A self-service environment in which consumers carry out activities and transactions independently

A self-service environment in which consumers carry out activities and transactions independently-

As companies as well as people have developed and moved on with the technology age it means that companies such as banks make even the most complicated tasks into simple ones that can be completed over the Internet.  This means that people can access and look at the bank account and even transfer money from one account to another on their phones! Just a few years ago nobody would have thought that such a previously complex and lengthy task to complete could now be done so quickly and easily, not just on the computer but on our phones as well!

Not just this, but it is also possible now to shop on your phone as most shops now have apps for android and ios phones as they are reaching out to the teenagers who like to shop and browse on the websites quite a lot of the time. Due to people becoming more independent as technology has developed it means that tasks such as banking and shopping over the internet has become a lot easier and therefore a lot more people are opting to do so.

Mobile technologies that are blurring the distinction between home and work

Mobile technologies that are blurring the distinction between home and work-

Dearer Smartphones make it possible for executives to slip the office into their pocket which means that they will most likely always respond to an E-Mail or text even when they are having Sunday brunch with their family when their company-issued BlackBerry, iPhone or other hand-held electronic device pings with an e-mail from the boss. Some people may argue that if you’re an entrepreneur and it's a client they must answer as it is their business and they could jeopardize their business. However,   should you open it? If you do, should you respond? During your time off should you even have the thing on in the first place?

As technology becomes more mobile, it can chain employees to the office 24/7 and blur the boundaries between work and home life. Some people find smartphones help them to get more work done, but others are beginning to resent losing control over the ability to keep their two worlds separate. Employers are finding they need policies to let workers know what's expected, including when its ok to power off. But many businesses still offer no clue, causing anxiety and frustration for workers.

Smartphones have made it possible for a person to slip nearly everything at his or her desk including a computer with Internet access, a Rolodex, file cabinets and databases into a purse or a pocket. So, during break at a school play, an employee can give that proposal a final review and send it off. For many, such convenience comes with the challenge of making sure this virtual lifeline to the job doesn't turn into an electronic leash.

As it is possible to connect to WI-Fi and 3G on your phones it means that you can do pretty much anything on your phone that you can also do at home on your computer which means that people are spending a very long time on their phone compared to that they would if this opportunity wasn’t available. I personally think that being able to get WI-Fi and 3G on your phone is a good thing but only to a certain point as it makes it possible to get E-mails on your phone which means you are constantly accessible, and speaking from experience, I know that this can have an impact on ‘days off’ and family time, as it means that you can always be asked by someone to complete a task for work when this should be left for work times.

Virtual communities

Virtual communities-

A virtual community is any place groups of people talk together on the Internet; in mailing lists, in newsgroups, in chat rooms, or on Web sites. Virtual community can also cover more specialized situations, such as long-distance education or shared project work spaces. And it can describe some communications that aren’t discussions, such as posting customer evaluations or answering opinion polls. Whenever people are aware of each other’s presence on the Internet, they’re likely to consider themselves part of a community. As access to the internet has become a lot easier and roughly 78% of the United Kingdom population are on a social networking site of some sort, more and more people are being brought together by the internet. An example of this is a dating site such as E-Harmony. These sites have grown rapidly in the last few years and now around 20% (1/5) of relationships now start online and so more and more people are turning to these virtual communities more often than they would have done a few years ago. This has happened because more and more people are using the internet in their everyday lives and so it is very quick and easy to apply.

One of the most popular virtual communities is Facebook, along with Twitter. Even though a lot of people may use Facebook just to talk to their friends and family, it also has the use of bringing people together such as a girl who is looking for one of her parents who she has never known but now wishes to get into touch with. Stories of these events have made in onto the News sometimes where Facebook has brought people together who would otherwise never have come into contact without it.

Other Examples:

Discussion groups linked to a specific Web site are quickly becoming the standard for site-based virtual communities. Like e-mail and newsgroups, you post a message to a discussion group and read the response later. You can participate in Web-based discussion groups on any site that hosts one, and build your own either by hosting it yourself or by using one of the many free discussion group tools like World Crossing.

Discussions that take place “live” (in real time) in chat rooms are the quickest way to connect with people on the Internet. In addition to traditional chat rooms, there are chat rooms in which you can move through a graphical world and others in which you can build your own text-based world.

A worldwide system of discussion groups, also called Usenet, is the most abundant source of communities. Whatever the topic, there is a newsgroup devoted to it. Like e-mail, you post a message to a newsgroup and come back later to see if you’ve received an answer. Newsgroups are simple to participate in (if you have a newsreader), but somewhat difficult to administer.

Increased business opportunities

Increased business opportunities-

As modern society has changed over the past few years, more and more people are opting to buy their products online rather than go to the high street to buy their products. Due to more and more businesses' being made in this way it means that shops on the high street have to downsize. An example of this is ‘Woolworth s’, this company had to close down its high street stores as they were not generating any profit and so they were costing the company more money to have them then they would if they did not have them. As the shops shut down the website kept running as this is where the majority of people were buying their products from, this is because their products were very simple so people were willing to buy the product without seeing it first. Therefore, closing the shops down did not mean that the company was going bust, but in fact moving on with the technology age in order to keep running and create the profit that they are capable of doing.

The amount of sites that you can purchase items on are endless, but one that is most popular is Amazon, on Amazon you can buy almost any item that you desire and is quick and easy. Amazon can ship too many different countries just as easily as it does to people living in the UK; this means that it can also generate more profit as it gets the business from other countries that other companies may not be able to generate. Other sites that do this are clothing shops, most of the ‘in demand’ clothing shops will ship to an endless list of countries that most people would not think possible.

Also most websites are far cheaper than the high street shops and so more and more people are opting to not go shopping in towns anymore but instead making their purchases online for a much cheaper price. As people have taken this into account, more and more companies are being created that only run on the internet and have some warehouses to ship their products to and from. This is the best way forward in my opinion as It is a lot easier and quicker for the customer as it saves them driving to the high street to buy a product as if they order something online the product can sometimes even arrive on the same day, but is often the day after.

Greater Interaction with others and Organizations

Greater Interaction with others and Organizations-

To keep in touch with people has become a lot more easier thanks to the new applications such as Skype and Google Hangout which enables people to talk and video conference from one country to another, even from the UK to America. Often these are free which makes it more attractive to customers, also to contact someone from one country to another does not cost any money and is pretty much instant depending on how good your internet connection is. More often than not though, it is very good and so it is a very attractive prospect for people to use, whether as a one off use or an occasional use to have conference calls. Another way that makes interaction with others a lot faster and easier is the standard E-mail. E-mail is a free luxury and is very easy to use which means that a lot of people find it a quick and reliable way to interact with others, whether for personal or business use. Email is often more reliable than applications such as Skype and Google hangout, as it does not have the option of video calling which means that you can communicate even with the lowest internet connection.

I personally would rather use the applications such as Skype and Google Hangout as it gives you the opportunity to voice and video call someone which is something that a lot of people may want to do, especially if they are contacting a loved one who may be living very far away (e.g. America). The downside to this though is that the quality can be very poor which means that these luxuries may not always be available for people to use. So, on the other hand people could argue that E-mail is better as it has one function, text information, and so they would purely use it to do this and so it makes it a lot more reliable.