Digital Age Skills: Integrated Professional Skills Detailed Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of integrated professional skills essential in the digital age. It compares and contrasts online and offline selling methods, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of each, including relationship building, product experience, and operational costs. The report also discusses the security and privacy challenges faced by businesses and individuals when transitioning online, such as cyber threats, identity verification, and online fraud, along with measures to mitigate these risks. Furthermore, it compares and contrasts the features, applications, and suitability of online collaboration tools like Zoom and WebEx in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, where remote work and online communication became crucial. The report emphasizes the importance of adapting to digital skills for organizational and individual growth in the 21st century.

Integrated Professional Skills
in Digital Age

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................2
Comparison and Contrasting between online and offline modes of selling considering positive
and negative aspects of both........................................................................................................2
Discussion of challenges and measures of security and privacy taken by businesses and
individuals when they go online..................................................................................................4
Comparing and contrast their features, applications & suitability of tools.................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
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INTRODUCTION
In the digital age integrated professional skills are required for the growth of
organizations and also the individuals related to it. Skills in context of digital age means
possessing of such skills that enables an individual to develop information & knowledge in
accordance with skills of 21st century. Some of the examples of integrated professional skills
included in the digital age are creativity, ICT skills and social intelligence. The current report
will be comparing and contrasting the positive & negative aspects of services and products that
are sold online and offline. A discussion of challenges and measures of security and privacy that
are undertaken by the individuals and businesses when they make their business go online will
be done in this report. In context of Covid 19 situation where most of the business made a shift to
online market two of the most common tools used that are Zoom and WebEx will be compared
and contrasted based on their features, applications, etc.
MAIN BODY
Comparison and Contrasting between online and offline modes of selling considering positive
and negative aspects of both
Selling of products and services offline is done through physical stores and online selling
involves utilization of IT services. There are various benefits and limitations that are associated
with the adaptation to both of these ways. Organizations selling offline develops certain kind of
relationship with their customers, as it involves visiting of customers to the stores and connecting
directly with the sales staff of the company (Chen and et.al., 2022). Offline selling opens up the
doors of opportunities for the sellers to establish relationship with their customers. The items are
seen by the customers in offline selling this provides a major advantage to sellers as many of the
buyers prefer to see the products they are purchasing while shopping for them. The online seller
cannot duplicate this personal feel and experience the product facilities that is provided by
offline seller. This is most probably the only area where the online seller faces difficulty in
comparison to offline seller. In offline mode there is personal connection of buyer with the
product concerned. Further another main point of comparison between the two types of selling
and buying ways is the product return rate. In offline buying the customer ensured that the
product purchased is of the best quality and as per the desires, needs and wants of such customer,
making it a main reason that such a transaction generally not results into returning of the product
by buyer. The product return rate is higher in case of online selling.
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Online business also termed as ecommerce can be of various types namely, business to
business (exchange of goods and/ or services between one business to another), business to
consumer (exchange from a business to consumer), consumer to business (selling of goods by
consumers to businesses), customer to customer (buying and selling of products and services
from a customer to another by involving a third party to complete the transaction) and peer to
peer (interchange taking place between a consumer to another excluding involvement of third
party). The online selling involves less operation cost because the workers involved are less in
number and everything this done through online systems automatically. While in case of offline
business activities workers are required at every phase of transaction (Major Differences
Between Selling Offline and Online, 2022). For instance, a salesperson is required for showing
products to customers and convincing them to purchase it, a person at cash counter for the billing
of the shopped items, security staff, cleaning staff, electricity expenses are all needed. These all
expenses are not required in online selling and hence the operational costs for the company are
low. In online selling the seller gets the opportunity to sell its products among a wide market
whereas in the offline selling the reach of business is limited to the areas in which the physical
store or outlet is present. There is certain time range in which the traditional store remains open
to sell the products and in modern selling technique there exist to time boundation restricting the
seller and the buyer to sell and buy items. Online sites are available to receive orders 24*7; this
is advantageous for both the seller as well as the buyer. When an individual decides to enter into
the world of commerce by establishing a business enterprise and earning profits the major
challenge is to decide and get the location that suits best to its aim. On the other hand, online
selling doesn’t require any kind to place in real world to start its operations (Online Business Vs
Offline Business – Side by Side comparison, 2022). The next basis on which both the offline and
online shopping can be compared is security threats. The level of security threats is different for
offline and online stores. Online stores face threat of site being hacked and offline stores are
exposed to theft and property destruction.
