CH 3

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Part 1
Introduction
Chapter 3
Managing digital
business infrastructure
Digital Business and E-Commerce
Management
Seventh Edition

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Learning Outcomes
• Outline the range of digital technologies
used to build a digital business
infrastructure within an organisation and
with its partners
• Review the management actions needed
to maintain service quality for users of
digital platforms

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Management issues
• What are the practical risks to the
organisation of failure to manage the
digital infrastructure adequately?
• How should we evaluate alternative
models of delivering digital services?

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Technical jargon
• Why do non-technical people need to
know about technical jargon and
technology?

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Activity – Digital business
infrastructure risk assessment
• Make a list of the potential problems for
customers of a digital business
• You should consider problems faced by
users of digital business applications who
are both internal and external to the
organisation
• Base your answer on problems you have
experienced on a website or an app that
can be related to network, hardware and
software failures or problems with data
quality

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Typical problems
• Web site and apps too slow
• Services designed for desktop not
viewable via mobile
• Website or app service unavailable
• Bugs in apps or errors in data
• Products and services not being
delivered on time

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Typical problems
• Customer communications not being
dealt with
• Privacy and trust issues, such as fraud
or data theft

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Table 3.1 Key management issues
of digital business infrastructure

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Figure 3.2 A five-layer model of
digital business infrastructure

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Activity
• A B2B company has found that after an
initial surge of interest in its intranet and
extranet, usage has declined dramatically.
The digital business manager wants to
achieve these aims:
– Increase usage of both
– Produce more ‘dynamic’ content
– Encouraging more clients to order via the
extranet
• What would you suggest?

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Example suggestions
• Identify benefits
• Involve staff with development
• Find system sponsors, owners and
advocates
• Train staff and customers on benefits
• Keep content fresh, relevant and where
possible, fun
• Use social media and SMS to encourage
usage

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URLs and domain names
• Web addresses are structured in a standard way as follows:
• http://www.domain-name.extension/filename.html
• What do the following extensions or global top level domains
stand for?
– .com
– .co.uk, .uk.com
– .org or .org.uk
– .gov
– .edu, .ac.uk
– .int
– .net
– .biz
– .info
• What other extensions exist for specialised purposes?

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What’s in a URL?
• Protocol
• Host or hostname
• Subdomain
• Domain name
• Top-level domain or TLD
• Second-level domain (SLD)
• The port
• The path
• URL parameter
• Anchor or fragment

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Fragmented applications
infrastructure
Source: Adapted from Hasselbring (2000)

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Integrated applications
infrastructure
Source: Adapted from Hasselbring (2000)

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Use of applications at levels of
management

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Elements of digital business
infrastructure that need management

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Summary
• You should be able to outline the range of
digital technologies used to build a digital
business infrastructure within an
organisation and with its partners
• You should be able to review the
management actions needed to maintain
service quality for users of digital
platforms