| Source: | The New Straits Times |
| Date: | 08/04/1999 |
| Document ID: | PN19990812020045464 |
| Citation Information: | 2*; Vol. 13-153; Focus Section |
| Author(s): | Alexander Drobik |
| ★ wanayoo — archive 1999 http://special.northernlight.com/ecommerce/road_to_esuccess.htm | Nouvelle recherche | Portail wanayoo |
|
||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
|
|
THE technology that supports electronic commerce (e-commerce) is changing so rapidly that enterprises are finding it difficult to align their business plans with this new market enabler. The deployment of e-commerce applications can provide significant business benefits: reaching new markets, disintermediating redundant value chains, creating reintermediated businesses, reducing costs, improving cycle times, and enhancing service levels. At the same time however, an enterprise can lose competitiveness if wrong e-business strategies are chosen.
Enterprises continue to ask, "What are the most important factors to take into account when producing an e-business strategy?" We define five critical actions an enterprise should perform in its strategic planning to maximise opportunities and reduce risks.
E-vision: Ensure that the CEO communicates the strategic e-business vision.
Unlike the few "cyber business models", the majority of enterprises have yet to articulate an e-vision across the business.
(Cyber business models refer to business models in which the physical point of sale delivery of a product or service has disintermediated some or all of the physical channel. This also applies to companies complementing their physical sales presence with cyber-based delivery. Examples include Amazon, E*Trade, Dell, Expedia, and Charles Schwab.)
Some companies make board-level declarations to embrace e-business and then delegate the responsibility to a minor technical or business function. In other companies, a bottom-up approach prevails, in which staff in an individual department take the initiative to start a specific e-commerce project. Either way, the results are the same-a lack of a common vision, leading to uncertainty, fragmented projects and running into future issues (for example, channel conflict).
To avoid this, CEOs need to announce and put in place the management to implement the corporate e-vision.
E-management: Create new management structures to coordinate all e- business activities.
E-commerce applications pervade the organisation and change the way people and companies do business with each other. This impacts the internal technical and commercial departments as much as trading partners and customers.
In addition, the business process itself is subject to change. Thus, the move towards e-business has to be proactively managed, with a focus on the resultant changes to internal and trading partner structures. Organisations need to bring together all current elements of their e- business activity, preferably under the leadership of a board-level sponsor who can identify, reality check and prioritise existing and planned e-commerce projects.
E-competition: Take cyber competition into account in the business planning process.
For too many organisations, the move to e-business is either an attempt at a dedicated solution for a specific business point of pressure or a response to a competitor's behaviour.
In each case, the competitive focus is typically within the existing business model. As such, there is a danger in missing the threat of new entrants into the market, particularly those following the new business model. Consequently, enterprises should include an analysis of their cyber-based competition (both global and domestic) to their existing competitive audit.
E-plans: Write individual business plans for each e-business market application.
To provide a planning framework, a series of e-plans, which is consistent with the e-vision, should be defined. Each plan must address a specific market segment need and be validated to ensure that the chosen e- commerce application adds real value to the business. In this, "out-of- the-box" thinking must be performed if major opportunities are to be captured.
For each e-plan, the value to the business of an e-commerce implementation - both the direct transaction revenue and the linked value, for example, in retaining customers via enhanced customer service-must be identified. At the same time, the costs and risks associated with each e- commerce project need to be defined. Organisations should use e-plans to provide a framework for e-business investments.
E-review: Constantly review all e-business investments.
One main failure of companies is a lack of oversight on the progress of their e-business strategies and the performance of specific e-commerce deployments.
The deployment of e-commerce applications is still a new subject, as is the implementation of e-business. Changes in trading partner relationships and in the buying behaviour of the customer, as well as changes in the competitive landscape, mean that reviewing the results of such investments is an essential activity. At each review stage, the enterprise should audit the commercial and technical performance of its e-business investments against previously agreed-upon goals and any revisions to the e-vision and competitive environment.
BOTTOM LINE Organisations need to understand the pervasiveness of e-commerce technology and the resultant changes to the business model. Failure to plan for these changes will reduce competitiveness by between 15 and 30 per cent through the year 2001. For five per cent of enterprises, the loss of competitiveness will lead to business failure by the end of 2001.
* Alexander Drobik is the research director at GartnerGroup UK.
(Copyright 1999)
©1999 UMI Company; All Rights Reserved. Only fair use, as provided by the United States copyright law, is permitted. UMI Company makes no warranty regarding the accuracy, completeness or timelines of the Publications or the records they contain, or any warranty, express or implied, including any warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, and shall not be liable for damages of any kind or lost profits or other claims related to them or their use.
 |