| Loading Page... |


This new Web + IT paradigm merges the standards, simplicity and connectivity of the Internet with the core processes that are the foundation of business. The new killer apps are interactive, transaction intensive, and let people do business in more meaningful ways.
Mr. Stephen Yeo, chief executive of the NCB, said: "The emergence of e-commerce is transforming the way businesses are conducted globally. The possibilities for new business opportunities are limitless. We want to be plugged into this global development and position Singapore as an international Electronic Commerce Hub. The aim is for Singapore to play the role of a secure and trusted node where electronic commerce transactions from around the region are processed."
Mr. Yeo added, "To do so, a pre-requisite would be to provide a conducive legal and policy framework to facilitate the development of electronic commerce. We need to create an environment of trust, predictability and certainty in the Singapore system, with good arbitration and good jurisdiction, for electronic commerce to flourish around us."

In our context here, the company communicates with the other companies by electronic means. This is actually not new, as many businesses have already been doing it since the 80’s by means of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).
Estimated at more than $8 billion in 1997, the value of goods and services traded between businesses over the Internet (excluding transfer of funds or financial securities purchased) far exceeds on-line transactions between businesses and consumers. The pace at which businesses are beginning to use the Internet to interact with their business partners is picking up rapidly. Analysts predict that businesses would trade as much as $300 billion over the Internet in the next three to five years. Others think it could be much higher [Delhagen, 1997].
The kinds of business-to-consumer services delivered over the Internet are:
One-way marketing. Corporate web sites are still prominent distribution mechanisms for corporate brochures, the push, one-way marketing strategy. Purchasing over the Web. Availability of secure web transactions is enabling companies to allow consumers to purchase products directly over the web. Electronic catalogs and virtual malls are becoming commonplace.
Relationship Marketing. The most prominent of these new paradigms is that of relationship marketing. Because consumer actions can be tracked on the web, companies are experimenting with this commerce methodology as a tool for market research and relationship marketing:
Companies are embracing intranets at a phenomenal growth rate because they achieve the following benefits:
Reducing cost - lowers print-intensive production processes, such as employee handbooks, phone books, and policies and procedures
Enhancing communications - effective communication and training of employees using web browsers builds a sense of belonging and community.
Distributing software - upgrades and new software can be directly distributed over the web to employees.
Sharing intellectual property - provides a platform for sharing expertise and ideas as well as creating and updating content - “Knowledge webs” . This is common in organizations that value their intellectual capital as their competitive advantage.
Testing products - allows experimentation for applications that will be provided to customers on the external web.

Figure 1: Interest and Usage in Business-to-Business E-Commerce
Figure 2: Interest and Usage in Business-to-Business E-Commerce by Industry
Figure 3: Interest and Usage in Business-to-Business E-Commerce by Company Size
Among companies currently selling through the Internet, about 72% uses web-based trading platforms (e.g. transaction-enabled websites, Internet trading communities) to accept sales orders directly through the Internet. 16% had a relatively narrower scope of activities, where only email was used to communicate sales order information among business partners. Among those planning to sell via the Internet, 69% expressed their intention to use their own web-based trading platforms to accept orders. 29% intended to use only email to communicate sales related order information with their business partners.
Figure 4

The environment consists of the physical network, components and services. It also includes a collection of standards, support and incentives to assist the online business community.
Steps are also being taken to ensure that the infrastructure is internationally linked in order to support cross-border transactions, and that policies are harmonized with international practice.
The Internet Service Providers also have dedicated overseas links, for example Pacific Internet's Asia Internet Holdings (AIH) connects to US via Japan for a total of about 4.0 Mbps, and Cyberway has a 128kbps link to the US via Japan.
Figure 5: Electronic Commerce Infrastructure [http://www.ec.gov.sg]

The Plan have 5 main thrusts:

Legal and Regulatory Framework There is a need for a conducive legal and policy environment for electronic commerce to flourish. Businesses need to have the assurance that they enjoy the same legal protections as traditional businesses when they conduct business on-line.
Policy Framework A national Electronic Commerce (EC) Policy Committee commissioned by NCB, comprising of 15 government bodies and chaired by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), has completed an Electronic Commerce Policy Framework which consists of a set of guiding principles and specific policy recommendations and initiatives. The framework, which has been endorsed by the Singapore government, sets out the policy objectives of the Government to work with the private sector to provide a conducive legal and operational environment for businesses to engage in Electronic Commerce in Singapore. It also contains policy recommendations that are targeted to help accelerate electronic commerce take-up and improve Singapore’s competitiveness with the view towards Singapore becoming a premiere electronic commerce hub.
Standards Singapore has established a set of open, industry-led, technical standards in the areas of network protocols, security, e-mail and directories, electronic commerce, and information sources and exchange. The standards facilitate interconnection and interoperability of businesses over networks.
Incentive Schemes Singapore has instituted a number of investment and tax incentives for on-line businesses. The incentives help organisations venturing into electronic commerce to manage the costs and risks of their initiatives.
Network Services
These services provide the networks that link on-line businesses. These services are provided by the Internet Service Providers (Cyberway, SingNet) and the Singapore ONE broadband network access providers (SingTel’s Magix and Singapore Cable Vision’s Cable Modem Service).
Directory Services
These services allow customers to search for information or web sites based on various search criteria. There are general purpose web-search engines like Yahoo! and Excite, some of which have sites in Singapore. In addition, some directory services have been set up to satisfy more content
specific needs, for example, the National Contact Information Service (NCIS), which provides contact information of people and organizations in Singapore.
Security Services
These services provide secure identification and secure communication over the Internet. Many tools for these purposes are available commercially including Netscape Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and Microsoft
CryptoAPI. NCB’s Infrastructure for Electronic Identification (IEI) initiative provides secure communication and secure identification using digital certificates and digital signatures. The first digital certification authority for IEI, Netrust Pte Ltd, enables parties to verify the identity of individuals and
organizations over an electronic network.
Payment Services
These services enable secure payments over the Internet.
The mechanisms available in Singapore include:
Business to Consumer Services
These CSPs create and host electronic commerce web sites for merchants who sell directly to individuals. Examples include NCS SelfServe and AsiaOne Commerce.
Business to Business Services
These CSPs provide services for electronic commerce between businesses. There are many such providers serving various business communities in Singapore, including TradeNet and Singapore Telecom’s Enterprise Messaging Services.

Examples of cost savings:
| Cost of a typical banking transaction: | Cost of a travel reservation: | Cost of a brokerage transaction: |
| Branch: $1.07 ATM: $0.27 Internet: $0.01 |
Travel agent: $10.00 Online: $2.00 |
Full-service broker: $150.00 Discount broker: $69.00 Online broker: $10.00 |


Set a budget and timeframe and do a scan of the external and internal environment. With this information, decide which of the processes would be the best to begin with and the degree of the change you need. All these would form the vision that could be shared with your business partners in order to gain their support.
Each of these steps are important to a successful implementation. We hope that business will consider each of these when venturing into e-commerce.


Businesses that use the Internet to buy, sell, distribute and support products and services are realising significant cost savings and increased sales opportunities. The benefits increase only when the network of businesses conducting electronic commerce grows.
As the Internet’s performance and reliability improve over time, and as predictable legal frameworks emerge, the growth of business-to-business electronic commerce will accelerate. Furthermore, since most of the SMEs in Singapore do business abroad [ST, 2nd Jan 1999], there seem to be much more for them to gain from business-to-business electronic commerce. Government and industry will continue to work closely to develop and deploy these new infrastructure services.