Integrated Professional Skills in Digital Age

This report discusses the advantages and disadvantages of online and offline shopping, privacy and security measures for e-commerce, and compares the features and adaptability of Zoom and GoToMeeting as digital platforms. It also highlights the challenges faced by businesses in converting to online platforms due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Integrated Professional
Skills in Digital Age

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................1
A detailed comparison between the positive and negative aspects of online and offline
shopping.......................................................................................................................................1
Briefly explain measures and challenges of privacy and security that individual and businesses
has to take while converting there business online......................................................................3
Due to outbreak of COVID-19, many businesses are turning to provide their services online
platforms. Compare and contrast the characteristics, applications and suitability of any two
digital platforms...........................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
Books and Journals:...................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
With the advancement in technology is has become easier to promote and run business.
People get more inclined towards online purchases over conventional shopping in recent years as
it offers numerous advantages and benefits. COVID pandemic has changed the thinking of
people and has made online purchases a necessity in order to reduce and control the spread of the
virus. In recent year customers’ decision making structure has changed dramatically. E-
commerce and internet has made businesses much easier and faster. E-commerce website
provides several attractive deals and discounts associated with customer goods and this has
increased the demand of online shopping. This report outlines the comparison between positive
and negative factors associated with online and offline shopping. Further, it states the challenges
faced by business and individual owners to prevent their website. Also, the report encompasses
the features and adaptability of video conferencing tools.
MAIN BODY
A detailed comparison between the positive and negative aspects of online and offline shopping.
Positive aspects of online selling-
1. Wider reach- E-commerce website offers wide range of customers. It helps businesses
to promote their products to their potential customers with just few clicks. With the help
of E-commerce website, they can target their potential buyers effortlessly. (Katta and
Patro, 2020) E-commerce site provide numerous range of products from convenience
goods to speciality goods. There is no need to visit conventional store in order to
purchase certain products.
2. Reduction in cost- The major advantage of using digital platform is that is reduces the
cost of promoting products. Business owner has to spend huge amount of money to
maintain their traditional store. They have to pay for rent, interior and repairs to maintain
their store. But it’s not the case with online selling, a person can set up e-commerce
business with minimal investment. (Izogo and Jayawardhena, 2018)
3. Managing delivery and shipping of goods- Keeping a proper record of shipping and
delivery of products plays a vital role in online business. Well-established e-commerce
site like Amazon and Flipkart provide efficient logistics facilities to their customers and
1

by selling products on these websites can help small business as people trust these sites.
They also manage the exchange and return of goods, this save time and money of small
businesses.
Positive aspects of offline selling-
1. No time delivery- In conventional shopping there is no need to wait for product to be
delivered a person can directly buy anything from stores without waiting for it. A person
can't rely on online shopping in case of immediate purchase. There is no need to pay for
shipping of products. (Lee and Lee, 2019)
2. Personal interaction- In traditional shopping there is a face to face interaction between
buyer and seller this build a sense of trust with their customers. A person can actually see
how a product will look on them in conventional shopping, this service is not available in
online business.
3. Quality check- The customer can effortlessly check the quality and provide feedback on
the product which he intent to buy. A buyer may see, feel and touch a product while
purchasing from traditional store.
4. Discount- The buyer may get discount offers, cash discount in conventional shopping,
which is not feasible in online shopping because the prices of goods and services are
fixed in online shopping.
Negative aspects of online shopping-
1. Fraudulent act- Frauds are one of the biggest drawback in online business. Customers
get easily attracted by fascinating goods and discounts displayed by fraud business
owners and buy them. Customers should rely on cash on delivery and should not share
their debit or credit card information, as they can misuse that information for malicious
misconduct. (Advantages and Disadvantages of online shopping, 2022).
2. Lack of interaction- While shopping online a customer can not touch and check the
quality of the product. They can only visualize the product by seeing its picture and
reading it description. There is no face to face interaction between the seller ans the
buyer.
3. Hidden cost and shipping charges- Online product looks cheaper but customers doesn't
know about the extra charges such as tax and shipping charges that are imposed when
2

