Running head pROJECT DELIVERABLE 21pROJECT DELIVERABLE 28.docx

Running head: pROJECT DELIVERABLE 2
1
pROJECT DELIVERABLE 2
8Business Requirements Document
Charles Tinsley
Dr. Mark Cohen
CIS 599
July 28, 2019
Business Requirements Document
Providing better services to customers is one of the keys to a
successful business. Fulfilling customer’s requirements helps
achieve customers satisfaction; an important tool that drives the
business towards achievement. Customers’ requirements are
those needs that determine whether or not the customer needs
have been satisfied with the products. According to Spacey
(2017), a customer requirement is a specification that originates
with customers as opposed to internal stakeholders. This can
include both functional and non-function requirements for
products, services and experiences.Definition of the Scope and
how to Control the Scope of the Project
After brainstorming and interviewing customers, there was a
need to implement the voice of a customer in the business.
Voice of the customer involves capturing customer’s needs and
expectations before coming up with a product, services, and
brands. According to Saeed et al. study (2013), Innovation and
new product development connected with “customer needs and
expectations” differs across the marketing, engineering, and
industrial design literature. The goods in the market are of a
high quality due to the customer’s input during production.
Customers know what they want. Therefore, involving them

during production ensures that the goods produced to meet their
needs. This business aims at providing customers with better
services and products. Therefore, ensuring that customers are
satisfied by getting their feedback can be used as a control to
using Voice of Customers. Assessing increase in profits will
also help define whether this strategy is working.
Feedbacks and profits realized after the implementation of
Voice of Customer (VoC) will use as a way to realize
workability of this scope. Positive feedbacks from customers
will mean that their needs have been fully satisfied. However,
negative feedbacks will mean more has to be done. Better
strategies will have to be implemented to ensure mass
satisfaction of the customers. When balancing the books of
account, the profits increase that will be realized after the
implementation of VoC will mean success in the strategy.
However, no profits or losses will be linked to the failure in
workability of the strategy.Possible Risks, Constraints, and
Assumptions
This strategy has four distinct components, namely; Listening
(collecting data), understanding (analyzing data for insights),
sharing (distributing the insights), and taking action. Having all
the four components to work will involve using a lot of
resources from the company. The risks associated will be
getting individualized needs from the customers. Every
customer has his/her needs. It will be therefore, hard for the
analyzers to determine the need that will be likely to cause
customers’ satisfaction and achieve business goals. This will
mean adopting production strategies that may fail during the
process leading to losses. As this scope is limited only to
customers’ feedback, there will be a lack of consultation from
other external consultants. This strategy risks succumbing to
analysis paralysis as the business tries to ensure profits are
realized. We have to assume that the feedback we get always
aims at improving the customers’ needs.Integration with Other
Systems and Infrastructure

There is a need to integrate VoC with Database and Data
Warehousing, Cloud Technology and Virtualization, and
Network Infrastructure and Security to easily monitor its
workability. In other words, we are going to integrate VoC with
cloud infrastructure. According to Gilbert (2018), this will
virtualize all the resources to make them available on the
website of the company using the command line interfaces,
program interfaces, and graphical interfaces. The cloud
infrastructure will enable customers’ and the project team to see
the utilized resources and the corresponding resources to the
costs of the project. This will also ensure they can monitor the
achievements of the strategy.
The cloud storage infrastructure will also integrate software and
hardware elements that will reinforce the public and private
cloud storage services. The company will also use a virtual
integration of the infrastructure and other systems. In this case,
the subsystems will be assimilated based on the operation
ability of the information systems that are related to the
functional entities. This is one of the quickest available
methods that will be used with the network developers and
vendors. There is a need to come up with security measures to
ensure the protection of the company’s network. This will
enable information relayed from customers to the company and
from the company to the customers are not distorted hence
efficient data flow.Human Capital
According to Pettinger (2017), Human Capital is a measure of
the skills, education capacity, and attributes of labor, which
influence their productive capacity and earning potential. We
are planning to add up our task force to involve employees who
have prior knowledge of VoC. Kaplan & Norton (2005),
emphasizes that if the employees who are closest to customers
and who operate processes that create value are unaware of the
strategy, they surely cannot help the organization implement it
effectively. There will need to find individuals who have
worked in another organization that had implemented VoC to

help train some of our employees.
The company will develop a human capital planning tool that
will be employed to drive focused activities and achieve the
goals of the project (Wang, 2018). This plan will comprise of
software developers, web designers, virtual engineers, and IT
professionals that will enable the company to assess, plan, and
react to the needs of the project effectively. These professionals
will be highly skilled with great educational and work
experience from reputable organizations. These professionals
will help redesign the organization by developing a plan that
meets the needs of the organization as well as the goals,
mission, and vision of the company.
Possible Outsourcing or Offshoring Needs for Accomplishing
the Project
The information flow between the customers and the company
will involve a lot of traffic. Therefore, it is advisable for the
company to outsource storage facilities rather than buying and
maintaining the storage devices at the company to reduce
expenditure. The employee will have training from international
organizations, as VoC has never been implemented by the
company before. The company will also apply the offshoring
needs such as keeping the service desk in different countries so
to ensure customers’ feedbacks are received. This will also
ensure that those who seek the company’s products get first-
hand information about the products.Relevant Terms Used
Throughout the Project
Some of the terms that would be used throughout the project
implementation include project initiation, management
information system, and project scope, feedbacks, among others
(Said, 2018). Project initiation is the initial phase of the project
in the life cycle of project management. It encompasses
launching a new project. During this phase, employees will have
to be trained, and all the requirements put in place. VoC will
then be first implemented. Management Information System
(MIS) will be used to manage the information flow throughout
the company. Project scope is the determination of the

