Jaipuria Institute of Management, Lucknow hosted its Information Systems Conclave on the 13th of December, 2014. “Sailing the E-commerce Boat” was the theme for the day that brought experts in the exciting and dynamic industry to the campus. E-commerce has changed the face of business for many and is here to stay. Hence it seemed apt for the students at the institute to get an insight on how the industry works and opportunities that lay ahead.

Mr Neelabh Srivastav, Founder, Greenfield IT Solutions and Mr. Subhashish Roy, IT Security Consultant, Trendsetterz IT Services Pvt. Ltd were the esteemed guests for the events and they touched upon all varied topics including working of E-commerce, cloud computing and related security reasons. The venue was filled with students waiting in anticipation as they were keen to learn all about this new age business medium.

The conclave began with the traditional lighting of the lamp and a welcome speech by Dr. Ankit Mehrotra, Chairperson – PGDM, Jaipuria, Lucknow. He gave a brief overview of what one could expect from the conclave before handing over the stage to Mr. Srivastav. “The Enigmatic Commerce: Shifting Paradigm to look different” was the topic of his talk and through it he explained the emphasis of Ecommerce in our day to day lives.

E-commerce has definitely taken the world by storm and according to Mr. Srivastav it’s because of, “Benefits like saving time, more variety, less crowd, less taxes. However there is still lot of enigma about Ecommerce even today, especially when it comes to Hindi literature. That’s where the idea for my portal came from,” he says. He also talked about 3D retailing of Omni Channel Commerce to give students relevant examples from the industry.

Mr. Srivastav’s portal is Notnull that enables intellectuals to connect with each other. There are several research articles that those interested can access as well. Elaborating more on his venture, he says, “It is a platform to gain knowledge about creative stuff. The portal has got lot of success. Hindi for the first time got visibility through our website because there aren’t many Hindi literature magazines that you can find online.”

After that insight about the industry from Mr. Srivastav, it was time to focus on two other crucial elements of E-commerce; finance and security. “PCI Compliance: Confidence towards boosting consumer’s transaction” was the theme for the session by Mr. Roy and he began by saying, “Goal of PCI DSS is to protect information from cards and holders, defining a set of security requirements. Data Security status in banks needs attention.”

According to Mr. Roy, the service providers to banks also need to play their role by keeping up with the advancements. He then went on explain the Modus Operandi of Cashless Transactions. He believes the prerequisites for any cashless transactions are, “Infrastructure spread, technology, connectivity, data security, physical security, customer education and knowledge, customer friendly operations.”

To those who wish to start their E-commerce business, Mr. Roy had useful advice. “It is definitely going places, but you have to identify your target audience before taking the plunge. Know what you want to sell and its utility too. Focus on the thrust area for your ecommerce business. It’s important to be the Jack of one trade and master it too,” he thus concluded his talk and the conclave that offered students an insiders’ view of Ecommerce.