they make final purchase. These hidden charges increase the cost of the product. In order
to get relief from delivery charges sometimes people buy extra commodities.
Negative aspects of offline shopping-
1. Time consuming- Conventional and traditional shopping are usually time consuming in
comparison with online shopping as it takes a lot of time to travel to the store and buy
things where as in online business customers can buy goods within few clicks. (Barari,
Ross, and Surachartkumtonkun, 2020). Conventional selling doesn't offer facilities such
as home delivery which is provided in online business.
2. Limited choice- Traditional shopping does not offer wide range of products as it is not
possible for store owner to display several products at once where as in online business
the choice of goods is unlimited. A person can check number of products in just few
minutes which is not possible in conventional purchasing.
3. Higher cost- Another obstacle that offline businesses often face is the rent and
maintenance of premises. It also has to spend money on costs such as store decoration,
electricity, business insurance, including property, inventory, fire, etc. The cost to run a
physical store is much higher as compared to e-commerce website which require nominal
investment.
4. Not available 24/7- Another demerit of conventional store is that it operates up to a
certain time limit. It is not a case with e-commerce platforms which is available
throughout the day.
Briefly explain measures and challenges of privacy and security that individual and businesses
has to take while converting their business online.
E-commerce business owner has come across many challenges due to constant development in
technology. E-commerce websites owners has to implement certain security measures to protect
their website from fraudulent activities. Some of the challenges and measures that retailer’s face
is briefly stated below-
3

1. Cyber and data security- The major challenges faced by e-commerce owners is cyber
and data security issues. Online business includes huge amount of information in form of
data and in order to protect customer’s data from any misconduct business has to protect
the website from internal virus. (Chen, Cheung and Tan, 2018)
In order to prevent themselves from data piracy customer may install security plug in into
website to safeguard it from getting hacked. The customer must be vigilant and should keep data
in backup.
2. Online identity verification- It is important for e-commerce website owners to verify the
identity of its customers so that no fake person may get access of the portal. Any website
owner must invest in online verification to prevent any fraudulent act.
They can implement several ways to verify the identity of a person such as artificial
intelligence, one-time password and two factor authentication to safeguard his website from fake
customers.
3. Converting customers into paying customers- Another challenge faced by e-commerce
website owners is to change visitors into actual customers. The business manager must
hire a digital marketing team to get the insight of website performance. They will check
the number of clicks, impression and traffic and evaluate reason why business is not able
to target potential customers and generate profits.
The business owner must make their website appealing and attractive in order to drive
sales. All the product description should be properly mentioned. Always think from a customer’s
perspective and see if business is doing everything possible to make their visitors actual buyers.
4. Cross- border e-commerce- With the constant development in technology and
globalisation online business has become a part of everyday life People can purchase
goods from one country while sitting in another country. But this brings another
challenge for website owners. It can create a communicating barrier as customers may
not understand the language mentioned on the site and they will switch to another which
fulfil their needs. (Choi, 2021) However, the variation in taste and preference of people
and other pricing range restrict customers to buy from other countries.
4

An e-commerce business owner can tackle this situation by managing multi-lingual
website which can easily translate text according to the needs of its customers. This will help in
targeting and attracting more customers globally and enhance the revenue of the business. They
can also use currency converter to provide exact price to customers according to their country.
5. Website design and alignment- The physical appearance of website plays a vital part in
attracting more customers. Essential elements like search tab and description should be
displayed perfectly as it will provide customer a clear view of what they are purchasing.
E-commerce website owner must constantly improve its user experience, they can
implement A/B testing to evaluate and understand on what design their customers will respond
better so that they can eliminate unnecessary elements from there website.
6. Sustainability- Customers are adopting a culture of sustainable and organic lifestyle.
Business managers must anticipate the growing demands of customers for sustainable
and organic living and should incorporate required changes in there working. They
should work to reduce their carbon footprints to protect environment. Sustainability will
eventually reduce the cost and help in generating more profits.
7. Customer experience- Fulfilling the needs of customer's is an ultimate goal of any
organisation be it online or offline without satisfying the demands of customers’ business
cannot survive. The design and flow of the website, segmentation all these factors play an
important role in driving sales. The website must be mobile friendly so that customer
may easily access anytime and anywhere.
Online business can improve its customer experience by making their website attractive
and user friendly. The website must have call to action to engage its customers and to provide
clear instruction to them.
8. Competition- To gain advantage over its competitors’ retailers must implement effective
strategies to increase its customer base. They can do this by analysing its competitors,
scrutinizing the strategies used by rival firm to attract customers in the market segment
and identifying opportunities and threats prevailing in the external environment.
5

