Amazon and eBay free essay sample

What are the business benefits to Amazon and eBay of opening up some of their database to developers and entrepreneurs? Do you agree with this strategy? Why or why not? Amazon and eBay have opened the database doors to thousands of developers and entrepreneurs since 2002. They realized very quickly the benefits of this, which was once thought of as risky experiment. A database is a collection of information organized in such a way that a computer program can quickly select the desired pieces of data. It is therefore seen as an electronic filing system. Databases are categorized into Hierarchical, Relational, Object-oriented and Multi-dimensional Networks. Traditional databases are organized by fields, records, and files. A field is a single piece of information, a record is one complete set of fields and a file is a collection of records. For instance, a telephone book. It contains a list of records, each of which consists of three fields: name, address, and telephone number. Both Amazon and EBay has benefited by opening the doors for entrepreneurs and developers to tap into their data warehouses by: When the company opened its data vaults in 2002, with the support of the very first project Amazon Web Services, entrepreneurs, developers and businesses have tapped into the data. With this data, they began building money making Web sites, new online shopping interfaces, and innovative services for thousands Amazon’s independent sellers. eBay joined in with Amazon shortly thereafter. In doing so, they can interact, build and expand existing business partnerships with other companies. Opening and sharing databases has unlocked the possibility of what is believed to be the Web’s great new beyond. This is an era in which online businesses now operate as an open-ended software. This means platforms can now accommodate thousands of other business selling symbiotic products and services. The rise in open databases and Web services goes even further such that holding out the promise of automating the links between online businesses by applications that depend on companies sharing their vital data. Amazon, eBay and Google have taken advantage of this business and have taken it to new heights. Opening up databases to developers reaped enormous profits. Jeff Bezos the CEO of Amazon, felt that the company could benefit from making its databases available and it would expand the company’s online footprint and drive more sales. Meg Whitman, the chief executive at eBay called out to the eBay’s developer community, opening the company’s $3 billion database of 33 million weekly auction items to the Technorati. Some 15,000 developers and others have since registered to use that prized database and access other software features. Amazon was first to move forward with the idea of opening its databases in 2002. Databases as described in the text, â€Å"are an integrated collection of logically related data elements. A database consolidates many records previously stored in separate files so that a common pool of data serves many applications.† As mentioned on the second page of the Case Study, of the 65,000 entrepreneurs and developers that have decided to take advantage of Amazon’s open door approach about one-third have been tinkering with the software tools that help the 800,000 sellers of Amazon. Amazon has in turn benefited from the added efficiency to its site. Amazon and eBay became more popular and productive by opening up some of their database to developers and entrepreneurs. Amazon opened their data vaults in 2002 in which they made data available to 65,000 developers businesses and other entrepreneurs. In doing so they were able to make a transition from â€Å"Earth’s Biggest Bookstore† to â€Å"Big piece of software available over web†. This have indeed generated software tools which assist 800,000 Amazon sellers. These include Scout Pal (service turns mobile phones into barcode scanners) and Seller Engine Scout Pal (helps merchants on main site to upload their inventory, check prices and automation of adding new listings). As a result of this action, the companys sales volume have augmented hence enhanced profit margins. Both companies have also generated employment for the upcoming generation as well as becoming more accessible to the market. Firstly by furnishing a positive output to the organizations mass production and easy functioning of activities with their employees and customers. In doing so, they have made it more efficient and effective whereby customers can now give valid feedback on ways which they could improve the database in satisfying the customers needs which would result in customer satisfaction. It is much easier for customers and employees to search and make choices from the seller options. So I think for the organizations as such, this kind of strategy does works but it may not be applicable to all kinds of organizations where security issues are very important, because it may not be secure to do this. expanding the companys online footprint thus creating and building money making websites. Business Benefits – Amazon EbayExperimental RD for free – no expense for company.Expansion of company’s online footprint. Felicitates building moneymaking websites.New online shopping interface.Innovative services for 1000s of Amazon, Ebay and independent sellers.Increased Sales for the company.Development of software tools that help the company’s customers.Automation of links between online business and applications.Enhanced Market space for Sellers and buyers.