This is the final assessment in this module, where you post to your blog. Please keep your blog live until July 2010, in case the external examiners need to view it.

Personalisation:

I would have to be for personalisation, after using Facebook and now iGoogle as my homepage. Lets look into more detail, starting by looking at iGoogle personalised for myself on my computer. The image below is the screenshot of my iGoogle:

iGoogle allows personalisation, with themes and gadgets based around your google search box.  This is really only the start of personalisation, as there are many more forms of it used on the web.  Web personalisation is one of the most popular web intelligence techniques used by E-commerce business’ to help them improve a user’s experience and increase the business’ profit margins.  Web personalisation can be known as a way to tailor, the end users experience over the web to suit their needs.  Company like Amazon personalise the end user’s amazon page to illustrate things they might like to buy based on previous purchased items.  I think this is a very effective way of using the facillities open to companies on the web.  I like when purchasing items on amazon that I am shown related products, that sometimes are actually worth while recomendations.  It helps to make the end user of products that are out their, that they may not be aware of, but would purchase if they knew.  Below shows my amazon page, with recomendations after items I have purchased:

Another reason for being all for personalisation on the web is due to sites like Facebook and Twitter.  Facebook allows a user to have multiple friends along with a wall where comments can be placed from friends.  Facebook also allows you to select whose posts you would like and not like to see shown on your live feed.  This is a great example of personalisation, where you can see what you want to see, and hide the rest from sight.   I personally think that this dynamically enchances an end users connection with web technologies.  Why? You might ask?  That was just my opinion but say there was no personalisation to suit your needs, using facebook for illustration, I would have to see friends make status updstes every 10 minutes, that would drive me to get rid of facebook!  That is a key mistake for companies that make such sites, as they will lose an audience and revenue.  I think that shows why I am for personalisation on the web, or it could be because I like things to be personal to me instead of a wide audience.  I feel that it means more and relates better to your situation.

Firstly lets see what Google generates for www.northernbank.co.uk!

Google has brought back a number of different keywords related to, northernbank.co.uk, which some of can be seen in the screenshot below:

This tool is very good, as it shows you the relevance, that each keyword would have to northernbank.co.uk for an advertising campaign.  It also shows the local and gobal monthly search for these keywords, which will help me onto the next take of the quest.

I hate not knowing what things mean, espically when it comes to websites.  Google have an option box, populated with the words, broad, phrase and exact.  What relevance do those words have.. lets try and see what changes.  The screenshot above was a search taken with the option set to broad.

The next search shown below was taken with the option set to phrase.

The change “”?  That was useful! It actually was, because this option shows the key phrases searched for within a sentence perhaps, that Google has picked out to be relevent.  So now we can see which keywords to pick based on the broad key words searched, and now the phrases.  Lets move on in are quest to find twelve relevant keywords…

The option this time will be changed to ‘exact’.  The screenshot below shows the results:

This times Google adwords is showing the search data based on the keywords searched exactly as displayed above.   This gives more data that will be helpful now to finish the quest by having an overview of all the keywords that get the best search numbers, with the use of the three options.

After throwing the data about in my head, using the help of google adwords, and the facillitie to download the results and a comma seperated value file, I have chosen the twelve.  See below the chosen ones:

To finish this quest it was a big task, greater than I expected.  I took a good amount of time just trying to analyse the data, making my selection based on mainly the local figures, but then bringing in the global figures to back up the choice.  There was some major differences in numbers based on the different options, which added more time to in my opinion get twelve keywords that you would expect to be related to northernbank.co.uk!

PS: When on this quest i tryed to find other tools, but they either looked payment or trials, which even from looking at the demo’s where rubbish in comparison to Google Adwords.  Google know too much

The quest has finished… well until next week!  Maybe a week off

I am going to look at the result from the following three major search engines, Google, Msn and Yahoo.  Firstly Google search engine.  When I typed the keywords ‘Northern Bank’ into the search engine, the company was listed as the first search.  The picture below shows the Google results for ‘Northern Bank’.  When ‘eBanking’ was typed into Google, Northern Bank came second of normal links.   Abbey National a rival bank came top. When I typed ‘savings accounts’ into Google, Northern Bank didn’t even show up as a result.