deliverables of the project, including the goals and the
objectives of the project, the costs, the tasks, and the schedule
of the project. Feedbacks from customers will form a base at
which information about reactions to a product, a person's
performance of a task will be used to determine better ways for
improvement.Cost Projections for Staffing, Infrastructure, and
Other Resources
There will be costs needs that we have to budget for. First of
all, there will be a need to determine the amount of labor
needed. This includes all the staff, trainers, and other specialists
that will be hired. Equipment for use and facilities to house
service desks in different countries will be needed. There is also
a need to add contingency costs for additional expenses that
cannot yet be foreseen. Labor costs for 50 staff, 3 trainers and
20 specialists will approximate to $500000. Specialists include
IT personnel, data analyzers, software developers, web
designers, and virtual engineers. Equipment and facilities in 10
countries that will first launch the strategy will be about
$600000. A contingency cost of $100000 will also be required.
Approximately, the whole project will cost 1.2 US Dollars.
References
Gilbert, T., Barr, S., James, P., Morley, J., & Ji, Q. (2018).
Software Systems Approach to Multi-Scale GIS-BIM Utility
Infrastructure Network Integration and Resource Flow
Simulation. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information,
7(8), 310.
Spacey, John. (2017). 4 Types of Customer Requirements.
Simplicable. Retrieved From
https://simplicable.com/new/customer-requirements
Kaplan, S. Robert, Norton, P. David. (2005). The Office of
Strategy Management. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved
From https://hbr.org/2005/10/the-office-of-strategy-management
Pettinger Tejvan. (2017). Human Capital Definition and
Importance. Economics. Retrieved From
https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/26076/economics/human-

capital-definition-and-importance/
Rashid Saeed, Rab Nawaz Lodhi, Jazba Munir, Shazza Riaz,
Fareha Dustgeer & Amna Sami. (2013). The Impact of Voice of
Customer on New Product. World Applied Science Journal.
24(9): 1255-1260, 2013. Retrieved From
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a7bc/9f0c4ea9c7bda5b648e255
50938c58ccfb09.pdf
Saidi, S., Kattan, L., Jayasinghe, P., Hettiaratchi, P., & Taron,
J. (2018). Integrated infrastructure systems—A review.
Sustainable Cities and Society, 36, 1-11.
Wang, Y., Liu, Y., & Canel, C. (2018). Process coordination,
project attributes, and project performance in offshore-
outsourced service projects. International Journal of Project
Management, 36(7), 980-991.
Running head: IMPORTANCE OF E-COMMERCE
2
IMPORTANCE OF E-COMMERCE
Importance of E-Commerce in Healthcare Sector
Proposal #5 - Methods
Sai Sindhura Siram
224769
Harrisburg University

Table of Contents
Table of Contents 2
Abstract 3
Introduction 4
Importance of E-Commerce in Healthcare Sector 5
I. Business to Business 5
II. Business to Consumer 5
III. Consumer to Consumer 5
Significance 6
Research Question 7
Justification 8
Literature Review 10
Importance of e-commerce in health sector 11
E-commerce in health care supply chain management 12
E-consultation Services 14
Challenges of e-commerce in health sector 16
Methods Presentation Analysis18
Study Design : 18
I. Case studies 18
II. Interviews, Search strategies, Close-out surveys,
Centralized system and Champlain Base system 18
III. Focus on Effectiveness and Convincing nature18
Methodology 24
Sample population 24
Data collection 25
Data analysis 27
Expected outcome 28
Concluding Sections29
Limitations 29
Proposed Timeline, 29
Conclusions/Projections 29
References 30

Abstract
The purpose of the paper is to contribute on the introduction of
e-commerce in health sector, its importance and the necessity in
healthcare and to help identify the challenges, gaps and the
unmet demands of heath care by e-commerce technologies. E-
commerce technologies have proven to be important and helpful
in health sector. Though e-commerce technologies present great
potential and empowerment of healthcare for the implemented
initiatives, the area still faces a great challenge in its remote
operation and there are unmet demands. Digital divide is
amongst the many challenges facing the area. The paper uses an
interpretive paradigm in its research design and data collection
methods. Purposive sampling is used as a sampling technique to
reach the target population. Web-based questionnaires and
direct observation are the data collection methods used to
inform the research which are most convenient. The two
methods are intended to complement each other and influence a
more accurate data finding. In conclusion, e-commerce is very
essential in health care and helps improve both its product and
service industry though there remain challenges in figuring out
the most successful implementation of e-health care systems
with minimal failure.
Introduction
The continuous change in global climate and rise in pollution
have created a massacre global condition throughout the world.

