The first Iraqi scientific Conference on E- Commerce and E-marketing (ISCEE) with the theme, "To the better E-Commerce supporting of the Iraqi Society" was held in the University of Baghdad, Iraq on Monday 28/6/2010.
The conference was attended by a group of Iraqi university professors and a number of those interested in the fields of E-Commerce and E-Marketing from private and public institutions wherein the ideas and experiences on applications of E-Commerce in Iraq were exchanged among the participants.
A good number of valuable research papers have been presented in the conference concerning applications of e-commerce in countries such as Malaysia, Iraq, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UK. The most prominent among them was by the researcher Eng. Khatab Omar of Baghdad University on the "Trade and electronic shopping in Iraq between reality and ambition," in which he mentioned the obstacles facing the Arabic user in general, and Internet user in Iraq in particular with regard to E-commerce. He offered solutions to improve the rate of e-commerce in Iraq.
Mrs. Rasha Alobaidi discussed in her scientific paper the effect of use of E-commerce in companies and the challenge that face them territorially and locally. She addressed the importance of this trade through the knowledge of the benefits used to increase efficiency of the institutions and to give these institutions the competitiveness required to increase their profits and capacities.
Mr. Mohammad Mustafa and his co-authors from University of Liverpool (UK) presented their research work entitled “Privacy Policy in e-commerce website” he mentioned the importance of maintaining the confidentiality of information in e-commerce sites.
From University of Cairo in Egypt, Dr. Ali Samir Ezzat contributed in his research paper on "Electronic commerce between reality and truth," and he highlighted the characteristics and attributes of e-commerce, which exist between the business sectors the total economic bulk.
Hassan Al-Sagaf from MultiMedia University, Malaysia gave a presentation on his scientific research entitled “Ppmessage Micropayment Gateway system”, a system of electronic payment gateway through mobile phones; he stated that the applications using a mobile phone to pay on-line as an alternative method to credit cards in the world.
Mr. Ayhaab Mustafa of Uniten University, Malaysia in his research presentation on “Building a content management system using the current web technologies” highlighted the importance of using the Semantic Web in e-commerce applications and emphasized the role of webmasters to understand this new technology web 3.0 and change their websites to deal with it.
Mays Yousif from the Sultanate of Oman who conducted a questionnaire study in the Majan University in collaboration with the Luton university (UK) presented her research work entitled “Adoption of E-commerce in Oman airlines". The researcher indicated the importance of E-business growth and increased profits of many medium-sized companies and acknowledged the grant obtained for her research from the Iraqi Airways .
Mrs. Maryam Qays from Malaysia examined the Islamic jurisprudential on electronic commerce under the heading "Islamic view of trade legitimate of gold and silver coins in electronic commerce". According to her, a set of fatwas issued against transactions of buying and selling gold and silver coins through the Internet and the result of the research was "operations of online selling and buying of gold and silver is prohibited in Islam” to assure the rightful possession of gold and silver since e-commerce lack trust and there is no rules implemented in most countries especially in middle east.
Dr. Saif Al Suwaidi, General Director of Fnjancom company from Malaysia participated in the deliberations and talked on "Arab-user confidence in electronic financial transactions," a questionnaire study based on the user information from Filspay database, a largest payment gateway in Asia and middle east.
Dr. Mazen Samir, Director of Information and Communication Center in the Technology University (Iraq), praised the organizing committee for conducting this conference and presenting the updated technology to everyone.
Mr.Khatab Omar ,Sceintific Researcher and ISCEE Co-ordinator in his address told that the conference was a unique and courageous step and held for the first time in the country and people should utilize the opportunity and direct youths’ effort for better benefits from E-commerce to minimize and reduce the poverty and unemployment in the societies. He also praised the effort of Filspay Payment Gateway for sponsoring this Conference and their quest to spread the culture of E-market in the Arab world.
According to Dr. Ghassan, Director of the Computer Center in Baghdad University and a guest of honor at the conference said that the conference did not take real size due to technical reasons but it was efficient in terms of scientific materials presented and discussed besides identifying the weaknesses that could be eliminated in the future programmes.
Mrs. Rasha Al-Obeidi in an interview with Al-Iraq Online Network News said that the conference was the first step in the path of success and spread, an extensive plan on gaining consumer confidence for their product (Filspay) through publications, awareness lectures and right marketing via ad networks both televised and electronic media.
Mr. Haider Eden ,Sales Manager at DHL in Iraq said that the ideology and content of the rich scientific materials and papers presented were immense and are to be implemented practically by transforming them from papers to the real market. He added that one of the elementary part of this practical implement-tation was the presence of right delivery medium of goods between sellers and buyers in E-commerce and emphasized the role of DHL in the world to gain the confidence of customers in both inside and outside of Iraq. "
According to Dr. Raja Mohammed “the conference was preferential in the point that seeks to educate our communities and update them with improvements in the world”. She stressed to enhance the importance of this science among the students where the spread of buying online is more quickly accepted, to benefit from purchasing scientific resources that are available on the Internet.
A correspondent from Al-Iraq Online News Network said that the conference was rich in scientific knowledge and the audiences’ interaction with E-marketing specialists was great and exclusive coverage of these events and the interviews will be made available to professionals and those interested in the country in electronic commerce."
Many big technical Iraqi companies and some Arab publishers participated in the conference exhibition and showcased their books on E-commerce and E-marketing. They include Ray Publishing & Science, Syria, Al-Mourid Computers, Syria, Dar Al-Massira, Jordan besides Dr. Ralph Wilson, Editor, Internet Marketing Expert who participated in video tutorial and interviews on E-commerce, E-marketing and E-media.
The conference's final statement of recommendations included the adoption of a number of graduation projects and postgraduate studies by the relevant authorities about the science of E-commerce and its subsidiaries, establishment of a library with the latest books of E-commerce and E-marketing, proposal for a university specialized in all faculties of e-commerce apart from arranging annual scientific conferences to highlight the latest researches on e-commerce and analyze constraints in its use in Iraq by conducting a scientific research, hosting speakers and experts in the field of electronic commerce to participate in seminar and lectures at universities.
It is worth referring to the role of the University of Baghdad and the Institute of Iraqi scholars & Academician who sponsored the conference besides the great roles played by the companies and some web-sites that provided support including Hala Alrafdeen Telecom and Internet Limited, Al-Nabaa Group of Companies" and Al-Iraq Online News Network. Among the other organizations who sponsoring the Conference included Malaysia to Middle East Business Gateway, The official reseller of rapidshare.com, Menshawi of Studies and Research, The Today Technology Company and the Hostingfest e-solution providers.
The conference concluded on a happy note on Monday, the 28th of June, 2010.
http://www.iscee.net