Now looking at the Msn search engine for the same as searched on Google.  When the keywords ‘Northern Bank’ were typed into Msn, the website was top of the normal link, but was never a sponsored link.  Again the image below shows the results for ‘Northern Bank’ but from Msn. When ‘eBanking‘ was typed into Msn, Northern Bank came top of the normal search listings, but again didn’t appear as a sponsored link. When I typed ‘savings accounts’ into Msn, the website yet again didn’t show up as either type of link.

Finally looking at the Yahoo search engine.  After typing ‘Northern Bank’ into the Yahoo search engine, Northern Bank came top yet again but didn’t show as a sponsored link. Image below shows results from Yahoo for ‘Northern Bank’. When searching for ‘eBanking’, Northern Bank came top again of the normal links.  After searching again for ‘savings accounts’, Northern Bank for the third time didn’t show as a result.

After analysing the top three major browsers with the same search keywords, it is fair to say that they are all displaying the Northern Bank website in the same place.  For Northern Bank to make sure they become top of the search engine results normally, I would advise them that they spent time with their meta data for the website to try and tweak it to enable search engines to find Northern Bank with keywords like “savings accounts” etc.  Tweaking the meta data will hopefully solve the problem with Google placing, Abbey National top when searching for ‘eBanking’.

For Northern Bank to become a sponsored link on all the major search engines, they need to spend more money with their marketing of products, and the company name itself.  If they paid the money for a sponsored link spot on all the major search engines, anytime a bank would be mentioned they would appear as a sponsored link on all the pages of results.

Q.12 Carry out web research to find out what is meant by the term ‘Cloud Computing’. Describe in your own words what is meant by this term. Explain in your own words the impact that cloud computing might have in e-commerce. Ensure that you describe potential benefits and problems. Deadline is 6 pm Friday as originally indicated.

What does the term “Cloud Computing really mean?

Cloud computing is basically defined as a new generation of computing that utilizes distant servers for storage of its data and management.  This enables the end user to use a smaller device with a smaller processor, which will consume less energy to do the same tasks.

What impact will cloud computing have in e-commerce in my own opinion?

I can see a big impact on e-commerce business with cloud computing.  Cloud computing can relieve all the hassle of backing up data, no worries about software packages or hardware going out of date.  It will also take less maintenance to hardware, no office space requirements for servers etc.  This environment in the cloud gets rid of all this and it is very clear why there will be a great impact of the cloud on business’.  Some e-commerce business’ are already using the cloud technology with hosted shopping carts for payment of goods etc.  This service to the e-commerce company saves the time in maintenance and development, with one monthly fee.  A typical example of this could be paypal, most e-commerce sites have a paypal transation method on there site and paypal shopping carts.

With the price of capital expenditure being higher than operational expeniture it is very appealling certainly to small and medium sized business’.  Taking Microsoft Office for example, to buy the full Office suite it is around £220 before any company reductions.  Most of the programs within that suite might never be used, or rarely used making it a very big cost for the company.  This is where the operational expenditure method of renting the application from the cloud on a pay as you use type basis.  This setup has become very appealing to a number of business’ already.  This could really end up saving costs for  e-commerce companies, as they only use a service when it is needed as opposed to owning the software and maintaing it, with updates and newer version, not to mention paying for programs that might not be used very much.

Problems and benefits to Cloud Computing:

As with every technical / computing experience there is advantages and disadvantages.  The problems and benefits of cloud computing are shown below:

Benefits of Cloud Computing:

• One of the biggest benefits of cloud computing is that small / medium sized business’  can aveal of the setup straight away without having to administer and implement it directly.
• There is no capital expenditure, no need for servers, and there will be the joy of unlimited capacity, bandwidth and increased security.
• There will be fewer maintenances issues to be dealt with internally.
• Administrators and users won’t have to worry about storage capactiy and backups.
• End Users will not have to be tied to the traditional workstation method with technology such as PDA’s and iPhone’s etc.  This will give them a constant platform with them where ever they happen to be.
• Companies can purchase different services from the cloud when needed without having to upgrade hardware or software packages etc.