There exist certain similarities between the two ways of selling. In this paragraph the
common points between the online and offline selling modes where the referred offline business
is big departmental stores. Both in online shopping and in offline shopping the seller provides
items that comes from wide range of brands. There exist various stores from which the buyer can
choose to make its purchase. The next similarity between the both is associated with the above
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mentioned common area, the buyers can select freely from the wide range of brands accessible to
them. Both in selling by departmental stores and online stores the customer gets benefitted from
attractive deals and sales these sellers come up with. In department store medium of offline
purchase there is no direct contact or interaction of buyer with the seller, it is another common
basis. Hence it can be said that like online selling offline selling also provides a scope for non-
interactive buying experience. Purchased items can be returned by the buyer both in the online
selling as well as the offline selling.
Furthermore, continuing the similarities that are seen in online and offline selling
includes that both the businesses are subject to rules of basic economics. Seller of both the
mediums requires high demand for their product and services for the growth of their business
(Chen, Zhuo and Li, 2022). Sellers in online and offline areas must know that there are always
certain costs that are hidden which they have to pay. Some examples of hidden costs can be
transaction & shipping fees.
Discussion of challenges and measures of security and privacy taken by businesses and
individuals when they go online
Introduction and continuing of business processes online is known as eCommerce.
Certain guidelines are followed for the purpose of ensuring that the transactions held using
internet as a medium are safe, such guidelines are known as eCommerce security. It comprises
the protocols that are essential to safeguard the people involving in online selling & buying.
Certain basics namely privacy, authentication, non – repudiation and integrity needs to be placed
in order by business organizations to earn trust of their customers. Privacy by businesses
includes all the measures that prevents the activities that could possibly lead to revealing of
customers’ data to any unauthorized party (Yang, Elisa and Eliot, 2019). Integrity ensures that
the information shared by customers remains unaltered. Authentication is a principle ensuring
that seller and buyer interacting are real. Repudiation is the term used for denial. Non-
repudiation is a principle in legal terms ensuring that the parties involved cannot deny to their
actions in the transaction.
Cyber and Data Security
The foremost challenge that is faced by businesses when they go online is in terms cyber
and data security. Security breaches is the biggest challenge faced by organizations in
eCommerce. Successfully conducting business transactions online involves the requirement for
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storing a huge amount of consumers’ data & information online. It is type of technical issue that
can result into causing major damages into the routine business operations and degrading the
image of the brand. The measure that can be adopted by businesses is that it should always create
back up of all such data (Tawalbeh and et.al., 2020). Website can be secured by installation of
security plugins, there are a number of options available in the market of such plugins from
which a company can chose one based on its requirements.
Online Identity Verification
Another such challenge is of online identity verification. This means the challenge for the
seller to verify that the person they encounter with in course of online selling through website is
the same as claimed by such person. Challenge to verify the accuracy of the information
provided by the buyer. It is a major challenge in front of organization as it cannot process the
orders of any person before verifying the information that is given by such person (Keshta and
Odeh, 2021). The measure that can be taken by seller is incorporation of online identity
verification system. Certain examples of such systems are artificial intelligence, biometrics,
OTP, sign in, 2- factor verification.
Attract Perfect Customer
Further challenge to attract perfect customer is also faced by businesses. In the present
world of online selling there are numerous options available to buyers to choose from. This
imposes a major challenge to sellers is to attract the customer to opt for their products and
services at the rate by such seller and at the place where it ships. The measure to counter this
particular challenge is to partnering with the companies that helps businesses in their customer
targeting function. Fine-tuning, A /B testing and analysis are certain techniques used for this
purpose.
