#2: Planning the Electronic Commerce Initiative Flashcards
Successful business plans includes
Identifying Initiative’s specific objectives
Link those objectives to business strategies
Manage implementation of business strategies
Oversee the continuing operations of initiative after it is launched
Posivitive outcome of successful business plan
Competitive advantage
market expansion
improved customer experience
cost efficiency
enhanced brand visibility
Increased revenue
Identifying Objectives
Increasing sales in existing markets
opening new markets
serving existing customers better
identifying new vendors
coordinate more efficiently with existing vendors
recruiting employees more effectively
Linking Objective to Business Strategies
downstream
Upstream
specific objectives for benefits and incurred cost
downstream strategies
improve the value that the business provides to its customers
upstream strategies
reducing costs or generating value by working with suppliers or inbound logistics
Measuring Benefit Objectives
HERB PII
Build Brands
Enhance existing marketing
Improve Customer Services
Reduce cost of after-sale support
Improve Supply chain operation
Hold auctions
Provide portals and virtual communities
Measuring Benefit Objectives: Build Brands
Surveys to measure brand awareness
Measuring Benefit Objectives: Enhance existing marketing
Change in per unit sales volume
Measuring Benefit Objectives:Customer Services
Customer satisfaction survey, no.of complaints
Measuring Benefit Objectives: Reduce cost of after-sale support
quantity and type of support activities
Measuring Benefit Objectives: Improve Supply chain operation
Cost quality and on-time delivery of materials or services purchased
Measuring Benefit Objectives: Holding Auctions
Quantity of auctions, bidders, sellers, items sold, registered participants, dollar volume of items sold
Measuring Benefit Objectives: Provide portals and virtual communities
Number of visitors, return visits, duration of average visit
Measuring Cost Objectives
project budget must include the cost of hiring, training, and personnel
80% of that cost was labor related
10% was the cost of software
10% was the cost of hardware
minimum dollar amount needed to open an entry level electronic commerce Web site at $150,000
cost for a large company to build and implement an adequate entry-level electronic commerce site was about $1 million
Comparing Benefits to Costs
if benefit exceed costs
evaluate their ecommerce strategies
return on investment (ROI) to evaluate capital investment
Evolution of web site functions
Static brochures-> transaction processing-> full range of automated business processes
Internal Development vs. Outsourcing
The Internal Team
Early Outsourcing
Late Outsourcing
Partial Outsourcing
The Internal Team
Business knowledge and creativity>technical expertise
website development, product management, customer support, sales
Customer satisfaction, number of sales leads generated, and reductions in order-processing time as measurement of success
Early Outsourcing
outsource initial site design and development to launch the project quickly
trains the company’s employees in the new technology before handing the operation of the site over to them
Benefit: faster development, access to skills, scalabiility
Drawbacks: communication challenge, loss of control, higher cost
Late Outsourcing
company does the initial design, development, implementation, and operates the system until it becomes stable
After the company has gained all the competitive advantages provided by the system, the maintenance of the system outsourced.
Benefits: Maintain control, cost effective, targeted outsourcing
Drawbacks: Integration challenge, loss of knowledge, slower adaptation
Partial Outsourcing
specific portions of the project that can be completely designed, developed, implemented, and operated by another firm that specializes in that particular function
Eg. email, electronic payment system, web hosting
Selecting a Hosting Service
smaller projects: consult an ISP directory, such as ‘The List’.
larger Web sites: consult other firms that rate ISPs and CSPs, such as ‘Keynote Systems’
factors to evaluate when selecting a hosting service
Functionality
Reliability
Bandwidth and server scalability
Security
Backup and disaster recovery
Cost
