Certificate in eBusiness / eCommerce Management

This certificate program is designed to help students become better equipped for practitioner, leadership and management roles in eBusiness / eCommerce organizations.

Having evolved to become key components of virtually every business, eBusiness (conducting business using Internet technology) and eCommerce (buying and selling over the Internet) are today’s fastest growing sectors of the economy in Canada and abroad. This 3-course certificate program is designed to help eBusiness & eCommerce practitioners and managers acquire the skills and knowledge to better equip themselves for these challenging fields. Learners will build their knowledge of the eBusiness & eCommerce world, beginning with developing an understanding of the technical and strategic aspects of the online environment. Participants then will build on this by developing hands-on familiarity with the most important online business tools and techniques, and conclude by exploring the best practice processes employed in addressing real world eBusiness & eCommerce management challenges.

This unique certificate is designed for those looking to pursue a career in eBusiness / eCommerce as well as for professionals currently in the discipline looking to increase the breadth and depth of their skills and qualifications. It includes education on best practices in the management of eBusiness and eCommerce operations while at the same time blending conceptual and practical learning, supplementing lectures and readings with real-life case studies and hands-on exercises and assignments.

Required Courses:

SCS 2810 Foundations of eBusiness / eCommerce (SCS2115 Tools & Fundamentals of E-Business)
SCS 2811 Tools and Techniques of eBusiness / eCommerce
SCS 2812 Management of eBusiness / eCommerce

Learning Outcomes

1. Understanding of the key concepts and trends associated with eBusiness and eCommerce.
2. Hands-on familiarity with the leading tools and techniques used in the customer –facing aspects of eBusiness and eCommerce.
3. Conceptual and practical education in the best practices used by industry leaders to produce superior business results in the management of eBusiness and eCommerce

Who Should Attend:

• Learners wishing to enter the fields of eBusiness / eCommerce
• Professionals currently engaged in the practice of eBusiness / eCommerce who wish to expand their knowledge and skills
• Practitioners looking to better understand the management of eBusiness / eCommerce
• Entrepreneurs wishing to launch an eBusiness.

Certificate Requirements

• This certificate requires the successful completion of all 3 courses, in sequence.
• Students have two years from the start date of their first course to complete the certificate.
• Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) exemption may be granted for a maximum of one course, Foundations of eBusiness / eCommerce.   SCS 2115 Tools and Fundamentals of E-Business is equivalent to SCS 2810 Foundations of eBusines /eCommerce.

The main themes of the program by course are shown below:

1. Foundations of eBusiness / eCommerce

   Foundations of eBusiness / eCommerce is a comprehensive introduction to the  extraordinary impact of Internet technology on modern business, including trends in social media, the rise of mobile technologies and the importance of online customer experience management.  It combines conceptual and practical learning and includes the use of real-life case studies and hands-on exercises and assignments. Designed to be a valuable resource for professionals pursuing a career as a practitioner or manager in the field, or those looking for best practices into the process of starting and operating an online business, this course examines internet growth, trends, the evolving use of Internet technology in the business environment, and the key enterprise infrastructure elements required to support eBusiness and eCommerce. Key strategies and real-world solutions to the challenge of differentiating your business in an increasingly noisy online environment are present, as are practical sessions examining the role of the website as the focal point of the sales and marketing channels.

   This course is a pre-requisite for Tools and Techniques of eBusiness / eCommerce and for Management of eBusiness / eCommerce

2. Tools and Techniques of eBusiness / eCommerce

   This course introduces and reviews the most important and practical tools and techniques needed for the creation, operation and management of an online business. Designed to provide the practitioner or manager with a hands-on knowledge of such critical areas as website design and management, online marketing and web analytics, it also examines the best practices used to conduct the market research and analysis essential to the success of any online business. The course addresses the use of analytics and scorecards for the measurement and tuning of the online marketing programs as well as performance of the website.  In particular, the importance of customer journey engineering is emphasized, including the integration of both the online and offline customer experience. Also covered are techniques used to drive high quality traffic to a website, including search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing (SMM – blogging, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.) and online advertising tools (such as Google Adwords).  As well, the course looks at the use of marketing automation to manage content and relationship management programs.

   This course is a prerequisite for Management of eBusiness / eCommerce.

3. Management of eBusiness / eCommerce

   This course is designed to provide the practitioner or manager with both a conceptual and hands-on knowledge of the best practices that are used by industry leaders to produce superior online business performance.

   The curriculum addresses management areas relevant to both pure-play (online only) and hybrid (online and offline) business and to both start-ups and in-flight businesses. The subjects covered address the lifecycle of an online business including strategy development, implementation, operations and ongoing performance management.  The course includes a particular focus on the use of diagnostics, analytics and metrics to measure and manage the performance of on online business. The course also examines critical management concerns such as legal and security issues, achieving ROI, building a high performance team, change management and fostering ongoing innovation.

   This course combines conceptual and practical learning approaches.  Extensive use is made of case studies which highlight real-life eBusiness challenges and the best practice approaches that industry leaders have employed to achieve success.  The course is suitable for practitioners looking to gain an understanding of the management of an online business, or for managers looking to expand their education in the best practice tools and processes used by leaders in the industry.