Security as an Enabler for E-Commerce Applications

Corporations are discovering the power of online services to increase customer loyalty, support sales efforts, and manage internal information. The common thread in these diverse efforts is the need to present end users with a unified view of information stored in multiple systems, particularly as organizations move from static Web sites to the transactional capabilities of electronic commerce. To satisfy this need, legacy systems are being integrated with powerful new e-commerce-based applications that provide broad connectivity across a multitude of backend systems. These unified applications bring direct bottom-line benefits, for example:

• On the Internet

• Via extranets

• With an intranet^[1]

On the Internet

A bank cements relationships with commercial customers by offering increased efficiency with online currency trading. This service requires real-time updates and links to back-office transactional and profitability analysis systems.

Via Extranets

A bank and an airline both increase their customer bases with a joint venture—a credit card that offers frequent flyer credits sponsored by the bank. This service requires joint data-sharing, such as purchase payment and charge-back information, as well as decision support applications to retrieve, manipulate, and store information across enterprise boundaries. Additionally, employees from both companies will need to access some, but not all, of the same information.

With an Intranet

A global manufacturer accelerates the organizational learning curve by creating a global knowledge-sharing system for manufacturing research and development. Plant engineers on one continent can instantly share process breakthroughs with colleagues thousands of miles away.

^[1]Hartman, Bret. “Enterprise Application Security Integration: An Overview,” 2003 Quadrasis, Inc. All rights reserved. Quadrasis, Inc., 1601 Trapelo Road, Reservoir Place, 3rd Floor, Waltham, MA 02451 [Bret Hartman (Author), Donald J. Flinn (Author), and Konstantin Beznosov (Author). Enterprise Security with EJB and CORBA , John Wiley & Sons; 1st edition (April 6, 2001)], 2003.