This has also led to rise of global warming at an exponential
rate. All these factors have accumulated and resulted in
evolution of natural conditions that are pushing human body to
its limits. This has resulted in sharp increase in the demand for
healthcare support and other attributes related to healthcare
industry. In order to overcome this challenge related to the
healthcare requirements and fulfil the gap of the rising demand
for healthcare needs throughout the globe, the healthcare
industry opened up new strategic approach to meet the demand
by the introduction of E-Commerce platform in the field of
healthcare. ("E-commerce and its role in the healthcare sector -
The Care Issue", 2019).
Keywords: Global change, demand for health care,
purpose of E-Commerce
Importance of E-Commerce in Healthcare Sector
E – Commerce or electronic commerce is platforms across
the internet forum that help people acquire goods and services
delivered to the door steps with order being placed from the
comfort of the home. The E-Commerce platform usually
functions across three different entity junctures they are as
follow:I. Business to BusinessII. Business to ConsumerIII.
Consumer to Consumer
Even though, the healthcare structure is using the

electronic functions in all the three different entity junctures. In
this paper we are going to focus on the operational entity of e-
commerce platform in healthcare from the perspective of
business to consumer aspect. The reason for selection on
focusing on a particular metrics of operation is to get more
insightful perspective of impact e of E-Commerce platform in
healthcare industry. ("E-commerce and its role in the healthcare
sector - The Care Issue", 2019).
Healthcare industry majorly focuses on service and
products that could be of use and serve the purpose of the
patient, moving them towards a better health. However, there
are certain aspects of healthcare industry that plays a huge role
as a follow up treatment for the patient. In order to fulfil the
requirement of those demand and also the rising gap of
healthcare requirement related to other products E-Commerce
industry has played a huge role in the field of healthcare.
(Caldbick, 2001)
The purpose of the thesis is to understand how E-
Commerce platform has played a major role in the healthcare
sector and have been able to constantly fulfil different gap that
healthcare industry faces from time to time. In order to find
detailed understanding of the topic, the thesis will cover
grounds on the e-commerce background as well as healthcare
industry, further it will also focus on learning from usage of e-
commerce platform in development of the healthcare, and also
meet the demand of the people related healthcare issues. In
order to carry forward the research in the paper a survey method
will be used across employees of the healthcare sector and
consumer who uses E-Commerce platform for their healthcare
requirements. On completion of the survey and based on the
understanding of the present structure and operation of the E-
commerce platform in the healthcare industry, it would be
possible to define the room for expansion of e-commerce
platform in healthcare in order to overcome other challenges as
well related to the field of the healthcare. (Caldbick,
2001)Significance

The study will provide us with a thorough introspection
on the e-commerce platform and healthcare platform and how
the embracing of both the platform has been able to cut down on
the gap of the rising demand in the healthcare industry. The
paper will further help cover ground on different healthcare
services and products that are presently not available across the
e-commerce platform in spite of customer demand.
This will help us draw metrics on how those products and
services can be implemented in the e-commerce platform in the
future and also the different measures that need to be taken in
order to ensure that the performance of this platform improves
over time, to ensure more customers are driven towards the
usage.. Further, the paper will also reflect on intricate details on
the functionality of e-commerce platform in the healthcare in
order to understand the present scenario and structure of the e-
commerce platform and how the different product and services
are being passed on to the end customer. ("E-Commerce in
Healthcare: Changing the Traditional Landscape", 2019)
Research Question
The paper E-Commerce in healthcare industry has been a
clinical turn around in the field of healthcare to provide
assistance to patient. With presently numerous healthcare
product and services available to the customer the gap between
demand and products has been brought under relative control.
However, with the rise in the global challenges these demands
are again taking longer strides that are opening p proposition
for other product and services to be made available to the
customers. In order to ensure that such propositions are
successfully laid out this paper look represents certain questions
that are exclusive to the e-commerce in healthcare. (Graham,
2002) The questions that the paper is going to cover are as
follow:
Is it necessary to introduce E-commerce to the healthcare
platform? This question will undermine the details of why e-

commerce platform was first introduced in healthcare sector
This question of what sectors that E-Commerce in healthcare
covers will put a thorough insight on the different products and
services that e-commerce platform covers in the field of
healthcare
The question of what are the different challenges that healthcare
sector faces with the present e-commerce platform to render
their services will bring under light the different challenges
that healthcare industries have to overcome on a regular basis in
order to ensure they can render quality service and products to
the patients as per their demand through the e-commerce
platform.
This question of what the different challenges are that
healthcare industry comes across in recent years pertaining to
the global scenario would throw light on different health related
issues that have recently cropped up because of global scenario
and are again pushing the gap of demand against five supply of
treatment for the patient
The question of what are the different services that are
presently not being delivered by the healthcare industry across
e-commerce platform would bring under light the prospect of
expansion that healthcare industry would hold in the future
related to its e-commerce platform and structural variation that
is needed to be implemented in order to ensure that the product
and services that are not being delivered in the present scenario
can be made possible in the future.
The question of what are the different requisition of product and
services that healthcare industry comes across from customers,
but are not able to be made possible to provide the same to the
customers, would bring under light the product and services that
healthcare industry should look forward to fulfil in order to
overcome the gap.
These research questions highlighted above will ensure that all
grounds regarding the challenges of e-commerce platform in
healthcare is covered along with the prospect of further
expansion based on which the future research can be

materialised in the field of e-commerce in healthcare.
Justification
The purpose of carrying out this research is to ensure that
e-commerce platform can overcome the gap between the demand
of healthcare product and service related the patients demand.
Further the research questions will also throw light on
explaining the different challenges that the healthcare industry
has to come across from time to time in order to deliver the
services and products across the E-Commerce platform.
This would ensure that a plot line can be drawn so that
such challenges can be mitigated in the future in order to ensure
a better product and service performance in the field. Lastly the
research would open up the course of action for the future
research in the field of E-Commerce in healthcare and also
would provide how e-commerce platform can expand in order to
ensure that it covers larger ground in the field of healthcare
product and services in the future.
The research also focuses on understanding the changing
demand of the different product and services related to e-
commerce in healthcare so that serene layout can be drawn in
order to ensure that those demands can be fulfilled in the future.
This would bring under consideration the proper requisition for
expansion how and in what ways the expansion can be achieved
and materialised to fulfil the demand of the customers with
changing world of the diseases. ("Technological growth in US
healthcare - E - Commerce", 2019)
The research will ensure that E-Commerce platform plays a
successful role in the healthcare industry in the future to come,
putting the present scenario product and services as the pivotal
for future research and expansion.

