) is possible, as opposed to the traditional websites, whereby only descriptive information are available, and no online transaction is made possible.' Fundamental for e-services is the use of an information system (IS) as a performer in the interaction between a service provider and customers. The significance of e-services is an emergent trend in the discipline of Information Systems, but the concept of service is not explicitly

described. The significance of e-services is an emergent trend in the discipline of Service Marketing, but the IT perspective is narrow.

What is E-service?
E-services is the use of an information system (IS) as a performer in the interaction between a service provider and customers.

According Rust and Lemon (2001) "E-Service is providing consumers with a superior experience with respect to the interactive flow of information." Rust and Kannan (2002) state that "E-Service can be defined as the provision of service over electronic networks such as the Internet" According to Goldkuhl & Persson (2006a), eService means that an external user (a citizen) interacts through a user interface of a public IT system based on web technology. The concept of E-service (short for electronic service), represents one prominent application of utilizing the use of Information and communication technologies (ICTs) in different areas. However, providing an exact definition of e-service is hard to come by as researchers have been using different definitions to describe e-service. Despite these different definitions, it can be argued that they all agree about the role of technology in facilitating the delivery of services which make them more of electronic services. Rowley (2006) approach who defines e-services as: deeds, efforts or performances whose delivery is mediated by information technology. Such e-service includes the service element of etailing, customer support, and service delivery. This definition reflects three main componentsservice provider, service receiver and the channels of service delivery (i.e., technology). For example, as concerned to public e-service, public agencies are the service provider and citizens as well as businesses are the service receiver. The channel of service delivery is the third requirement of e-service. Internet is the main channel of e-service delivery while other classic channels (e.g. telephone, call center, public kiosk, mobile phone, television) are also considered. E-Service is a benefit providing object of transaction that can be characterized as an intangible process that is at least partially produced, marketed and consumed in a simultaneous interaction through electronic networks. E-services, a business concept developed by Hewlett Packard (HP), is the idea that the World Wide Web is moving beyond e-business and e-commerce (that is, completing sales on the Web) into a new phase where many business services can be provided for a business or consumer using the Web. Some e-services, such as remote bulk printing, may be done at a Web site; other eservices, such as news updates to subscribers, may be sent to your computer. Other e-services will

be done in the background without the customer's immediate knowledge. HP defines e-services as "modular, nimble, electronic services that perform work, achieve tasks, or complete transactions." Using HP's e-services concept, any application program or information resource is a potential eservice and Internet service providers (ISPs) and other companies are logical distributors or access points for such services. The e-services concept also sees services being built into "cars, networked devices, and virtually anything that has a microchip in it." HP's vision is that IT departments will increasingly address their needs in a modular way so that individual modules can potentially be addressed by some e-service. E-services an umbrella term for services on the Internet. E-services include e-commerce transaction services for handling online orders, application hosting by application service providers (ASPs) and any processing capability that is obtainable on the Web.

Classification of E-service
The term E-service has many applications and can be found in many disciplines. The two dominant application areas of e-services are: E-Business (or E-Commerce): e-services mostly provided by businesses or Non-government Organizations (NGOs) (private sector). Business to Consumer(B2C) Business to Business(B2B) Business to Employee(B2E) Business to Government(B2G)

E-government: e-services provided by government to citizens or business (public sector is the supply side). The use and description of the e-service in this page will be limited to the context of e-government only where of the e-service is usually associated with prefix public: Public eservices. In some cases, we will have to describe aspects that are related to both fields like some conferences or journals which cover the concept of e-Service in both domains of e-government and e-business. Government to Citizen(G2C) Government to Business(G2B) Government to Employee(G2E) Government to Government(G2G)

Examples of some popular e-service

E-Ticket (Bus, air, train) E-Booking (hotel reservation) 5

E-learning E-banking/online banking E-taxation E-shopping

Challenges to E-services in the Developing World

The future of e-service is bright but some challenges remain. There are some challenges in eservice, as Sheth & Sharma (2007) identify, are:

Low penetration of ICT especially in the developing countries; Fraud on the internet space which is estimated around 2.8billion USD Privacy due the emergence of various types of spy ware and security holes, and Intrusive characteristics of the service (e.g. mobile phones based) as customers may not like to be contacted with the service providers at any time and at any place.