Problems with Cloud Computing:

• Cloud Computing puts data outside the company, which can alerting to companies for security and privacy.
• The Data Protection act in the United Kingdom says all personal and financial data held of a UK citizen should not be moved to servers outside the UK.  How can companies be sure that the data they have in the cloud is held within a data center in the United Kingdom?
• Cloud computing is completely relient on an internet connection.  Internet connections are not yet totally stable everywhere in the world and espically on wireless broadband etc.
• All the talk about using applications and services from the cloud is very nice and good, but the fine print is worrying that cloud computing suppliers like Google and Microsoft can terminate applications if they see fit to do so?

• Push vs pull supply models
• Vertical integration vs disintegration vs virtual integration
• Evidence of value networks
• Evidence of efficiencies in supply chain

As far as Northern Bank is concerned, downstream supply chain applies more than the upstream supply chain, because the only supplier to the bank is the government.  Northern bank deal more in downstream supply, as they are providing a service to a great number of customers who are making transactions.

Push vs Pull Supply model

Northern Bank use the Push and Pull strategy in their supply chain management.  The Push supply model represents customers that Northern Bank provide a service to with just the basic transaction model, consisting of all the accompanying charges etc.  The pull model represents value of service, trying to provide a better service than competitors.  This basically means that Northern Bank try to draw customers to bank with them and not others by trying to provide something better than the rest.

Vertical integration vs disintegration vs virtual integration supply model:

I am looking at this from the view of supply management for credit cards.

Vertical integration has characteristics that say majority of manufacture in house.  For Northern Bank they do most of their credit card service in house, with setup, transaction management etc.

Disintegration has the characteristics of out sourcing.  Northern Bank out source their security for their credit card service to an external company called Senital.

Virtual Integration has characteristics of having total reliance on linked third parties.  Northern Banks contract with Senital for their credit card security is only fully dependant on those customers who take out the protection.  If the customer has no extra protection, Northern Bank are not dependant on Senital.

Evidence of Value networks:

There are two types of values, tangible and intangible.  Tangible means real or able to be treated as fact.  Intangible means it is hard to identify or pin down.

Tangible Values:

Tangible values in Northern bank are things such as transactions, processing a transfer from one account to another.  It is known as tangible for the reason that a transaction will not be a real transaction until it has been processed.  Other values include, receipt of lodgment, loan, interest etc.  An contracts for mortgages and loans etc is also a tangible value.

Intangible Values:

There are two sub categories amongst Intangible values, knowledge and benefits.  For Northern Bank intangible values would consist of interest rates, additions to services and banking charges.  These are considered intangible values because they never stay the same and therefore are hard to identify and pin down.

Evidence of efficiencies in supply chain:

Northern Bank work completely on an e-commerce type platform, with methods like e-banking etc with customers etc. Having an Information System running the business increases the efficiency for customers, reducing the cycle time for lodgments and transactions etc.   It improves data integration between elements of supply chain for example cheques.  Cheques need processed, and processing is easier done electronically.  This reduces the paper costs for the bank.  It also makes the transaction quicker, safer, and securer.

Northern Bank are always presented with the threat of substitute products and services from other bank chains.  The products and services provided by Northern Bank can also be provided by a lot of other bank chains like Ulster Bank Group etc.  Northern Bank need to watch new substitute products and services from other bank groups, to check the differences for example, change in interest rates, exchange rates etc.  The threat of customers moving banks can have costs to Northern Bank enabling them to switch.

The threat of the entry of new competitors:

If there were an entry of a new banking chain into society, Northern Bank would have another competitor providing services to perhaps some of their customers.  This leaves Northern Bank with the threat of making less profit, as to keep customers perhaps by boosting the interest rates or bringing down the bank charges.  Northern Bank still have the threat of customers moving from the bank, which presents them with switching costs.

