Business Reference Guide: Telecommunications & the Internet Age (PDF)

The volume opens with Carolyn Sprague’s overview of the evolving role of telecommunications companies and
the implications of providing “secure, reliable, and cost-effective communications options in the global economy.”
Simone I. Flynn describes the “e-transformations” to businesses brought on by the Internet, particularly globalization,
the exponential rate of technological development, and emerging markets for high-tech products and services. Flynn
also touches upon “issues of the relationship between developing countries and e-commerce.” Ruth A. Wienclaw then
examines the impact of web-based business applications and the increasing opportunities for advertising, marketing,
and exchange over the Internet. Wienclaw goes on to discuss the ways in which the Internet has become “invaluable”
to business, particularly in providing high-speed communications and applications for data exchange and electronic
funds transfer. Wienclaw provides further detail on the use and design of networks, explaining “networks can be
structured in a number of different ways…that determine how the various components interact and cooperate.” Businesses
can take advantage of this flexibility in order to design a network that best suits their unique needs. The use
of an intranet network allows company employees to quickly and securely exchange data and communications and
extranets can be set up to allow access to partners, customers, and other parties. Wienclaw then discusses Web 2.0, the
second generation of Internet usage that facilitates information-sharing, collaboration, and user-generated content on
the Web. Wienclaw advises, “The key to appropriately using Web 2.0 for business purposes is to look at the technology
itself rather than the current applications to determine how it can be leveraged into doing something new and relevant
to one’s business.”