The first challenge and primary obstacle to the e-service platform will be penetration of the internet. In some developing countries, the access to the internet is limited and speeds are also limited. In these cases firms and customers will continue to use traditional platforms. The second issue of concern is fraud on the internet. It is anticipated that the fraud on the e-commerce internet space costs $2.8 billion. Possibility of fraud will continue to reduce the utilization of the internet. The third issue is of privacy. Due to both spy ware and security holes in operating systems, there is concern that the transactions that consumers undertake have privacy limitations. For example, by stealthily following online activities, firms can develop fairly accurate descriptions of customer profiles. Possibility of privacy violations will reduce the utilizations of the internet. The final issue is that e-service can also become intrusive as they reduce time and location barriers of other forms of contract. For example, firms can contact people through mobile devices at any time and at any place. Customers do not take like the intrusive behavior and may not use the e-service platform.

E-service benefits
Lu (2001) identifies a number of benefits for e-services, some of these are:

Accessing a greater customer base Faster Communication Broadening market reach Alternative communication channel to customers Increasing services to customers Enhancing perceived company image Gaining competitive advantage Potential for increasing customer knowledge

E-service cost factor

Some major cost factors are:

Expense of setting up applications Maintaining applications Internet connection Hardware/software Security concerns legal issues Training; and Rapid technology changes Extinguishing Paranormal Beings

Advantages of E-Services
E-services allow customers shop or conduct other business from their homes. The proliferation of the Internet and Web based technologies has increased new transactions for business and consumers known as e-services. These include a range of options for customers to shop, do banking, book hotel and car reservations and much more through websites. It's now possible to do virtually almost everything from your computer.

Less Manpower needed

The ability to shop from home predates the Internet. In the past consumers used mail orders from catalogues or shopped over the phone. Companies needed to employ people to manually process those orders. E-services now allow stores to offer online shopping where customers place their orders with a computer program, which instantly processes the order. While companies still need employees to package and prepare the order, e-services allow a company to accept more orders from customers with greater speed.

24/7 service availability

The Internet never sleeps. Internet users can access a website 24-hours a day, seven days a week. This means that e-services allow customers to place orders with a company's website at any time of the day or night. This is beneficial to consumers and the business providing the product or service.

Technical Support
While the ability to shop from home may predate e-services, this only allowed a customer to purchase physical products. E-services allow companies to provide technical services and 7

support so the consumer won't need to leave his computer. One such service is income tax preparation. Instead of going to an accounting office to work with an accountant, many companies offer customers the ability to pay for an online tool to help them prepare taxes. This gives the customers the convenience of doing these tasks whenever they wish, and lets the company collect revenue without having to pay an accountant to work personally with every customer.

Lower cost
E-service lower cost of both customer and service provider

Faster communication
The Internet provides faster communication and access to almost unlimited types of Information

Easy Account Management

E-services allow companies to simplify administrative tasks related to managing a customer's account. For example, many banks offer e-banking that allows customers to check their account balances, transfer money between accounts, apply for credit cards, and a variety of other procedures. Previously the customer needed to physically visit a branch location.

Disadvantages of E-service
Lack of Security

Security continues to be a problem for online services. Customers have to feel confident about the integrity of the payment process before they commit to the purchase.
System and Data Integrity

Data protection and the integrity of the system that handles the data are serious concerns. Computer viruses are rampant, with new viruses discovered every day. Viruses cause unnecessary delays, file backups, storage problems, and other similar difficulties. The danger of hackers accessing files and corrupting accounts adds more stress to an already complex operation.
System Scalability/slow down

A business develops an interactive interface with customers via a website. After a while, statistical analysis determines whether visitors to the site are onetime or recurring customers. If the company expects 2 million customers and 6 million shows up, website performance is bound to experience degradation, slowdown, and eventually loss of customers. To stop this problem from happening, a website must be scalable, or upgradeable on a regular basis.

