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E

E-business
The process of using Web technology to help businesses streamline processes, improve productivity and increase efficiencies. Interaction with partners, vendors and customers, usually via a company website, but stopping short of online payment facilities.

E-commerce
Transacting business online via your website. Normally regarded to mean that customers can place orders and pay by securely submitting their credit or debit card details. Includes online display of goods and services, ordering, billing, customer service and all handling of payments and transactions.

EDI
Electronic data interchange. EDI is the exchange of business documents, like orders and invoices, between computers run by trading partners. It is fast, saves on paperwork, gives greater control over the way you operate and develops closer trading partnerships. It depends on proprietary systems, which are not always compatible with each other, and is gradually being superseded by open, Web-based technologies such as XML.

EDIFACT
This is an international standard for EDI, allowing information to be successfully transferred between trading partners.

Email
An email can be sent over corporate computer networks and the internet in minutes. Distance is no object. E-mail is cheap, quick, convenient and flexible. You can send an e-mail to a colleague, if your company’s computers are networked, or to customers around the world, via the internet. Emails can contain different file types such as text, graphics, video, audio, spreadsheets, etc.

E-marketplace
A web located marketplace that enables companies/individuals to buy and sell goods or services online

Encryption
Putting sensitive or confidential email, data, or documents into secure code to prevent them being read without the appropriate key. Especially used to protect data, such as credit card details, while in transit around the internet.

Ethernet
A popular standard for linking computers in a network. Thin Ethernet networks use the same coaxial cable that is used to connect a TV to an aerial.

Expansion port
A slot inside a computer into which additional hardware, such as a network card or an internal modem, can be plugged.

Extranet
A website offering secure access to suppliers, partners and clients to share corporate information.