Online learning involves courses offered by post-secondary institutions that are 100% virtual, excluding massively open online courses (MOOCs). Online learning, or virtual classes offered over the internet, is contrasted with traditional courses taken in a brick-and-mortar school or business building. It is the newest development of learning in distance education that began in the mid-1990s, with the spread of the internet and the World Wide Web.

Learning experience is typically asynchronous, but may also incorporate synchronous elements. The vast majority of institutions utilize a Learning Management System (LMS) for the administration of online training courses. As theories of distance educational learning evolve, digital technologies to support learning and pedagogy continue to transform as well, creating more jobs in the online community.

One might wonder:

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of online business?
• What is online success?
• What makes an online course successful?
• Is online business successful?
• What kind of online business is most profitable?
• How can I succeed online?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of online business?

Online Business or e-business is any kind of business or commercial transaction that includes sharing information across the internet.

• Commerce constitutes the exchange of products and services between businesses, groups and individuals and can be seen as one of the essential activities of any business.
• Electronic commerce focuses on the use of ICT to enable the external activities and relationships of the business with individuals, groups and other businesses, while e-business refers to business with help of the internet.
• Electronic business differ from electronic commerce as it does not only deal with online transactions of selling and buying of a product and/or service but also enables to conduct business processes (inbound/outbound logistics, manufacturing & operations, marketing and sales, customer service) within the value chain through internal or external networks.

The term “e-business” was coined by IBM’s marketing and Internet team in 1996.

Advantages of online business

When looking at e-Business we have many advantages, which are mostly connected to making doing business easier. The benefits of implementing e-Business tools is in the streamlining of business processes and not so much in use of technology. Here are some:

• Easy to set up: electronic business is easy to set up even from home, the only requirements are software, a device and internet connection.

• Flexible Business Hours: There are no time barriers that a location-based business can encounter since the internet is available to everyone all the time. Your products and services can be accessed by everyone with an internet connection.

• Cheaper than Traditional Business: Electronic business is less costly than a traditional business, but it is more expensive to set up. Transactions cost are also cheaper.

• No Geographical Boundaries: The greatest benefit is the possibility of geographically dispersion. Anyone can order anything from anywhere at any time.

• Government Subsidies: Digitalization is very encouraged by the government and they provide necessary support.

• New market entry: It has a great potential to enable an entry to a previously unknown market that a traditional business could not.

• Lower levels of inventory: Electronic business enables companies to lower their level of inventory by digitalizing their assets. (i.e: Netflix does not sell anymore physical DVD’s but proposes online streaming content instead).
• Lower costs of marketing and sales: E-commerce allows the actors of the industry to advertise for their product/service offer (i.e: house rental) at generally lower costs than by promoting physically their business.

Disadvantages of online business

Despite all the advantages there are also some disadvantages that we need to address. The most common limitations of electronic business are:

• Lack of Personal Touch: The products cannot be examined or felt before the final purchase.  In the traditional model, we have a more personal customer experience, while in electronic business that is mostly not the case. Another missing factor of personal touch could also be in online transactions.

• Delivery Time: Traditional business enables instant satisfaction as you obtain the product the moment you purchase it, while in electronic business that is not possible. There will always be a waiting period before you receive the product. For example, Amazon assures one-day delivery. This does not resolve the issue completely, but it is an improvement.
• Security Issues: Scams could be mentioned as a factor for people’s distrust in electronic business. Hackers can easily get customers’ financial and personal details. Some customer still finds it hard to trust electronic businesses because of the lack of security, reliability and integrity issues.

What is online success?

An online community, also called an internet community or web community, is a virtual community whose members interact with each other primarily via the Internet. For many, online communities may feel like home, consisting of a “family of invisible friends”.

Those who wish to be a part of an online community usually have to become a member via a specific site and thereby gain access to specific content or links.

An online community can act as an information system where members can:

• post
• comment on discussions
• give advice or collaborate

Commonly, people communicate through:

• social networking sites
• chat rooms
• forums
• e-mail lists
• discussion boards

People may also join online communities through:

• video games
• blogs
• virtual worlds

The rise in popularity of Web 2.0 websites has allowed for easier real-time communication and connection to others, and facilitated the introduction of new ways for information to be exchanged.

One definition of an online community is this:

• a virtual community is defined as an aggregation of individuals or business partners who interact around a shared interest, where the interaction is at least partially supported or mediated by technology (or both), and guided by some protocols or norms.

What kind of online business is most profitable?

E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet.

Electronic commerce draws on technologies such as:

• mobile commerce
• electronic funds transfer
• supply chain management
• Internet marketing
• online transaction processing
• electronic data interchange (EDI)
• inventory management systems
• automated data collection systems

E-commerce is in turn driven by the technological advances of the semiconductor industry, and is the largest sector of the electronics industry, making it the most profitable online business.

Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web for at least one part of the transaction’s life cycle although it may also use other technologies such as e-mail. Typical e-commerce transactions include the purchase of online books (such as Amazon) and music purchases (music download in the form of digital distribution such as iTunes Store), and to a less extent, customized/personalized online liquor store inventory services. There are three areas of e-commerce: online retailing, electronic markets, and online auctions. E-commerce is supported by electronic business.

E-commerce businesses may also employ some or all of the followings:

• Online shopping for retail sales direct to consumers via Web sites and mobile apps, and conversational commerce via live chat, chat-bots, and voice assistants
• Providing or participating in online marketplaces, which process third-party business-to-consumer (B2C) or consumer-to-consumer (C2C) sales
• Business-to-business (B2B) buying and selling;
• Gathering and using demographic data through web contacts and social media
• Business-to-business (B2B) electronic data interchange
• Marketing to prospective and established customers by e-mail or fax (for example, with newsletters)
• Engaging in pretail for launching new products and services
• Online financial exchanges for currency exchanges or trading purposes.

How can I succeed online?

Online success mainly depends on its users, in theory, everybody can succeed, but does the theory hold true in practice?

The idea is that the online community is a special group of people who have special characteristics. To account for these special characteristics, I have provided the following factor model:

User factors

• Openness
• Computer skills
• Motivation
• Neutrality
• Flat hierarchy

Knowledge factors

• Type of knowledge
• Fast changing rate
• Peer review

Technology factors

• Easy usability
• Fast access
• Infinite reach, multilingual
• Flexible structure
• Safe

All of these factors play together to accomplish the goal of successful knowledge creation and knowledge sharing.

I hope that you have really enjoyed this post,