Electronic business concepts and applications

e-Business

Rather than focusing on how e-Business has lead to past business innovation, the Forbes article, Google morphs into multifaceted juggernaut (2005), provides an exciting glimpse of tomorrow. With revenues soaring from Web search and online advertising services on the Internet, Google is one of a handful of industry giants that has the technology and revenue to drive our new future. While some of the possibilities for Google's endeavors are speculation, it's obvious that if Google doesn't do it somebody else will. Web-hosed software, digitized content, and wireless Internet access are areas ripe for picking that will revolutionize business activity.

After examining Google's patents over the past two years, many are convinced that Google will move to offer a Web-hosted alternative to Windows. Not only will companies move from a purchase to a subscription model for buying software, they will no longer have to hire in-house technical support staff to maintain their applications and assist users. And, Web-hosted alternative for software will surely make applications more affordable for smaller companies, eliminating some of the technology advantages larger companies enjoy over smaller ones.

The article also mentioned that Google has launched an effort to create digital versions of entire brick-and-mortar libraries. Obviously, this has implications for the publishing business which would lose profits from book sales as well as the need for brick-and-mortal presence of book stores and libraries. Looking behind the covers, Google would obtain reading preferences about a vast number of consumers in addition to Web search habits. It already presents contextual advertising based on a Web page that is being viewed. Now it could move into the next generation of online advertising based not only on what is being view, but also who is viewing. Currently, Google is encountering resistance from publishers who are claiming copyright infringements and will most likely need to strike a compromise to move forward with its digital library project.

Further, Google has lofty plans for changing the way people use the Internet and perhaps how many people use it. According to the article, Google has unveiled a system for talking over the Internet.

Perhaps phone systems will become obsolete devices in businesses and users turn more and more to their computers as one-stop resources to perform all their business functions.