1. 1 Electronic Business & E-commerce technologies Key applications for e-commerce & e-business: Email Groupware Voice mail Facsimile machine (fax) Digital information services Teleconferencing Dataconferencing Videoconferencing Electronic data interchange (EDI) Provides network-based capabilities for communication, coordination and speeding the flow of purchase and sale transactions

2. 2 Electronic Business & E-commerce technologies Email &Groupware Eliminates long-distance telephone charges However use of email & internet has become an important management issue – is monitoring employees using email/internet ethical? Groupware provides additional capabilities for supporting enterprise- wide communication and collaborative work Voice mail & fax Voice mail system digitises the sender’s spoken message, transmits it over a network and stores the message on disk for later retrieval Fax machines can transmit both text & graphics over a normal tel line. A sending fax machine scans & digitises the document image. The digitised document is transmitted over a n/w & reproduced in hardcopy form by the receiving machine.

3. 3 Electronic Business & E-commerce technologies Teleconferencing, Dataconferencing & Videoconferencing Teleconferencing allows a group of people to confer simultaneously vie tel or vie email group communication s/w. Dataconferencing - Teleconferencing that includes the ability of 2 or more people at distance locations to work on the same doc or data simultanoeusly Videoconferencing – telconferencing in which participants see each other over video screens

4. 4 Electronic Business & E-commerce technologies Digital Information services, distance learning and e-learning Digital electronic services enable networked PC & workstation users to obtain info from outside the firm without leaving their desks E.g: Stock prices, periodicals, competitor data, industrial supplies catalogs, news articles etc Distance learning – education/training delivered over a distance to individuals in one or more locations Distance learning experience is increasingly based on IT, including video conferencing, satellite or cable television, or interactive multimedia including the Web E-learning – instruction using purely digital technology such as CD- ROMs, internet or private networks Some distance learning programs use synchronous comm – teacher & student are present at the same time during the instruction even if they are at different locations Asynchronous comm – teacher & student don’t have person-to-person interaction at the same time or place

5. 5 Electronic Business & E-commerce technologies Electronic Data Interchange(EDI) Key tech for e-commerce as it allows the computer-to-computer exchange between 2 organisations of std transaction docs such as invoices or purchase orders. Lowers transaction costs as transactions can be automatically transmitted from one info sys to another through a telecomm n/w, eliminating the printing and handling of paper at one end and the inputting of data at the other May provide strategic benefits by helping a firm lock in customers Can curb inventory costs by minimising the amount of time components are in inventory EDI v/s email: EDU transmits an actual structured transaction(with distinct fields such as transaction date, transaction amount, sender’s name) Email can transmit unstructured text message such as a letter

6. 6 Management Challenges Designing knowledge systems that genuinely enhance organizational performance Identifying and implementing appropriate organizational applications for artificial intelligence Managing Knowledge for the Digital Firm

7. 7 Office systems Manage and coordinate work of data and knowledge workersManage and coordinate work of data and knowledge workers Connect work of local information workers with all levels and functions of organizationConnect work of local information workers with all levels and functions of organization Connect organization to external worldConnect organization to external world Example: Word processing, voice mail, and imagingExample: Word processing, voice mail, and imaging Document imaging systems Convert documents and images into digital form Can be stored and accessed by the computer Knowledge repository Documented knowledge in a single location Knowledge Work Systems (KWS) Aid knowledge workers in creation and integration of new knowledge Specialized tools for specific types of knowledge work User-friendly interface Managing Knowledge for the Digital Firm

8. 8 What is Artificial Intelligence? Effort to develop computer-based systems that behave as humans Includes: –natural language –Robotics – coordinated physical task –perceptive systems – perceptual apparatus that informs physical behavior & language –expert systems – emulate human expertise & decision making –intelligent machines –physical h/w that performs these tasks Managing Knowledge for the Digital Firm

9. 9 Why Business is Interested in Artificial Intelligence? Artificial Intelligence: –Stores information in active form –Creates mechanism not subjected to human feelings –Eliminates routine and unsatisfying jobs –Enhances organization’s knowledge base –Generates solution to specific problems Managing Knowledge for the Digital Firm

10. 10 Capturing Knowledge: Expert Systems Expert systems – are a common form of artificial intelligence. They are used to assist humans in the decision-making process, but they don't replace humans. Expert systems ask questions, then give you advice and reasons why you should take a certain course of action based on hard data, not on hunches. Again, they don't make the final decision. Most of the problems an expert system helps resolve can in fact be solved by a human. But since the computer is faster or safer, businesses choose to use them instead. Capture the knowledge of skilled employees in the form of a set of rules. Knowledge engineer Specialist eliciting information and expertise from other professionals Translates information into set of rules for an expert system Managing Knowledge for the Digital Firm

