As companies embraced electronic commerce and worked to devise winning online business strategyies they faced a number of key challenges. Among these, perhaps none were more pressing or problematic in the late 1990s and early 2000s than the issues related to online transactions. With problems ranging from implementing effective online ordering systems to securing electronic payments and customer information, from devising quick and efficient delivery and return operations to integrating transaction applications into the technological infrastructure, transaction issues were at the heart of the movement to electronic commerce.
Before the Electronic Age, paper-based documents validated and sealed with a written signature were the overwhelmingly dominant means of conducting commercial transactions for nearly a thousand years. The onset of electronic transactions disrupted established models for nearly every area of commerce, and businesses, facing tough competitive pressures, scrambled to find new models to adjust to a changed commercial environment. How does one validate an electronic document? At what point in an electronic transaction is it considered legally sent and received? What kind of infrastructure is required to record and store electronic transactions? What measures are required to protect sensitive information, such as credit-card numbers or company secrets?
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