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Click button to see a list of newsletters in the archive Current Newsletter on 22nd April 2008 eBusiness Live - Issue 208 Enterprise Ireland - eBusiness Live -- Issue No. 208 22nd April 2008 IN THIS ISSUE In the news Most staff are monitored while online Online commerce still booming Employee file transfer is risky businessJunk mail continues to plague inboxes eBusiness in focus The price of intellectual property Securing online payments (part two) Other Useful Links Comment - Register to Comment - Solution Providers - Upcoming Events - Glossary - eBusiness Links - Library - How to Guides - Openup.ie Important information Archive Past issues of eBusiness Live are available here Recent discussion in the eBusiness Live Forum Subscribe/ Unsubscribe If you would like to regularly receive eBusiness Live, let us know. For the eBusiness discussion forum you can also send an email.To be removed from the eBusiness Live newsletter let us know or, for the discussion forum send Disclaimer This information has been provided by Enterprise Ireland and by third parties for information purposes only. While every care has been taken to ensure that the content is useful and accurate, Enterprise Ireland and any contributing third party shall have no legal liability or responsibility for the content or the accuracy of the information so provided, or, for any loss or damage caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with reliance on the use of such information. Copyright © 2008 Enterprise Ireland Compiled for Enterprise Ireland by ElectricNews.Net Ltd. All rights reserved. Contacting Enterprise Ireland You can contact any Enterprise Ireland staff member worldwide by emailing firstname.familyname@ enterprise-ireland.com The Programmes of Enterprise Ireland are co-funded by EU Structural Funds. eBusiness Live - Issue 208 Welcome to eBusiness Live, the fortnightly newsletter from Enterprise Ireland's eBusiness Unit. In this issue, the second part of our feature on electronic payments examines the security issues surrounding online transactions. We also take a look at intellectual property and how to evaluate this crucial - though frequently intangible - asset. And in our How To section, we provide tips on using RSS for information-gathering, improving your website, or for online marketing. Please feel free to forward this issue to a colleague, and let us know if there are any topics you'd like to see us cover. Eoin O Siochru eoin.osiochru@enterprise-ireland.com Get eBusiness Live on RSS IN THE NEWS Top eBusiness headlines of the fortnight Most staff are monitored while online More than 60 percent of staff in Ireland who use the internet at work face restrictions when trying to access social networking, entertainment, online shopping or webmail sites. The research, conducted on behalf of Eircom, also found that 78 percent of all staff go online for personal reasons while at work. Over half of those surveyed said their internet usage is monitored by software programs, the boss or other work colleagues. The research also concluded that 43 percent cannot access video-sharing site YouTube and other entertainment sites, while 32 percent have no access to webmail and 26 percent cannot shop on portals like Amazon, eBay or Ryanair. The survey also found that 47 percent of workers with internet access are blocked from social networking sites such as Bebo, MySpace and Facebook. For more on this story see ENN.ie. Online commerce still booming While bricks-and-mortar retailers may be suffering from slowing economic conditions, there are no signs that online commerce is being negatively affected. Globally, online sales are set to rise by 17 percent this year, with especially strong growth in clothing, computers and cars, according to a study by Forrester Research. The firm found that while the explosive growth of online commerce was down 4 percent compared with last year, the slowdown was attributable to the maturing of the internet as a business model. Forrester senior research analyst Sucharita Mulpuru noted that the boom in eCommerce growth was "a tale of two shoppers that visit the web for different reasons: The casual shopper goes online to look for the best price, leveraging the transparency of the internet to save money. However, more affluent customers appreciate the convenience of shopping online and are not necessarily looking for the best deal." Mulpuru urged retailers to recognise the opportunities offered by both audiences and to market to them accordingly. For more on this story visit Information-Age.com. Employee file transfer is risky businessCompanies are being warned of the dangers of using external online services to transfer documents. Software development firm DVS Soft Distribution says the methods used by some employees to transfer large files are putting organisations at serious risk of data leakage and possible malware contamination. "One of the problems is that businesses have restricted employees' ability to send large files over email