Literature Review
Healthcare remains an important part of every society
and a vital feature of every successful country’s economy
(Wickramasinghe & Schaffer, 2010). People need to be health in
order to contribute their maximum potential to their country’s
economy. A good healthcare results to a good economy in a
country. Poor healthcare means a bad economy as people get
sick and are unable to work and get the proper health care. A
country with a poor healthcare makes investors stay away from
it. Therefore, health sector is a very fundamental part of human
living and survival (Wickramasinghe & Schaffer, 2010).
Healthcare entails the maintenance and the continued
enhancement of health through the diagnosis, prevention and
treatment of illnesses, injuries and it comprises physical and
mental impairment. Health care includes care giving services as
well for the old people and the sick and guidance and
counselling for those with mental issues. The innovation
brought about by the e-commerce in health care helps to
improve the quality of access to healthcare services (Black et
al., 2011). Ecommerce refers to the purchase and sell of goods
through internet. Ecommerce in health care therefore aids in
access of healthcare online which improves convenience, saves
time, provides lower discounted prices and offers a wide range
of products.
E-commerce in health care is utilized in providing
consultancy services, pharmacy/telemedicine and caregiving
services amongst many others. E-health is another word for
ecommerce in the health sector (Black et al., 2011); it entails
the use of electronic communication together with information
technology to broadly avail medical information systems able to
interconnect and communicate, it is the availability of medical
informatics and telematics on online shop shelves. E-commerce
on health sector is much more driven by medical non-
professionals that is the patient’s needs (Black et al., 2011).

Importance of e-commerce in health sector
It is necessary to introduce e-commerce in health sector
because E-health empowered healthcare has a potential to
address key issues facing the health sector (Wickramasinghe &
Schaffer, 2010). Some of the key pressing issues in the
healthcare include: the increasing health care expenses, need for
empowered consumers, need for easy health adaptability, more
attention on prevention and focus on external factors such as
finances and technology. Based on these issues the healthcare
trends include a need for change in health insurance, healthcare
standardization, technology planning and need for better
healthcare services delivery.
The role of e-commerce in the health sector is devising a
strategy that help meet trends in the sector through ensuring
efficient, evidence-based, educational, ethical, enhanced
quality, empowered patients, extended research and equitable
health care. E-health involves application of different e-
commerce technologies and infrastructures (Wickramasinghe &
Schaffer, 2010) and most importantly the use of internet to
necessitate health care practice. It entails the exploitation of
information and technology to connect the health care providers
with the patients and the government, it also entails educating
and informing the consumers, the healthcare managers and
professionals and trigger innovation in delivery and
management of health care.
E-commerce in health care tackles efficiency which is
possible through the reduction of the costs through improving
communication between the healthcare facilities and
establishments and the patients. Enhancing quality of the
healthcare is another goal of e-commerce by not only reducing
the costs but also ensuring its quality by making health
diagnostic and therapeutic decisions. E-commerce empowers the
patients as well by empowering them and availing new online
avenues where they can access medical help and education
(Wickramasinghe & Schaffer, 2010).

E-commerce in health care supply chain management
Electronic commerce famously known as e-commerce
has been utilized in many organizations to aid in business and
has been an area where many researchers are focusing on in the
last 20 years. Regarding Business- to –Business (B2B), e-
commerce encompasses utilization of internet-based
technologies to support business transactions between firms in a
supply chain (Sultanow et al., 2016).
Pharmaceutical industry is an example of health sector
feature that has adopted e-commerce to manage its supply chain
operations. Globally, the pharmaceutical sales are projected to
reach $1.4 trillion by the year 2019 (Sultanow et al., 2016)
which will be a remarkable increase from $870 million in 2013
(Sultanow et al., 2016). After United States, Europe is the
second leading in the pharmaceutical sales owning 27% of the
sales (Sultanow et al., 2016). The pharmaceutical industry has
the following key players: manufactures, the wholesalers,
pharmacies and lastly, point of care providers such as hospitals
and clinics (Omachonu & Einspruch, N2010).
In Europe, the largest percentage of medication is
distributed through a few national wholesalers and then through
regional wholesalers who make the largest percentage of the
suppliers. The role of wholesalers is ensuring assortment of
medications, providing high medication stocks and timely and
frequent supply and delivery to the pharmacies. In the supply
chain management of healthcare in the traditional setting is to
ensure quality (Wang et al., 2016). Quality is ensured by
making the high of medications by the patients is met. Through
a revelatory case study, Max Pharma (Sultanow et al., 2016) is a
national pharmaceutical wholesaler in German which has
adopted e-commerce to maintain high-quality of heath care.
One of the problems faced by the manufacturers and
distributors is that all the drugs approaching their expiry dates
ought to be destroyed and they suffer costs of the obsolete
drugs. Ecommerce is a solution to obsolete inventory