Ecommerce is not free

So far, success stories in ecommerce have forced large business with deep pockets and good funding. According to a report, small retailers that go headtohead with ecommerce giants are fighting losing battle. As in the brickandmortar environment, they simply cannot compete on price or product offering. Brand loyalty is related to this issue, which is supposed to be less important for online firms. Brands are expected to lower search costs, build trust, and communicate quality. A search engine can come up with the best music deals, for example, yet consumers continue to flock to trusted entities such as HMV.
Consumer Search is not efficient or Costeffective

On the surface, the electronic marketplace seems to be a perfect market, where worldwide sellers and buyers share and trade without intermediaries. However, a closer look indicates that new types of intermediaries are essential to ecommerce. They include electronic malls that guarantee legitimacy of transactions. All these intermediaries add to transaction costs.
Customer Relations Problems

Not many businesses realize that even ebusiness cannot survive over the long term without loyal customers.
Products People won't buy online

Imagine a website called furniture.com or living.com, where venture capitalists are investing millions in selling home furnishings online. In the case of a sofa, you would want to sit on it, feel the texture of the fabric etc. Beside the sofa test, online furniture stores face costly returns which make the product harder to sell online.
Corporate Vulnerability

The availability of product details, catalogs, and other information about a business through its website makes it vulnerable to access by the competition. The idea of extracting business intelligence from the website is called web framing.
High Risk of Internet Startup

Many stories unfolded in 1999 about successful executives in established firms leaving for Internet startups, only to find out that their getrich dream with a dot.com was just that a dream.

E-Service in Bangladesh
Bangladesh is a developing country and its e-services are just moved from its initial stage to developing stage because still the peoples are Bangladesh are not aware of using Internet. Only

some people, if we put them in exclusive group for example officials, students and some other literate persons can use Internet. Therefore accessibility, accountability, and transparency are three most important parts of e-service, they are still not achieved due to unavailability of internet in rural areas, lacking in ICTs infrastructure. The national site not provides only information to citizens but also provides some necessary forms to download but they are not in an interactive manner to citizen. In twentieth century we have witnessed an extensive growth of internet based services in our every sphere of life. The use of information technology has been a core element using by the government as a communication way to its citizen. E-services delivery is present in developing countries but the erudition is still in immaturity level. Most local governments only provide published information and downloadable forms. Most local government sites provide only one way communications. All are still at the basic level of publishing information online. Before implementing and developing any e-services, the authorities should know the expectation to the service from the users and it is also important to know the usability of the e-service in order to develop it with more usability function so that the users will satisfy by using the service. This study is designed to take descriptive look at whether three e-services of Bangladesh government are perceived usable by the citizens. The studies focused on the current usability level of the three e-services and also find out the citizens expectation from those services. The overall conclusion is about the usability level of the e-services, expectations from the citizens, and suggesting the usability criteria to make the e-service more usable.

E-service centers open in 64 districts

The nation moved one step forward towards 'Digital Bangladesh' as district e-service centres were inaugurated simultaneously in 64 districts across the country on Monday,
E-Post:

Bangladesh Post Office introduced Electronic Mail Service in the name of E-Post from 16 Aug 2000. ePost service enables people to send and receive messages or scanned images through email from these Post Offices in the country. For the first time in the country, people who would not normally have access to internet would be able to send and receive e-mail messages without possessing an e-mail id thereby bridging the digital divide in the arena of public communication systems. Now the service is available in our 16 Head Post offices, namely Dhaka GPO, Chittagong GPO, Sylhet HPO, Moulavibazar HPO, Feni HPO, Comilla HPO, Noakhali HPO, Mymensingh HPO, Jessore HPO, Kushtia HPO, Barisal HPO, Bogra HPO and Sirajgonj HPO ZIA. International Airport Post Office.

Bangladesh Bank eTender System

Bangladesh Bank introduces the online tendering system to facilitate the procurement process of Bangladesh Bank. The system will help you to participate in the local and international tender/procurement of Bangladesh Bank.