Malware, Viruses and Online frauds:
There are different types of the challenges which are usually faced by businesses when
they go online so become important to focus on having such measures so that effective
performance can be achieved (Ecommerce Security: Importance, Issues & Protection Measures,
2022). This particular issue results in causing the losses for the aspects such as finances, market
share and the reputation of the organization. It results in having the threats like raising all the
data, blocking access to particular information, forwarding malicious links to clients and other
computers in the network. This is basically exerted by invading the systems, multiply and
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spreading the worms & viruses. These all fraud lends programs offer the issue into the network
of computer.
Strategy to overcome:
In order to overcome such practices, there is availability of anti-malware software so that
appropriate render all the hidden malware on the business website can be identified. There are
various benefits which can be attained with help of unlimited scans, notification in case of any
change in the data saved in files canning powered machine learning and collective intelligence.
Uncertainty & complexity in the online transaction
Business needs to focus on the such courses of the actions that can help in attaining he
reliable level of performance. The main reason behind this is that there are several challenges
which is required to be considered for having better functioning. It comprises activities such as
payments, dispute resolution, delivery, etc that can be faced by the organization in turn good
results achieving can become possible.
Strategy to overcome:
in order to get the ability to make the appropriate changes in turn effective level of
results to get higher performance. It includes utilization of solid rock firewalls so that appropriate
protection from the bad bots, spam, and having preventing measures against distinct types of the
attacks.
On the basis of this it can be interpreted that utilizing the specific approach can aid in
eliminating this particular challenge.
Comparing and contrast their features, applications & suitability of tools
There are different kinds of the challenges which are basically faced by the organization
and become important for the company to pay attention on having such courses of the actions
which can allow getting reliable level of processing. COVID 19 is one of the adverse situation
which is resulting into the particular barriers for the company which does not allow operating in
the effective manner. It is important for the organization to get the appropriate set of the actions
in turn attaining precise and relevant level of ability to get the accurate & effective level of
functioning to have good functioning. For the purpose of achieving effective growth and
development it is crucial to emphasize on developing such practices that can boost the
functioning of company. The main reason behind having the digital courses of the action is to get
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such practices that can allow coordinating with the prevailing circumstances. There are various
restrictions which are being imposed at the time of COVID 19 on businesses so that concise level
of practices to get competitiveness.
For overcoming the issue regarding restriction of mobility, lack of availability of
resources, threat of being infected, etc. companies have focus on using the distinct level of
channels of digital communication so that greater performance to derive reliable outcomes. The
major tools which are taken into the consideration so that effective level of flow of
communication for conducting the operational practices in effectual pattern. This involves Zoom
and WebEx that focuses on having relevant capabilities to achieve higher ability to meet the
organizational requirements.
Zoom WebEx
Participants It is one of the significant cloud based
video conferencing platform which
provides the assistance for the utilization
of video conferencing meetings,
webinars, meeting records, live chat up to
100 participants (Zoom vs. WebEx
Comparison, 2020).
It is one of the effective
technique which is utilized by
the organization for the
purpose of hosting the meeting
for up to 500 participants.
Use- it helps in gaining the higher productive
results as permits to get the team
collaboration, white boarding and more.
This allows to get the appropriate level of
the functioning in turn getting
effectiveness to have higher profitability
to meet the objective of concise practices
& functioning can be done.
The major utilization of this
significant technique that helps
in achieving the appropriate
level of functioning for the
purpose of audio, video,
remote in virtual interaction,
etc. this offers the good level
of the hybrid experience to the
larger number of people which
contributes in attaining the
goal of having effectual
pattern of performance.
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Benefits- this is suitable for all a kind of the
business such as small, medium and large.
There is minimal level of interruption
which makes it more suitable for the
conducting of the operational actions via
sharing the relevant level of growth &
development. The main reason behind
this is that its features are highly suitable
as offers the lower extent of complexity it
is easy to understand and utilize which
make it more suitable for meeting the
objective of having effectual level of
actions.