difficulties for Max Pharma since it came up with an e-
commerce platform to help sell the short-dated drugs at
discounted prices. Some customers also use the platform to
order for other regular drugs but the sales of the short dated
drugs cannot be compared; in this case the e-commerce platform
helps both the wholesaler and the customer and saves them
unnecessary costs.
However, the adoption of the e-commerce platforms
should be done strategically in order to bear fruits, the adoption
should not be out of competition pressure but as a response to a
rising need and the company IT preparedness influences the
sustainability of the platform. The success of this e-commerce
platform can be traced to the (Technology, organization and
environment) model. The Max Pharma teamed up with willing
manufacturers to reach out customers in need of the drugs at
lower prices through the distributors and the point-to-point
sellers and in most occasions enabling the customers to make
direct orders (Sultanow et al., 2016).
Therefore, health systems can adopt e-commerce to
manage its supply chain through e-procurements through e-
business platforms (Wickramasinghe & Schaffer, 2010). (Wang
et al., 2016) E-commerce application in supply chain helps
improve performance medical supply and distribution by
ensuring timeliness and quality.
E-consultation Services
Ecommerce has necessitated consultation services
through the implementation of e-consultation services that have
helped to enhance the access to specialty services (Keely et al.,
2013). E-consultation facilitates rapid response times and
reduces the requirement for face to face consultations and
appointments hence reducing the cost of physical movement.
One benefit of the e-consultation services is the access to
specialist’s advice in a better timely manner compared to the

traditional face to face referral consultations. In addition, it
helps to reduce the barriers of access to specialty services
between the primary health care providers and patients (Keely
et al., 2013).
Due to an increasing rise in the number of medical
conditions requiring specialty advice, patients have to wait for
the specialist advice before any recommendation on medication
to be administered and sometimes the wait time to see a
specialist can be very long, lasting up to even two months.
However, provision of specialist’s healthcare services online
eradicates that delay with responses just taking minutes (Keely
et al., 2013). E-consultation is conducted through telephones,
emails however secured web-based protected web applications
are widely used to provide a meeting point for the specialist and
the patient. The patients are also able to give feedback on the
kind of service they received and if it pleased them, they can
even refer other people (Keely et al., 2013).
Digital technology is a major driver of transformation in
the health care sector by helping connect the patients to health
services and data (Hollis et al., 2015). The advances in
technology have empowered people to be able to communicate,
share and obtain information through information and
communication technology. For instance, the access to the
internet through smartphones is doubling and many people own
smartphones than before enabling them to buy goods and
services in new ways through the online platforms (Hollis et al.,
2015). Most importantly, some significant parts of the society
have become familiar to using technology to perform various
transactions comfortably. Health care is an important area
which has not been left out too as people use mobile phones
wireless and other remote monitoring devices to access its
services.
Mental health care is one area that can be greatly
empowered by e-commerce. Recent technology development
such as sensors, on-line psychological therapy and remote video
and mobile applications can help in e-consultation of mental

health. For instance, the UK government has been encouraging
its health professional to shift to remote consultations
necessitated through video technology and replace it with face
to face consultation (Hollis et al., 2015). E-health in mental
health care empowers the mental health patients by giving them
a wide variety of choices such the online psychological
interventions which can help the younger people who find it
difficult to access the traditional health care services, since the
younger generation is the greatest user of internet services they
can use technology to access psychiatrists, get their diagnosis
and monitoring session online and pay for the services online
(Hollis et al., 2015).
Therefore, ecommerce in health sector empowers remote
access to health care and eradicates the face to face discomfort
during consultations through e-consultations.
Challenges of e-commerce in health sector
Despite the potential in e-health sector, many e-health
projects and initiatives established are prone to failure due to
various challenges (Mettler & Eurich, 2012). One of the
challenges in this sector is the lack of understanding of the
business logic behind the e-commerce complex environment.
For instance, there is pressure in demand for quality health care
with reduced healthcare costs (Mettler & Eurich, 2012).
Additionally, in the developing countries there is increase in the
aging populations and inadequate qualified health workers, high
movement of patients and very high expectations which
challenge e-commerce in health care. Digital divide is another
challenge of e-commerce which is the gap between those who
can access computer and internet services and those who cannot

meaning that there is a group of people who face barriers in
access e-health care (Hollis et al., 2015).
Keeping up with the evolving field of technology is
another challenge of adopting e-commerce in health (de
Lusignan, 2015). Lacking the right information at the right time
to manage heath care is another challenge of e-health.
Inadequate exploitation of evidence based theoretical
frameworks when implementing Tele-informatics is another
challenge which prevent sound decision making when managing
health care through e-health systems (de Lusignan, 2015).
Privacy and trust are another key issue facing e-
commerce application in health sector. Issues of consent, trust
and privacy remain important in sharing of medical data
(Laurenza et al., 2018). Additionally, in areas of e-services such
as e-consultation entailing remote diagnosis and treatment it
requires great trust such that the patients will be satisfied with
the services they pay for. Contrary, the caregiver needs to be
sure after giving out the health care services the consumers
purchase (Laurenza et al., 2018). The proper regulation of e-
health applications by government is lacking to provide
invulnerable e-health platforms. The rapid development of the
chronic diseases is one area which is not well managed in e-
health. The health practitioners report a challenge of being to
manage multi-morbidity and provision of safe care (Laurenza et
al., 2018).
In conclusion, e-commerce is very important in health
sector and has played a great role of availing medical services
to remote areas where medical facilities and expertise is rare.
The e-heath sector has greatly empowered the product and
service industry in healthcare through the supply chain
management and use of e-commerce to sell and buy medical
products and services online. However, though the e-healthcare
has such a great potential it faces various challenges.

