From the previous test, I find that I am not very happy with your answering skills. Perhaps my previous entry on this matter does not hold enough clues and examples. In this installment I am going to discuss the Explain and Explain briefly questions.
Let us discuss the following question.
“Explain 4 assets that are important to online businesses like LAZADA and EBAY”.
In answering this question you have to have the basics cleared first. What are the basics? It includes the fundamental knowledge or information
- What is EBAY and LAZADA and how it works? Ebay and Lazada is a portal where sellers and buyers meet and do business. The portal itself do not own any of the products, they do not do any delivery. They are only the ‘negotiator’ that helps buyers meet sellers online.
- What course is this? Different course or subject will need you to explain the question in a different way. For example, if the course is Business or Marketing, then the assets you choose to discuss must reflect this. If, in this case, the subject is Computer Security, then the assets chosen must reflect this as well.
- Some might say an asset is an asset, which is true. But do remember that this is a class, not a random presentation. After all, you need to reflect your understanding of the subject matter.
- What are the important keyword(s) here? Keyword also help our answers stay ‘on the right path’ rather than stray or go on a tangent. In this question, I would say the keywords are: Online business, assets, important
These basic information can help you be on the right direction for answering that question. Now we tackle the question of assets. Say that for an online business these are 4 assets we consider most important: Money, Brand, Access, User Info. Of course there are many others like hardware and application used, but we just need 4. Now we start with our answers.
It is always good to have an introduction, help ease into the subject matter discussed.
Online business like Ebay and Lazada are very popular sites where buyers find whatever they need from a list of many things offered by registered sellers. The 4 important assets to businesses like these include:
- Money: In any business profit is most important, as without it a business cannot survive. In online business, where ‘real’ money is not exchanged but rather a notion of money, security of such a transaction is of utmost importance. Without a secure way of transaction and reporting abuse, these business will never have any customers (or at least repeat customers).
- Brand: A trusted brand is a money maker. People tend to find a brand or company or site that they trusts; either by word of mouth or by obvious success. Any hint of your brand being tarnished in the media (on and offline), this will mean less or no customers/users to your site. No customers means no profit. No profit means the end of your business.
- Access: As an online business, access to their site is essential. If a customer cannot access your online ‘shop’ so to speak, there will be no business. In this sense, network communication and server performance is very important. A slow line or a unresponsive server will deter anyone from coming for a second visit.
- User Information: In any business, be it online or off, customer/user information is important. If this information is stolen or made public, your brand will be tarnished. If information like credit card is stolen and someone actually use this info to commit a crime, you may be sued.
This is an example of how to answer an Explain or Explain briefly question. Better luck next time.
