Q

What ebusiness level is your company at?

A

click here to view our ebusiness level table

Q

Is your company web enabled?

A

Having a website is simply one aspect of becoming ebusiness enabled. More importantly are the back end systems, business processes and the people involved with them. Ensuring you can both cost and time effectively respond to your customers and prospects means having flexible and integrated systems that allows you to communicate both with suppliers and customers alike. Email is an extremely powerful communication tool. Implementing systems to enable this is the first step in the process. Recent surveys have noted that email is the first communication business people respond to before voicemail and the last, the traditional "snail" mail.

Q

What are the current business issues and trends?

A

Q

What are the key IT priorities?

A

Q

Do you have an Integrated IT system?

A

Many initiatives do not provide the returns anticipated due to disparate information systems. With a customer base applying increasing demands for quicker response at a lower price companies look to optimising their systems to gain efficiencies. Integrating systems will provide these efficiencies. Without it you can spend more time in crisis management with over burdening your people who could be better deployed on more important tasks.

Q

Is your sales budget becoming difficult to attain?

A

Depending on the industry you are in you could be seeing significant fluctuations in your monthly sales figure. This can be due to various environmental factors, however one not to overlook is what ebusiness initiatives are your customers implementing that may be impacting on your revenue stream. In adopting a customer centric focus and implementing proactive customer reviews you could identify other services and products that may assist your customers and minimise the impact on your sales.

Q

Have you identified where the "value" of your product or service lies with your clients in the new business environment?

A

With parity of products, quality and cost the ability to differentiate yourself from your competitors lies with the unique value you can add to the "relationship" . It may be the ability to prompt them before they feel they have a need, or the ability to customise products and services specifically for them, or reduce the time to market enabling competitive advantages. This is a key area to focus in deciding what objectives for your ebusiness initiatives you adopt.

Q

What are the key issues that are constantly arising on a daily basis?

A

Customer demands increasing, staff that can't get information quickly, not enough staff, difficulty trying to ascertain the operational status of your business, limited marketing budget.... These are just some of the issues that are increasingly impacting on business. Assessing which issue to address as a priority is essential to ensure you not only keep your eye on the ball but improve systems and processes for customers and staff alike.

Q

Do you know what your current capabilities are, will they be the same that you require in the future?

A

Reviewing what you do well currently is just one aspect - it may be quality, time or cost driven. As important in the current business environment is to ascertain whether you will require the same capabilities in the future, we are moving from being product- focused to customer focused, it may be that your capabilities in the future will require to be more service orientated than just product based.

Q

Are your staff technologically proficient?

A

Early identification of the skill set of your staff will assist in avoiding bottlenecks during projects. Promoting and implementing training as part of performance objectives is a proactive stance to assist not only in improving the success of ebusiness projects but also building the cultural infrastructure required for the significant level of change your company will endure during the process

Q

Is all the accurate information you require at your fingertips on a daily basis?

A

In a rapidly changing environment the ability to quickly respond to threats and opportunities sets you apart from your competitors. Integrated systems that allow a "real time" snapshot of your business provides you with the ability to shift focus, resources and strategies, whether its your inventory levels or resource availability.

Q

Do you know what the level of adoption of ebusiness is in your industry?

A

click here to view graph on different stages of industry adoption

Q

Are your customers online and expecting to reach you 24X7?

A

Identifying how "e-savvy" your customers are is integral for your future initiatives. You may need to restructure your service provision and identify what information they may require at any time of the day. This points to having a continuous feedback loop between your company and customers. Reviewing what they want from you when and where they want it is how you identify what projects will provide you the greatest return on your IT investments. By tracking sales, feedback and where your prospects and customers are looking on your website gives you the ability to continuously keep them interested in you.

Q

Are you facing the likelihood of numerous competitors both virtual and traditional within your industry?

A

With the advent of the internet comes "reach" - that is not only an increase in your prospective target market but prospective competitors. Whether they be virtual globally or locally. Although still in its infancy the internet has enabled small players to take on the bigger companies and compete successfully. The convergence of markets has meant that suppliers can look at providing a "one stop" solution and thereby competing against you head on. The rules of business are changing!

Q

Do you believe your cost structures will be impacted by ecommerce?

A

The ability to automate manual processes internally and across the internet has enabled the cost of sales to reduce in some areas, eprocurement has enabled the significant reduction in administrative costs. A catalyst can sometimes be market driven via competitors who have led the ebusiness transition and are driving market prices. Reviewing where the threats and opportunities are for the financial impact of ebusiness is essential

Q

Can the internet deliver your company a global presence likely to increase overall revenues and market share?

A

Too often companies launch onto the internet with a website without goals and objectives that relate to the company as a whole. It maybe that your business will not benefit from the ability to sell your products and services over the web, however it may afford the opportunity to provide valuable information and influence the buying decision of a wide target market. Whatever the opportunity you must review your back end processes and your supply chain to ensure that whatever you promise to customers can be fulfilled.

Q

Do you think you need an ebusiness strategy?

A

Your answer should be "yes", To ensure success for your future you must hold your ebusiness strategy at the centre of your business ensuring it encompasses all aspects and issues, ebusiness is business in the new economy. Strategic planning is still key.

Q

A

click here to view our ecommerce benefits table