Methods Presentation Analysis
The research will be based on the qualitative research
approach since it seeks to establish how important e-commerce
is to healthcare and why it should be adopted (Scotland, 2012).
A qualitative research on the basis of the interpretive paradigm
is based on opinions of the subjects which are then subject to
interpretation by the researcher.
Study Design : I. Case studiesII. Interviews, Search strategies,
Close-out surveys, Centralized system and Champlain Base
systemIII. Focus on Effectiveness and Convincing nature
Sultanow and others (2016) uses revelatory case study
analysis methodology to examine adoption of e-commerce in
German oncology supply chain. The authors used the
recommended case analysis practices which include use of
multiple researchers, evidence and sources. The authors used
interviews to collect data on the company and industry from top
executives, press releases, e-commerce websites, company
documents, consulting organizations, European Union, industry
associations among other institutions.
The interview was conducted in German and transcribed
into English. Information from the interviews were compared
with theoretical information from literature and face validity
verification done by one author. The authors intended to
investigate on the cost cutting and efficiency improvement
benefits attributed to adoption of e-commerce in the

pharmaceutical sector, especially after the 2012 policy that
denied the manufacturers ability to set prices and only allowed
for negotiated prices. Such policy resulted to reduced profit
margins and for companies to remain competitive, they had to
device mechanisms to increase their sales at low cost and
adoption of e-commerce is suitable.
The authors established that Germany is faced by
pressure to improve efficiency and low costs for pharmaceutical
products supported by policy change in 2012 as they are
supposed to negotiate prices as opposed to earlier situation
where they were price setters. The pharmaceutical sector in
Germany, authors established have shifted to e-commerce in
order to cater reduced profit margins and competition from new
entrants. In addition, authors found that companies like Max
Pharma have developed e-commerce solutions to sell short-
dated oncology drugs at discounts. This helps the company to
deal with obsolete inventory.
Max Pharma, authors realized have the only e-commerce
systems for short-dated drugs motivated by changing
environment rather than competition, experienced IT
developers, business partner readiness. The systems have helped
Max Pharma reduce costs, increase its global visibility, creation
of new customer base and customer customization orders.
Since the authors used case study method, they did not
have result presentation, only that they evaluated the factors
based on literature review and other sources within the industry.
The authors data can be subjective because and might fail to
meet the required criteria to prove authenticity because they
relied on a single case study and single country for their
analysis on adoption of e-commerce. Though they touched on
various factors and benefits of e-commerce in pharmaceutical
sectors, it cannot be taken as conclusive results because they
relied only on case study method.
More quantitative data is needed to achieve conclusive
finding on the subject. Graphical and numeric presentation of
how many orders and the profit margin Max Pharma makes from

the sale of short-date drugs should be availed to help in making
conclusion on the benefits of investing in the e-commerce
sector. The qualitative arguments by the authors, however, can
be used in the methods chapter because it gives guidance on the
probable benefits of using e-commerce in the sector.
Black and colleagues (2011) investigated impact of e-
health on safety and quality of health care. In their methods, the
researchers established three categories for classifying e-Health
technologies. The first category included managing,
transmission and storing of data, second category related to
clinical decision making support and the last category related to
distant care facilitation. The authors then implemented methods
on the relying on Cochrane Collaboration, Organization
Programs and NHS services.
Authors utilized search strategies that helped map health
care safety, e-Health interventions and quality to obtain relevant
review published from 1997 to 2010. The researchers screened
identification of reviews to 53 which they used because they
supported the above categories selected. In category one, they
included all electronic health records and other picture storing
systems. In the second category, they included computerized
physician or provider e-prescribing and order entry and in the
third category, they used clinical information systems used in
relation with e-Health technologies, support clinician, integrate
clinical and population information.
Authors found that, most of the clinical claims concerning
e-Health technology lacked empirical evidence. The authors
found that the evidence base that supported e-Health
technologies was inconsistent and weak and e-Health
technologies cost effectiveness was insubstantial. The authors
established that the many benefits could hardly be realized. On
the contrary, the researchers found that introduction of new
technologies in health care in most instances created new risks.
Such risks include prescribers’ over-reliance on e-prescribing
on clinical decision support or in other instances overestimating
e-Health technologies functionality hindering practitioners’