In order to overcome competition retailers must ensure their website is attractive and
appealing to their customers. They must create distinctive products and services with high
quality standard to attract customers.
Due to COVID pandemic, many businesses are turning to provide their services on online
platforms. Compare and contrast the characteristics, applications and suitability of any two
digital platforms.
Due to pandemic, living with COVID has become common. The use of online purchases
has become popular among businesses and individual. Businesses has moved towards digital
platforms to conduct day to day meetings and many firm has permanently given work from home
to its employees. Zoom has become an instant hit in business world and educational institutions.
The brief analysis of Zoom and Go to meetings is stated below-
Zoom video conferencing
Zoom video conferencing is one of the most popular and used cloud-based video
conferencing platforms in the market. It serve as a digital tool which help its customers to
connect with each other through meetings, video calling etc. (Dolamore, 2021) Business leaders
can easily access zoom app in their device and conduct online meeting or sessions. Zoom allows
its host or user to continue meeting up to 40 minutes and about 100 people can join meeting at
once. It provides high-quality features including screen recording, screen sharing and video
calling.
Features: -
Zoom has a wide range of features that you can access directly some of them are
described below-
1. Call recording- Recording video or audio ins one the highlight feature of zoom video
conferencing. This feature allows users to keep a record of conducted meeting so that
they can use it further. People may also access cloud recording in zoom, it allows user to
6

compile meeting in cloud software so that user can easily transfer and share recorded
meeting to people whenever required. (10 Benefits of Zoom for Small Businesses, 2020).
It also has a virtual background option.
2. HD video conferencing- Video conferencing helped business owners to interact face to
face virtually. Zoom offers 1080p video which may be affected by internet strength.
Video conferencing has helped many retailers and educational institution to conduct
virtual meeting and classes which has saved business and institution from sinking. Zoom
also has an in build function from where a person can adjust and change the video
quality.
3. Screen sharing- Sharing screen is crucial tool as it allows user to demonstrate his/her
presentation to a meeting host. With the screen sharing option business owner effortlessly
discuss any new project with his employees virtually. A person can share portion or
whole screen to the attendees with the help of zoom. (Isaacs and Chan, 2020)
4. Scheduling meetings- Another great feature that zoom offers is scheduling meetings.
Scheduling meeting will save a lot of time as there is no need to share meeting link to
each person. A person can schedule meeting by tagging all the attendees and they will
automatically get a notification about the meeting. It also offers a feature where a person
can give permission to another to set meeting in place of him/her.
Adaptability: -
Zoom has become a popular choice among business and individual due to the pandemic
as it was not possible to work offline. Due to wide range of features it is feasibly adaptable by
the business environment. Zoom is constantly working to provide best and appropriate features
to its users. Zoom features like meeting scheduling, call recording, multi-pinning, multi-
spotlight, virtual hand raising are easily accessible by user and help in disciplined meeting. The
features offered by zoom are highly appropriate for any business organisation or educational
institution.
Compatibility: -
A business organisation or individual can access zoom in any device such as android,
IOS and windows. With the help of zoom conferencing platform, it has become easier for
business and individual to connect despite of COVID pandemic.
7

Suitability: -
With the help of virtual platforms like Zoom any person can join meeting from anywhere,
it has reduced the cost company spends on different catch-ups and communications all these
factors have made Zoom suitable for its users. With an automatic meeting tracker, company can
analyse and evaluate an insight of the meeting and can track who all attended the meeting.
Go to meeting video conferencing
Go to meeting is another popular video conferencing platform. It is a video conferencing
platform that authorise user an ability to interact with each other. Business leaders or individual
can use Go to meeting to conduct their regular meetings. (Driscoll and Koch, 2020). It also
unique feature like screen sharing, call recording and video calling that business organisation can
use in their day to day functioning.
Features: -
1. Voice integration- With advancement in technology like conversational AI, it has
provided an opportunity to business to enhance its function and operations. This
particular platform offers a unique feature of voice integration where user can join
meeting by instructing a device and it will automatically connect an individual with the
scheduled meeting.
2. Call me- Another unique feature that Go to meeting offers is call me. Accessing this
feature an individual will receive a call reminding him about the meeting which is about
to start. There is no need to enter password to join a meeting.
3. Risk based authentication- It uses risk based authentication to protect the meeting from
malicious practises, this function ensures and prevent any unidentified user from entering
in the meeting. It allows users to continue their meeting smoothly without any
interference.
4. Multi-lingual support- Go to Meeting provide a support of supports of six languages
that include German, Chinese, French, Spanish, English and Italian which provide
8

