Technology Tools: The E-Business Advantage
What is the difference between e-commerce and e-business? How do they apply to your services-based business? How can you better e-serve your markets?
E-Commerce or E-Business?
Varied definitions are used for these concepts, and in fact, you may find them interchanged depending on the source. In general, e-commerce tends to be used as the catch-all phrase to describe business in the networked world.
E-Commerce
E-Commerce is the conduct of client-customer transactions, facilitated by the Internet or other networked systems.
E-Commerce is commonly defined in two parts:
- B2C = Business-to-Consumer
- B2B = Business-to-Business
E-Business
E-Business is the overall strategy that allows businesses to conduct day-to-day operations through the use of automated systems and networked environments, linking: staff; management; administration; suppliers, and; clients.
For service providers, the effects of e-business can be more integral to how they communicate, collaborate, market, and deliver their services. e-Business holds implications for the entire working (and networking) environment.
For manufacturers of goods, this could mean remote monitoring of manufacturing processes, and/or more efficient supply-chain management.
Global Market Access Potential
The use of e-business is a natural fit for your overall export strategy. For example, the Internet can be a more cost-effective and highly flexible method of distributing high-impact marketing messages in multiple languages, showing your value by using multimedia audio and video, and conducting monetary transactions in multiple currencies.
Stronger Client Relationships
E-business allows you to offer value-added service to your current and potential clients, by building on the customer loyalty your company earns in delivering your core services. How-to guides, customization tools, and online cost estimates are examples of "free" services that could be offered and made available to clients 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Information that you deliver electronically gives your target audience greater flexibility to perceive your services in the way that they want to see them. The more companies offer this kind of extra service on the Internet, the more it is becoming an expectation of your potential clients.
"Your technology must match your client's preference and ability to adapt."
Integrated Collaboration with Partners, Suppliers, and Clients
Efficient flow and sharing of knowledge is the backbone of any services-based business. Electronic networks can provide strong project management and advanced communication facilities for your staff, your partners and suppliers, and between you and your clients.
Potential Cost Savings
How much does your firm spend each year on the movement of personnel, and for what reasons? Could you be saving on long-distance communication charges by using Voice-Over-IP (VoIP) services? How much of your hard-copy documentation could be created and distributed electronically instead? E-business will not eliminate the need for "tangibles" such as printed materials or in-person contact anytime soon, but by doing business the e-way, many firms can find significant cost savings measured in dollars, efficiency, and productivity.
"We have saved thousands by teleconferencing and instant messaging."
Greater Knowledge of your Client Base
Marketing and delivering services online can give you near-limitless flexibility for collecting information about who your clients are, what they need, and what they want from you. Whether this information is gathered through electronic correspondence via your website, or by tracking website usage statistics, the added power of understanding your e-demographics can help to tailor your marketing messages and your services to a more specific audience. A growing number of useful tools and sources of information are being developed to help suppliers of both services and goods find their way to a successful e-strategy.
"By keeping track of our website statistics, we know exactly what our clients are looking for."
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