performance. E-Health cannot depend on systems that have not
evidence supporting the claims of their cost-effectiveness and
patient outcome.
Although e-Health technologies have received much
support, their lack of empirical evidence to support their much
hyped benefits which result to large-scale funding. Even those
e-Health technologies that have been identified as successful,
less evidence exists to demonstrate that such tools have the
capacity to remain successful beyond the mandate they were
meant for.
The findings mean that e-Health technologies need to be
evaluated based on broad set of factors stretching throughout
the technology intended life cycle in order to maximize on the
proposed patient outcomes and cost-effectiveness. Auditing
existing e-Health technologies is also important because they
can inform on future technology adoption.
Data presentation and analysis by the authors is relevant
based on the retrieved reviews. Convenience sampling and
selection of methodology is suitable for the kind of research the
authors purposed in their scope. However, relying on evidence
and information from other authors cannot guarantee accurate
information. Validation of the systems and the e-Health
technologies used should be done for one to make solid
conclusion on their cost effectiveness and patient outcomes.
Literature reviews sometimes deny authors authenticity
and claim for their conclusion because they use secondary data
that could be subjective. It is difficult to apply such
methodology in the methods section because they lack validity
and can only be used to guide in the possible methods available
for use. The presentation offered by the authors is not
convincing and they require to validate the technologies used to
conclude that they are not cost effective nor do they improve
patient outcome. All systems require validation to disqualify
them or qualify them which is lacking from the researchers’
methodology.
Keely and others (2013) used close-out surveys to collect

all e-consultations from April 2011 to June 2012. The
utilization data that the authors collected included: specialist
response, time required for response by specialist and the
submitted number of e-consultation. The close-out survey was
used to determine the perceived benefits and the impact e-
consultations had on health care delivery. Building the
correspondence web on an existing web allowed for easy
integration coupled with assured privacy after its impact
assessment. The authors also used standardized electronic forms
that were patient-specific for specialty services.
The setting of the system allowed for specialist
notification and interaction with patients either through asking
for more information or offering recommendation without face-
to-face interaction or even recommend referral with
continuation notification for both specialists and patients. The
content of the electronic form was updated based on feedback
from interest from specialists and primary care givers. The
authors collected and coded all prospective e-consultation
during the specified period. The survey results compilation only
included individuals with more than 10 completed e-
consultations.
The authors’ presentation of the results was systematic
using tables, percentages and graphs from the surveyed
participants meeting the set criteria. The results and
presentation from the authors offers a quantitative analysis of e-
consultation use. Their findings are informative because it is
statistically verifiable and had set out variables. Authors’
conclusion such as e-consultation benefits for patients and
providers are supported by evidence from the collected and
analysed data.
The authors’ use of centralized system in which they
determined which services required e-consultations and which
service required face-to face consultations helped to screen
information and data to eradicate any possible bias and errors.
From their analysis, the authors were able to identify that e-
consultation has resulted to about 50% face-to-face

consultation. The authors reported satisfaction, short response
time and utilization for using e-consultation as opposed to face-
to-face consultation.
The author results also indicate that use of Champlain
Base system could result to satisfactory e-consultation services
with potentials of eliminating the need for face-face
consultation and improved access to specialty service with rapid
response. The e-consultation provides an opportunity for
reduced time wastage in seeking health care. The presentation
adopted by the authors is effective and convincing since the
values they give can be verified from their graphical
presentations. Decisions and conclusions from the authors is
also reliable because it is based on analytical data.
It is a suitable methodology that can be incorporated in
the methods chapter of this proposal. The methodology used by
the authors provide a better mechanism of testing e-commerce
systems used in health care setting. Relying on literature review
without validating the system cannot provide reliable
conclusion. The fact that the researchers subjected their e-
consultation system to validation only improves their claim on
usability of the system to solve consultation problems. Face to
face consultation are time consuming and expensive but e-
consultation can reduce the cost of health care and time needed
to address issues and act on emergencies.
Methodology
The research will be informed through an interpretive paradigm.
An interpretive paradigm seeks to understand the world or the
area of study from a subjective point of view of the participants
and it uses meaning oriented methodologies for collecting data
which portray a subjective relationship between the researcher
and the participants (Scotland, 2012). Such methods include
observation, interviews and questionnaires. The paper aims at
establishing the importance of e-commerce in health care and
find out the various areas in healthcare where e-commerce is
applied. The research will be based on the qualitative research
approach since it seeks to establish how important e-commerce

is to healthcare and why it should be adopted (Scotland, 2012).
A qualitative research on the basis of the interpretive paradigm
is based on opinions of the subjects which are then subject to
interpretation by the researcher. Sample population
Sampling research method will be utilized in which purposeful
sampling technique will be conducted on the target population.
The aim of the research is survey how important ecommerce
adoption in health care is to both the patients and the primary
care providers and identify the various challenges and gaps in
the e-health sector. The target population entails the primary
care providers and patients who have used an e-commerce
platform to provide or to access health care services. (Gentles et
al., 2015)Sampling method enables researchers to come up with
a conclusive information about a certain population based on
results from a subset of the population without necessarily
having to investigate the entire population. What is fundamental
is that the sampled population represent the entire populations
of those accessing e-health care services. The sample population
will be selected through purposive sampling strategy which
entails selecting information rich cases for the purposes of the
in depth analysis. Purposive sampling strategy involves picking
participants in regard to how much knowledge they have
concerning the area of study (Gentles et al., 2015). Purposive
sampling is non-probability sampling technique which is
subjective in nature and which is considered limited when
representing the population being researched about. However,
purposive sampling technique is essential when the researcher
has limited resources for instance, in this case the technique
will be very relevant since the targeted population is not
directly found and the e-commerce platforms are just not
adopted in all health care stakeholders. Therefore, the
researcher will be required to identify the various stakeholders
in supply chain management and e-consultation services and
engage them in the research. The researcher will therefore
choose at least five areas where e-health is operational and