flexibility to conduct cross border meeting. This tool is beneficial for multinational
business owners which have its roots in many countries.
Adaptability: -
Go to meeting is easily adaptable by its users and help them to conduct virtual call
without any barrier. Its unique features like multi-lingual support, risk-based authentication
helped multinational business owner to interact with their international clients virtually. Many
small businesses, educational institution and health professional has effortlessly adapted this
virtual platform to interact with their customers. (Hurst, 2020)
Suitability: -
Go to meeting is widely used by business owners and individual to conduct online
meetings, presentations, conference, webinars and sessions for training. This is user friendly tool
and can be incorporated in any device for instance Mac, android and windows.
User security: -
Go to Meeting is completely secure to use as it uses strong mechanism to safeguard their
customer's data and information, they use cloud recording and other security measures to protect
its users. In order to protect their meeting users must lock their meeting while they are in session,
they should provide password to join and they should remove unidentified person from the
meeting.
CONCLUSION
In light of the above analyses it can be stated that the abrupt spread of COVID virus has
adversely influenced small and medium size businesses worldwide. This has increased the use
of online services. The report demonstrates the positive and negative aspect of online and offline
business and the challenges faced by e-commerce owner while running their business online and
how to overcome them. Online shopping and even everything has its own limitations and
benefits, so it is entirely up to the user how they use them. Further the repost contrast and
compare the difference between the most popular video conferencing tool that are Zoom and Go
9

to meeting. Both the platforms offer unique features that helped business owner to conduct their
business without any hurdles.
10

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Katta, R.M.R. and Patro, C.S., 2020. Consumers' perceived value in internet shopping: An
Empirical Study. International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing and
Management (IJCRMM), 11(2), pp.17-36.
Izogo, E.E. and Jayawardhena, C., 2018. Online shopping experience in an emerging e-retailing
market. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing.
Barari, M., Ross, M. and Surachartkumtonkun, J., 2020. Negative and positive customer
shopping experience in an online context. Journal of Retailing and Consumer
Services, 53, p.101985.
Chen, Y., Cheung, C.M. and Tan, C.W., 2018. Omnichannel business research: Opportunities
and challenges. Decision Support Systems, 109, pp.1-4.
Choi, T.M., 2021. Risk analysis in logistics systems: A research agenda during and after the
COVID-19 pandemic. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation
Review, 145, p.102190.
Dolamore, S., 2021. Accessibility features in ZOOM to improve equity in the MPA
classroom. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 27(3), pp.376-379.
Isaacs, A.M. and Chan, B., 2020. Zoom: Pivoting to Serve the Surge of Unexpected COVID-19
Users (B). In SAGE Business Cases. The Berkeley-Haas Case Series. University of
California, Berkeley. Haas School of Business.
Driscoll, T. and Koch, R., 2020. CHOOSING YOUR ZOOM ROOM. Strategic Finance, 102(2),
pp.68-69.
Hurst, E.J., 2020. Web conferencing and collaboration tools and trends. Journal of Hospital
Librarianship, 20(3), pp.266-279.
Lee, J. and Lee, Y., 2019. Does online shopping make consumers feel better? Exploring online
retail therapy effects on consumers’ attitudes towards online shopping malls. Asia
Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics.
Online
Advantages and Disadvantages of online shopping, 2022. [online] available through;
https://www.marketingtutor.net/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-online-shopping/
10 Benefits of Zoom for Small Businesses, 2020. [online] available through;
https://blog.zoom.us/10-benefits-of-zoom-for-small-businesses-according-to-this-cto/
11

12