It tends to provide the larger
effectiveness with faster
decision-making, improved h
collaboration with team by
maintaining expertise. It is
considered to be more
effectual as gives greater
presenting online by delivering
outcomes.
Applications: the one of the significant application of
the zoom is conducted for having the
meting among the people of organization
so that relevant conducting of sharing of
insights to derive competitiveness to have
higher level of clarity of the particular
issue. On the basis of this it can be
mentioned that This reflects the precise
centralized platform which contributes in
gaining effective functioning. The
application of this is permits to set up the
virtual video & audio conferencing,
webinars, live chat, screen sharing,
collaborative capabilities, etc.
Application of this helps in
having the corrective
outcomes but tend to be
costlier as compared to Zoom.
Its quality as well get
hampered from the functioning
of white boarding. On the
basis of this, the application
steps such as downloading
app, creating profiles, etc.
provides the assistance having
the secure conducting of
meeting which allows to
accomplish the objective of
having significant outcomes as
its user-friendliness is lower
than zoom which makes its
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application little difficult.
features The set of the features which are
basically provided by zoom includes
having private & group chatting, MP4,
hostel controls, crone &outlook plug in.
there are few supported integrations
which comprises google drive, para dot,
Dropbox, lo qua Hub Spot, Infusion soft
& more.
It tends to provide the
assistance in having the
features which comprise
multimedia content sharing,
local recording, Host control
Toll Free Dial In. Microsoft
office, Google calendar,
Facebook Live & More.
On the basis of this, it can be articulated that these are the few areas which are required
to be taken into the consideration so that effectual selection for the purpose of meeting the
objective of organization. This comparison shows that it is very important to give emphasis on
these so that corrective level of results attaining in order to have greater performance for
overcoming the challenges of COVID 19. these shows that it provides assistance in having
corrective level of communication by choosing the right kind of the features in turn higher level
of efficiency & effectiveness.
CONCLUSION
Based on the study it has been clear that integrated professional skills are crucial part for
the growth and development of both individuals and organizations in this current digital era. The
report has successfully explained the meaning of offline and online selling. Both the sellers and
buyers face certain type of advantages along with limitations in offline and online modes. Such
factors have been compared and contrasted in the report. The online selling has become one of
the most important part of doing business in the digital era. There are various challenges covered
in the study in context of privacy and security issue faced by such individuals and organizations
in going to online market. Lastly two of the tools namely Zoom and WebEx that became
commonly used in Covid 19 have been compared and contrasted in this report.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Chen, C., Zhou, X. and Li, Y., 2022. Online channel introduction under contract negotiation:
Reselling versus agency selling. Managerial and Decision Economics. 43(1). pp.146-158.
Chen, L. and et.al., 2022. Manufacturer’s online selling strategies under spill overs from online
to offline sales. Journal of the Operational Research Society, pp.1-24.
Kasha, I. and Odeh, A., 2021. Security and privacy of electronic health records: Concerns and
challenges. Egyptian Informatics Journal. 22(2). pp.177-183.
Tawalbeh, L. A. and et.al., 2020. IoT Privacy and security: Challenges and solutions. Applied
Sciences. 10(12). p.4102.
Yang, L., Elisa, N. and Eliot, N., 2019. Privacy and security aspects of E-government in smart
cities. In Smart cities cybersecurity and privacy (pp. 89-102). Elsevier.
Online
Ecommerce Security: Importance, Issues & Protection Measures. 2022. [Online]. Available
through:https://www.getastra.com/blog/knowledge-base/ecommerce-security/
Major Differences Between Selling Offline and Online. 2022. [Online]. Available through: <
https://www.storehub.com/blog/selling-offline-versus-selling-online/>
Online Business Vs Offline Business – Side by Side comparison. 2022. [Online]. Available
through: < https://cedcommerce.com/blog/online-business-vs-offline-business/>
Zoom vs. Webex Comparison. 2020. [Online]. Available through:
https://www.dgicommunications.com/zoom-vs-webex/
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