Joe Diana's Blog

Purchasing and IT organizations are continuously looking to improve the purchasing practices and systems they use to improve the efficiencies and minimize the spend. The recent economic downturn has helped organizations to be more cost-conscious. The software industry has responded to this business need by producing software systems along the lines of industry best practices of purchasing. They come in different forms (providing various functionalities of purchasing) and names such as eProcurement, Supply Chain Management, Supplier Relationship Management Systems, Strategic Sourcing, Spend Management Systems etc.

These systems provide buying organizations with:

• Easy to use tools to buy, transact and communicate with trading partners over the internet
• An integrated system of strategic sourcing and supplier relationship management
• Ability to integrate with the back end enterprise systems or home grown applications
• Ease and speed of getting suppliers on board
• Cost-effective administration and maintenance of an eProcurement system

Not only are online shoppers spending more online, they are buying more different types of goods. Consumers are now buying big-ticket items on the Internet like refrigerators and treadmills, and even luxury goods such as designer apparel and jewelry. This opens new possibilities for creative Web retailers.
The US Retail E-Commerce report looks at how online sales are becoming an ever more significant of the country's retail sector.

eMarketer estimates that retail e-commerce sales will increase an average 18.6% per year between 2005 and 2009 — that's strong growth, but still a downturn from the 26% annual rate seen between 2001 and 2005. It is not a cause for concern, however, but a sign of a maturing e-commerce marketplace. Still, exciting developments are taking place on the market's edge, where small Web retailers are emerging to meet the needs of shoppers with special needs and interests.

E commerce 2.0
A few years ago, Tim O’Reilly introduced the concept of Web 2.0 to make sense out of what was next for software solutions. Web 2.0 explains how the realities of tomorrow will change how software solutions are designed, created, and used.

By examining and extrapolating Web 2.0 principles, I began to see that they had important implications for online retailing. This is ultimately where the concept of eCommerce 2.0, and the Six Principles of eCommerce 2.0, comes from.

Understanding the new possibilities for software—and what principles are applied in creating it—is the foundation for understanding the future of eCommerce. It is also the foundation for taking advantage of eCommerce 2.0 principles and the new trends they drive. The Six Principles of eCommerce 2.0 Just as Web 2.0 is altering the software development landscape, the principles of eCommerce 2.0 will define how eTailers do business online.

Sumber :
http://www.emarketer.com/Report.aspx?code=ecom_us_jun06
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecommerce_2.0

Meta Data Services is an object-oriented repository technology that can be integrated with enterprise information systems or with applications that process metadata.

A number of Microsoft technologies use Meta Data Services as a native store for object definitions or as a platform for deploying metadata. One of the ways in which Microsoft SQL Server 2000 uses Meta Data Services is to store versioned DTS Packages. In Microsoft Visual Studio Meta Data Services supports the exchange of model data with other development tools.
You can use Meta Data Services for your own purposes: as a component of an integrated information system, as a native store for custom applications that process metadata, or as a storage and management service for sharing reusable models. You can also extend Meta Data Services to provide support for new tools for resale or customize it to satisfy internal tool requirements.