11. 11 How expert systems work? Expert systems rely on a knowledge base built by humans based on their experiences and knowledge. The base requires rules and knowledge frames in which it can process data. When you think about it, humans work the same way. You look out the window to see if it's raining. If it is, then you grab your umbrella. If it's not raining, then you don't. There you have it: a rule base. Knowledge frames "represent knowledge by organizing information into chunks of interrelated characteristics." Your knowledge frame would be comprised of the fact that when it rains, you get wet; therefore you need to prevent that from happening. Yes, we used a very simplified example. Most expert systems require thousands of rules and frames in which to operate. The knowledge must be specific. In the example above, you wouldn't take any action if the only information you had was "It rains 350 days a year in the Amazon rain forest." Neither would an expert system. Managing Knowledge for the Digital Firm

12. 12 How expert systems work? (cont’n) The AI shell (the programming environment of an expert system) uses rules, frames, and an inference engine to accomplish its tasks. The inference engine uses forward chaining or backward chaining to move through the rules and the frames In our example, using a forward chaining inference engine, you would start with the idea that it's raining. You'd move through a series of decisions until you reached a conclusion and acted on it. You would determine that it's raining, then you'd decide how much, then you'd decide how wet you don't want to be, then you'd decide to take an umbrella. As long as the answer continues to be yes, you keep moving forward In a backward chaining inference engine, you'd start with a hypothesis and work backward until your hypothesis is proved or disproved. You got wet because it was raining; using an umbrella would have prevented that from happening Managing Knowledge for the Digital Firm

13. 13 Rules in an AI Program Managing Knowledge for the Digital Firm

14. 14 Managing Knowledge for the Digital Firm Forward chaining – Beginning on the left if user enters a client with income> $10000, the engine will fire all rules in the sequence from left to right Processing continues until no more rules can be fired Backward chaining – Should we add this person to the prospect db? Begin on the right of the diagram & work towards the left. You can see that the person should be added to the db if a sales representative is sent, term Is granted, or financial advisor visits the client

15. 15 Expert Systems Egs of successful expert systems(Pg330) Galeria Kaufhof Countrywide Funding Corp. You measure the success of an expert system by: Reduced errors Reduced cost, reduced training time Improved decisions Improved quality and services Happy users and happy customers Most problems solved by expert systems are mundane situations. "If it's raining then take an umbrella." But what happens if it's cloudy and only looks like it will rain? That's the exception to the rule about which the human being should make the final decision. The expert system might advise taking the umbrella along or leaving it home based on the input. The human makes the final decision to take or leave the umbrella. Managing Knowledge for the Digital Firm

16. 16 Expert Systems Problems with Expert Systems If you understand that expert systems can only do so much, you'll be just fine. If you understand that they aren't people with the powers of reasoning and intuition and therefore they can't make every decision, you'll know when to override the system and when to go with its output. Remember that everything in an Expert System is based on IF this, THEN that. But we know not everything is black and white, and there are many gray areas. Expert systems should not replace managers. They can aid managers in the decision-making process, but managers have to make the final call. For instance, you suggest to your boss that you should receive a pay raise. You have many subjective reasons why you should receive the raise; you arrive early and stay late, your work is always (well almost always) turned in on time, you filled in for Sam while he was on vacation. What happens if your boss feeds that into an expert system that uses only facts? You may or may not get the raise. Your boss still needs to use intuition, reasoning, and gut reaction to make the final decision. Managing Knowledge for the Digital Firm

17. 17 Organizational Intelligence: Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) Captures and stores collective knowledge Represents knowledge as database of cases and solutions So far, we've concentrated on capturing the individual knowledge in an expert system. Through practical experience, you've realized that "two heads are better than one." Very seldom will only one individual work on a project. What if you could tap into each person's experience and knowledge on a collective basis? Take the best of the best from each one and apply it to your needs. Then you give your knowledge to someone else who will combine it with knowledge from others and continuing building on "the best of the best." That's what a case-based reasoning (CBR) system does best. The Help files you find in most desktop software applications are built on a case-based reasoning model. The technical support staff combines thousands of customer queries into a single database of problems and solutions and refines that information into a series of IF this is the problem, THEN try this. Access the Help files in your desktop software and try it. Managing Knowledge for the Digital Firm

18. 18 Managing Knowledge for the Digital Firm Case database 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. NOYES Successful? System modifies the solution to better fit the problem System finds closest fit and retrieves solution System stores problem and successful solution in the database System asks user additional questions to narrow the search System searches database for similar cases User describes the problem Successful? How CBR works CBR represents knowledge as a db of past cases and their solutions. The system uses a six-step process to generate solutions to new problems encountered by the user

19. 19 Managing Knowledge for the Digital Firm Businesses are interested in Artificial Intelligence to preserve the experience and knowledge of their employees and use it to their competitive advantage. Expert Systems emulate humans in the decision-making process but cannot replicate the intuition and reasoning that still require the human touch.