Many, perhaps even most, e-business Web sites provide none of these assurances. Two widespread, obvious, and trust-breeding problems are return policies and delivery guarantees. It was here that, belatedly, retail players discovered just how much business processes behind the Web site matter, especially fulfillment. They missed the trust point. Online ordering is instant and raises expectations of equally fast and responsive fulfillment.
Promises have to be public and explicit.
Skilled trust relationship players manage expectations carefully. Their policies are explicit and they use the Internet to manage the trust dialog. The transaction mindset of product displays, catalog management, shopping carts, and credit card authorization ignore their relationship context. This issue pertains to architecture because until it is elevated to the level of policy, authority, and accountability, it will fall between the organizational cracks. Moreover, Web site designers and programmers handling interfaces to legacy systems and external partner systems rarely consider this process part of their own job.