Other online servicesOnline application for passport, online banking, online shopping, online registration for university Admission etc.
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Impacts of E-service
Impacts on Individuals Rights and Privacy as more and more companies and government agencies use technology to collect, store, and make accessible data on individuals, privacy concerns have grown. Some companies monitor their employees' computer usage patterns in order to assess individual or workgroup performance. Technological advancements are also making it much easier for businesses, government and other individuals to obtain a great deal of information about an individual without their knowledge. There is a growing concern that access to a wide range of information can be dangerous within politically corrupt government agencies. Impact on Jobs and Workplaces - in the early days of computers, management scientists anticipated that computers would replace human decision-makers. However, despite significant technological advances, this prediction is no longer a mainstream concern. At the current time, one of the concerns associated with computer usage in any organization (including governments) is the health risk such as injuries related to working continuously on a computer keyboard. Government agencies are expected to work with regulatory groups in order to avoid these problems. Potential Impacts on Society despite some economic benefits of ICT to individuals, there is evidence that the computer literacy and access gap between the haves and have-nots may be increasing. Education and information access are more than ever the keys to economic prosperity, yet access by individuals in different countries is not equal - this social inequity has become known as the digital divide. Impact on Social Interaction advancements in ICT and e-Technology solutions have enabled many government functions to become automated and information to be made available online. This is a concern to those who place a high value on social interaction. Information Security - technological advancements allow government agencies to collect, store and make data available online to individuals and organizations. Citizens and businesses expect to be allowed to access data in a flexible manner (at any time and from any location). Meeting these expectations comes at a price to government agencies where it concerns managing information more specifically, ease of access; data integrity and accuracy; capacity planning to ensure the

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timely delivery of data to remote (possibly mobile) sites; and managing the security of corporate and public information.

Conclusion
We are currently witnessing an evolution of Internet technologies that is going to bring electronic services (e-services) into everyday life and transform the way enterprises conduct electronic business (e-business). In the near future, a few years according to some authors almost everything may be an e-service, available from a Web site (e.g., e-service portal) or from anything having a microchip in it (e.g., car, phone, TV, or fridge), and delivered through a pervasive infrastructure. Todays monolithic systems will give way to dedicated e-services that can be dynamically combined in order to achieve high-level tasks. In the last years, alternative ways to the traditional service providing have been introduced, taking advantage of the latest advances in information and communication technologies: e-government for public administration services, e-commerce as an alternative to classic retail, e-education or long distance education for those students that time and location dont allow them to attend traditional classes, multimedia centers and virtual libraries for those looking to enrich their cultural knowledge on demand, remote working that allows employees to perform their tasks from their home office. Is not a news anymore that the Internet and the advanced technology has influenced the way in which we perform our daily tasks, the way we live, the way we do business, the way we shop, the way we learn, the way we communicate and the way in which we spend our spare time. The alternatives to the traditional service providing, offer flexibility, speed and innovation. Usability is one of the main issues that have to be addressed with the introduction of electronic services. Usability is an issue due to individuals diversity and the need to operate a computer to access electronic services. In order to increase usability, existing quality standards for products and services need to be adapted to provide means to assess assure and improve the quality of eservices.

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References

http://www.e-service.co.uk/ http://www.ehow.com/info_8524245_advantages-eservices.html#ixzz21LvQ3Wrt http://www.acorntechcorp.com/SB/Acorn_SB2.pdf http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~registrar/general/eservice http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Services http://www.irs.gov/taxpros/article/0,,id=109646,00.html http://www.eservices.joburg.org.za/joburg/eservices#clkCntrl Rowley, J. (2006) An analysis of the e-service literature: towards a research agenda. Internet Research, 16 (3), 339-359 Sba.gov: United States Small Business Administration - http://sba.gov/ The Era of e-service, Roland T. Rust and P.K. Kannan, E-Service: new directions in theory and practice ME Sharpe INC, 2002, pp. 3-21 Lu, J. (2001). Measuring cost/benefits of e-business applications and customer satisfaction, Proceedings of the 2nd International Web Conference, 2930 November, Perth, Australia, 139-47. A. Tiwana, B. Ramesh, E-services: problems, opportunities, and digital platforms Proceedings of the 34th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-34)-Volume 3, 3-6 Jan. 2001.

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