without recognising that they still need to be able to get that information to partners and customers," said Andy Hansen, sales manager of DVS Soft. "Consequently, employees just look for the easiest and most familiar method out there, which is often social networking sites and Web 2.0 tools such as instant messaging." Hansen says that while most businesses may not be transferring vast quantities of customer information, it is still likely that typical files being sent outside the firm will include sales information, market projections, confidential pitches and competitive analysis. For more see VNUnet.com. Junk mail continues to plague inboxes New figures indicate that 92.3 percent of all email sent worldwide during the first three months of 2008 was spam. The figures, from security firm Sophos, also show that 23,300 new spam-related webpages were created every day during the period, the equivalent of one about every three seconds. The US and Russia maintained first and second place respectively at the top of the spam chart as the countries responsible for sending the most junk email. Turkey was in third place, with compromised computers in that country now responsible for relaying 5.9 percent of the world's spam, up from 3.8 percent in the last quarter of 2007. And while the US continues to relay far more spam than any other country, the gap is closing, suggesting that users may be receiving more education on safe computing and becoming more security-savvy than before. Read more on VNUnet.com. eBUSINESS IN FOCUS Addressing key eBusiness issues in depth The price of intellectual property What is intellectual property? What value does it have and how can businesses protect it? We examine how this often intangible asset can be priceless for SMEs.Read the full storySecuring online payments (part two) While new methods of electronic payment can present opportunities to extend online selling, how can you be sure that transactions are secure? In the second part of our feature on e-payments, we focus on security issues and take a look at how to go about adding payment functionality to a website.Read the full story HOW TO: Use RSS Want to use RSS but not sure where to start? We give you the basics to accessing this information-gathering tool and explain how to use it to boost your website's traffic.Read the full story IN THE DIARY: IIA Congress 2008Croke Park, Dublin 3, May 15thThis year, the Irish Internet Association's national congress is themed "Beyond websites: Business uses of social networking and new media". The conference will examine the impact of social networking on business, the integration of social networking into certain organisations' business models and how it can function as a valuable business tool. Speakers include industry professionals from Bebo, Dell, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Microsoft, IGOpeople.com and Worldwide Cycles. View a full list of events HOTLINK: Practical eCommerceThis is the website of the bi-monthly US magazine Practical eCommerce. Although tilted towards US readers, the site offers advice and tips useful for online sellers in all parts of the world. Pretty much every subject relevant to online vending is broken down and addressed in categories such as marketing, search engine optimisation, software and legal issues. Topics such as protecting customers' data and maintaining clean email databases are discussed in short, easy-to-read articles, and the site also offers blogs, discussion forums, podcasts and RSS feeds.
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This information has been provided by Enterprise Ireland and by third parties for information purposes only. While every care has been taken to ensure that the content is useful and accurate, Enterprise Ireland and any contributing third party shall have no legal liability or responsibility for the content or the accuracy of the information so provided, or, for any loss or damage caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with reliance on the use of such information.
Copyright © 2008 Enterprise Ireland
Compiled for Enterprise Ireland by ElectricNews.Net Ltd. All rights reserved.
You can contact any Enterprise Ireland staff member worldwide by emailing firstname.familyname@ enterprise-ireland.com
The Programmes of Enterprise Ireland are co-funded by EU Structural Funds.
Welcome to eBusiness Live, the fortnightly newsletter from Enterprise Ireland's eBusiness Unit. In this issue, the second part of our feature on electronic payments examines the security issues surrounding online transactions. We also take a look at intellectual property and how to evaluate this crucial - though frequently intangible - asset. And in our How To section, we provide tips on using RSS for information-gathering, improving your website, or for online marketing. Please feel free to forward this issue to a colleague, and let us know if there are any topics you'd like to see us cover. Eoin O Siochru eoin.osiochru@enterprise-ireland.com
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