engage them .the survey forms will be distributed to at least 200
participants with an option of choosing to participate or not.
The paper will then assess the submitted questionnaires against
those not submitted.Data collection
Questionnaires method will be administered to aid in data
collection; a survey will be conducted through answering the
provided set of questions which will be informed by the
research questions. Direct observation will be another method
that will be utilized. The questionnaires will be web-based
considering that the target population will be active users of
technology in making transactions and accessing the e- services
in the health (Van et al., 2010). A web based questionnaire has
advantages over the traditional one which involves a paper and
a pen which can be boring and tedious as well as participants
have to write. The web based questionnaires can be shared
directly to the participants or liaise with the owners of the e-
commerce platforms in the health sector to add the survey forms
after some of the services where the users can fill and submit.
In addition, liaising with the key stakeholders in the e-
commerce remains still necessary for the survey to be
successful since independently the researcher is not able to
interact with the stakeholders of the e-health (Van et al., 2010).
Therefore, for the survey questionnaire forms to reach the target
population will require great cooperation of the e- commerce
platforms owners.
The decision to use the web-based questionnaires as a form of
online survey is good because of a couple of advantages (Van et
al., 2010). . Online survey provide ease of data gathering as
they facilitate easy distribution to a greater number of people at
just a click and eradicates the tedious process of moving from
one place to another dropping the survey forms. Additionally,
on-line surveys are cost efficient, they greatly reduce costs; in
the traditional setting, completing a survey requires expenditure
of more than a thousand dollars especially if the number of
participants is large; however, in online surveys through

internet necessitates a low-cost and fast data collection without
much effort (Van et al., 2010). . No paperwork required or
other costs of the face to face surveys. The online surveys are
automated and just require the participants to input their
answers online while connected in the internet and the inputted
information is stored in a database for retrieval by the
researcher. Online survey facilitate increase in response rates
amongst the respondents because it allows them convenience
through filling out the questionnaire at their own pace and time
without worrying about data loss, on-line surveys allow the
participant to resume whenever they feel like. Lastly, online
surveys offers flexibility and allows conduction of complex data
surveys since they are automated the participants do not get
easily discouraged. However, online surveys have some
limitations in that they do not prevent fraud surveys where
people do not give helpful information to help the research but
just answer for the sake of it (Krosnick, 2018).
Comparing questionnaires to other forms of data collection such
as interviews they have a couple of advantages (Krosnick,
2018). Questionnaires are not expensive in terms of time
consumed and cost. They are also practical and can reach a
large number of people unlike the interviews which are tedious
and engage one participant at a time therefore, consuming lots
of time. Questionnaires are scalable and offer comparability
hence giving the researcher a capability to measure change or a
certain variable. They offer a quick way to get results and allow
easy analysis and representation of data. Questionnaires also
facilitate the respondent anonymity a very valuable aspect of
data collection where respondents wish to remain anonymous.
Moreover, questionnaires do not have any time constraints
especially the online ones, they allow the participants to
respond anytime they wish. Some of the disadvantages of
questionnaires include dishonest answers, left out
questionnaires which respondents leave unanswered.
Questionnaires are unable to convey feeling or emotions and
hey can be tedious hence, it is important that the questionnaire

survey has a standard length, not too short and not too long
(Krosnick, 2018). If it too short it won’t provide a considerable
information and it is too long it may discourage the
respondents. Therefore, weighing out the advantages of the
questionnaires over its disadvantages, the web-based
questionnaires are reliable and convenient.
Direct observation is another data collection method that will be
employed just to complement the online questionnaires (Brandts
& Charness, 2011). Direct observation will only be employed on
the e-health systems that have feedback systems which allow
both the primary care providers and the patients to share their
experiences and based on the feedback the researcher is able to
assess the importance of e-commerce in health sectors and be
able to identify any gaps and any expressions of dissatisfaction
or unmet demands. The advantages of the direct observation is
its simplicity and the gathering of the first-hand information
(Brandts & Charness, 2011).
Data analysis
The obtained data will be evaluated through a semantic
differential scale; the semantic differential scale allows the
analysis of perceptions of human mind in multidimensional
manner and by giving each statement assessment a scale based
on two opposite adjectives offering a range such as from bad to
good with increasing points as the scale approaches the positive
side (Takahashi et al., 2016). The online questionnaire should
allow the participants to tell the degrees of their mind
perception concerning e-health through a five point Likert scale
(Takahashi et al., 2016). Semantic differential analysis will then
be applied to analyse the different degrees of the mind
perceptions (Takahashi et al., 2016). The obtained data can be
tabulated and represented on graphs and charts for comparison
purposes. The data analysis and the comparison of the data
presented on the questionnaires will allow determination of the
key purpose of the research on the importance of e-commerce in
health care, the levels of satisfaction amongst the users of the e-

commerce to access health care, the challenges, the gaps and the
prospect areas and new areas of health services left
out.Expected outcome
The finding of the research after the data collection and analysis
should reveal the importance of embracing e-healthcare and
portray people’s appreciation of it compared to the traditional
health care system. It is expected that there will be
dissatisfaction as well due to the unmet demands and the
challenges in adoption of information and communication
technology. It is expected that through the questionnaire survey
there will be a positive feedback on the benefits of e-healthcare
and also a provision of insights on other possible gaps to be
addressed from a consumer perspective which can help inform
the health care providers to enhance their e-commerce
technologies.
Concluding SectionsLimitationsProposed Timeline,
Conclusions/Projections

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