The intensity of competitive rivalry:

In one case this force doesn’t really present any relevance to Northern Bank, as there isn’t a massive rivalry among banks.  However when looking in more depth, banks are always competing with each other trying to offer the public something new at less cost to them.  The age of Internet banking is also a way of rivalry.  A few years ago Northern Bank spent millions getting a secure online banking system, which is one of the safest and easiest to use.  There is a lot of rivalry as far as this is concerned, because Internet technologies can be developed so fast there are many followers providing services to compete with the banks, and this can cause very intense rivalry.

The bargaining power of customers:

The bargaining customer has really taken off as in traditional banking people took what they got.  When customers bargain with the bank, saying they can get a better and cheaper service at another bank, it provides Northern Bank with extra costs.  The threat again of switching banks will cost Northern Bank and so will its alternative of providing the customer with the service they want.

The bargaining power of suppliers:

In a banking situation this force doesn’t apply as the bank are the supplier to the customer.  The banks don’t provide each other with services so in that case there will be no bargaining at all in the supply chain.  However with the economic downturn in society the goverment had to bail the banks out of recesion.  This gives the goverment bargaining power over the banks.

Q.7 Look in detail at the terms and conditions for purchasing from your site. Are they reasonable? Comment on anything unusual or unreasonable that you find. What about returning goods? Describe the kinds of support provided by your site, for example, does it provide customer call back or does it give terms for returning goods. Do you think that it is better or worse than the competition? Explain your answer.

Northern Bank’s terms of use policy is fairly straight forward and is clearly presented. There was nothing among the terms and conditions that was staring me in the face that looked unusual or unreasonable. There is no returning good on the northern bank site, as it is all just transaction based. It is a branch or telephone job to reverse transactions. Northern Bank do however provide support in the form of email online, telephone or branch support. The Northern Bank team will then try and resolve the cases customers might have. In comparison with other banks the policies and support provided is on the same level, and there is nothing that others provide that Northern Bank don’t or can’t provide.

Q.8 Examine the registration process for your site, from the perspective of security. Is your data encrypted? What does this mean?

For Northern Bank, they do not provide only registration, to make things 100% secure for customers, as well as making sure the customer doesn’t take out the wrong product. To register with Northern Bank, customers would need to arrange an appointment with a member of the bank at their nearest branch. However the encryption of customer’s personal information would mean converting text into hexadecimal values that only the computer that the other end would be able to understand.

Q.9 Does the site use cookies? Find out what cookies are, and explain how cookies are used in, for example, your site.

Northern Bank do uses cookies on their website or normal ebanking or business ebanking. This is not available for active card customer’s. Cookies are basically variables that are stored on the customer’s machine to hold their username or ebanking or even password. Once the customer enters the site, the server at the opposite end will be sent the cookie and understand that Joe Bloggs wishes to login etc. Cookies can be used for name’s, passwords’ or other data.

When researching the answer to the above question, I was able to use http://www.trafficestimate.com/ to find genuine visitor figures for the last 30 days. https://www.northernbank.co.uk had an estimate of 66,900 visitors in the last 30 days. Compared with https://www.ulsterbank.co.uk there was 24,000 less visits to https://www.northernbank.co.uk . Comparing Northern Bank with First Trust Bank group at: https://www.firsttrustbank.co.uk there was 10,600 more visits in the last 30 days. When dealing with the visitor figures for banks it is important to remember that visits are mainly because of online banking services. If one bank has more customers than another then they will result in higher visitor figures.

Q.5 Explore the processes involved in purchasing on your chosen site. Describe the different steps in these processes, in terms of the technology that is being used, from typing the web address into the browser to a product being delivered to your door

The process’ behind the Northern Bank website are huge and highly secure. The back end system is interacting with the user via the front end face on the web browser. Once people login to eBanking using either a password stored, with an activation protocol on one particular machine or an active card, there is data pulled from a secure database. Users can transfer money, or make payments as well as register for services online. The system behind the site will enable them to complete transactions and payments updating their history and balance etc.

