Software Agent Applications in Electronic Commerce
by Roberto Gagliardi
MIA is a user-driven pilot project in which the existing commercial
processes of a leading vehicle manufacturing industry are adapted and improved
through the application of Information Technology. The industry involved
has the dual aims of improving its own internal economics while also providing
greater customer satisfaction.
The recent explosive growth of the Internet has had a dramatic effect
on business initiatives and has led to the creation of many innovative
opportunities. Electronic commerce is effectively a new paradigm which
will lead to completely new ways of doing business. The goal of the MIA
Pilot Project is to experiment the use of advanced Intelligent Software
Agents applied to electronic commerce in the Light Urban Mobility manufacturing
industry.
Electronic commerce covers any form of business transaction that is
conducted electronically over networks. It encompasses a broad range of
activities, of which the core component addresses the commercial transaction
cycle. Upstream and downstream of the transactions it also includes the
advertising and promotion of products and services, the facilitation of
contacts between traders, the provision of market intelligence, pre- and
post-sales support. The social and economic impact of the new highly competitive
environment is as yet only partially understood. New jobs will surely be
created, new services offered, but the effect on the existing labour market
is unknown.
In the MIA project, a leading company in the vehicle manufacturing industry,
Piaggio of Italy, addresses the new paradigm by applying advanced Information
Technologies. The current business practices have already been analysed
and areas where change can be introduced determined. These mechanisms can
be readily applied to similar industries throughout Europe. The technology
being used, ie, Intelligent Software Agents, can help to optimise the time
spent in doing menial tasks, leading to an improved return on investment
for the industries involved. The pilot will experiment the use of Agents
for electronic commerce both within the Commercial Organisation of the
User, and also across the Internet.
Analyses of current business processes have shown that numerous parts
of the product life-cycle are, in fact, suitable for the introduction of
Intelligent Agents. It has been decided to focus the pilot on the User's
Strategic Marketing Department.
MIA will thus address the following areas of electronic commerce:
- how to market the products
- how to make initial contact
- the exchange of pre-sales information
- information exchange in general
- how to perform post-sales support.
The following objectives have been defined for the MIA pilot:
- increase the customer's attention
- collect marketing-relevant data
- automatically handle customer queries
- analyse collected data
- advise on customer requirements.
The use of Intelligent Agents will be applied to all of these objectives.
Their successful achievement will contribute to the creation of a better
and cleaner customer profile. This profile will facilitate the bringing
of production in line with customer needs and also answer the basic questions
posed by the marketing department: Who is the customer? and What is he
looking for?
In conclusion, the MIA pilot will be a real-world experiment with real
players and will verify the application of Agents to real electronic commerce.
MIA will not attempt to address issues such as the security problems involved
in Internet-based electronic commerce these are outside the scope
of the project. It will, however, help provide evidence as to the future
direction of electronic commerce, where it is believed that Agents will
be a powerful force, establishing the rules of the game. No business, no
matter how well established, can afford to ignore this force.
The MIA project will last 18 months with a total effort of 17 person-years
involving companies from Italy, Spain and France.
Please contact:
Roberto Gagliardi - CNUCE-CNR
Tel: +39 50 593 259
E-mail: r.gagliardi@cnuce.cnr.it
