ELECTRONIC COMMERCE SOFTWARE

398
Chapter 9
Businesses on the Internet can face challenges when trying to exchange information with each
other—information such as invoices and inventory tracking information—using XML. With XML and
webMethods software, a manufacturing company’s order can be translated into a Web page that both
the manufacturer’s software and the Web server can understand. One of webMethods’ largest custom-
ers, Dun & Bradstreet, compiles financial and credit information. It uses webMethods software to
translate data from proprietary systems into a common format that any Dun & Bradstreet customer’s
computer can understand. Dun & Bradstreet’s customers save money when they use webMethods
software instead of writing their own customized programs to interpret Dun & Bradstreet data. Dun &
Bradstreet benefits because it no longer has to worry about supporting many different financial data and
credit information formats in its regional data centers; webMethods software takes care of translating the
different formats into a single form. As you will learn in this chapter, companies that engage in online
business activities often combine software and tools from different vendors to accomplish their goals.
Although small companies can sometimes use a single vendor to supply all their electronic commerce
software, most larger companies need to integrate a number of software products, each of which
performs a particular task or process particularly well.
WEB HOSTING ALTERNATIVES
When companies need to incorporate electronic commerce components, they may opt to
run servers in-house; this is called self-hosting. This is the option used most often by
large companies. Other companies, especially midsize and smaller companies, often decide
that a third-party Web hosting service provider is a better choice than self-hosting. Many
small Web stores use a third-party host provider for both Web services and electronic commerce
functions, particularly when the Web site is small or the company sells a limited
number of products.
As you learned in Chapter 2, a number of companies, called Internet service providers
(ISPs), are in the business of providing Internet access to companies and individuals.
Many of these companies offer Web hosting services as well. To distinguish themselves
from companies that provide only Internet access services, these hosting service firms
sometimes call themselves something other than ISPs. Because the hosting services they
offer are designed to help companies conduct electronic commerce, these hosting service