Q6. New channels to market for e-business are increasingly being used. Such channels include mobile device access as well as digital television access. Consider and describe the potential future impact of ONE of these channels for your e-business from the perspective of the e-business. What strategic choices (if any) need to be made.

Mobile broadband on telephone handsets is becoming the technology many people are using now instead of computers. Such devices as the Apple iPhone or Blackberry give the user a proper web browser and email on the move. This is a channel that I think Northern Bank will take there eBanking service down. Using the Active card it is possible to do this already on the Apple iPhone or Blackberry, but it won’t work for those who have a code on their computer to let them use the website. This will take a lot of security decisions to be made and accessibility before this channel can be opened up as a service. Once all of these decisions are made this will be the future channel for Northern bank customers, to manage their money on the move securely.

Question One: Examine the web site that you have chosen. Please provide a short description of the web site in everyday language. Please insert a screen shot of the web site into your answer.

My chosen website was northernbank.co.uk, which is situated in Northern Ireland, but part of a wider cooperation.  Northern Bank is part of the Danske Bank Group which is a chain of banks providing financial services to the public. Northern bank supply services for a wide age group starting at 16 years of age with their Northern Discovery Current account.

Question Two: Use some search engines or industry sources (e.g., trade magazines online, Financial Times, etc) to carry out desk research to find out specific quantitative information about the size of the business behind the web site. Try to determine figures for turnover, number of employees, and profit for specific (recent) years. Please do so without directly contacting the company.

Northern Bank is part of the banking market within Northern Ireland with 95 branches, consisting of 415,000 customers with 1845 employees. Northern Bank have 20% of the market share in Northern Ireland, with a market position of 1-2. With the economic climate at this current time, it is a bad time for all banks to make a significant profit this financial year. In 2008 Northern Bank profits were £6.9million.

Question Three: Take some time to research the business behind your site. Is the web the only channel to market for this business? If so, please describe your understanding of how this business came about. If the web is not the only channel, please describe the other channels in detail. Use Channel Chain Maps (see Week 2 slides here) if possible. Try to find out how much business is won by each channel.

Northern Bank operate by three methods, firstly the branch, secondly telephone banking and e-banking (internet banking). The channel chain map below shows each of the different channels to the business as well as how much business each channel process’.

This chain map shows the different links between process' in the bank

Currently in 2009, 18.31 million homes in the United Kingdom have internet access. This works out at approximately 70 percent of all the homes in Britain. Between 2008 and 2009 there has been a rise of 1.85 million households. This information is taken from the National Statistics Opinions (Omnibus) survey.

From the 70 percent of homes with internet access, 63 percent of this used a broadband connection. This was an increase of 7 percent on the 2008 statistic of 56 percent. Looking at a wider scope since 2006 until 2009, the number of households with broadband has increased by 6.6 million homes. Out of the total internet access statistics for 2009, 90 percent used a broadband connection which is an increase from 69 percent in 2006.

This diagram shows clearly the percentage of households with internet, and then the connection type.

Purchasing over the Internet

In 2009, 64 percent of Internet users had purchased goods or services over the internet. Of these individuals who had at anytime during 2009, purchased goods or services 26 million (83 percent) purchased within the last three months.

Who shops more online?

Of items purchased in the last three months, the percentage of men stayed at 83 percent, which was the same as 2008. Women however had a rise in E-commerce activity by 2 percent on their 80 percent from 2008.

What do Men and Women buy online?

52 percent of men, who purchased goods online in the past three months, bought either music or film. 54 percent of women bought either clothes or sporting goods online. Comparing Male and Female purchases, 30 percent of women as apposed to 15 percent of men purchased food or groceries online.

Does Age decide on purchases online?

Age does tend to be a contributing factor to the types of good and services purchased online. Younger age groups tend to purchase more clothes and sporting goods, compared with books, magazines and newspapers bought by the older age group.