If you lack the expertise in-house, you might consider outsourcing your e-business efforts and investing your time, money and resources in other areas of your business. There are four basic areas that you could hand over to specialists: e-strategy, web hosting, website construction and customer service support.
E-strategy
Know where you're going with your e-business strategy, defined as the business objectives you want to achieve online. BDC Consulting can help you develop an effective e-business strategy and action plan.
Web hosting and connectivity
Ultimately you're looking for an Internet Service Provider and a host who can provide you with reliability, flexibility and excellent service for the right price. Industry Canada's e-biz enable website offers a list of e-business suppliers.
Some suppliers offer inexpensive hosting packages. However, since you don't want to find yourself in a vulnerable position with constant service failure, the low-cost route isn't always the best one. Be sure to keep this in mind when choosing a supplier.
Initially, you can expect an assessment to be made to determine the hardware, software and connectivity required for your site to operate effectively.
Get a list of services
Make sure your supplier can provide the services you need:
- Shopping cart and other e-commerce technologies
- Web-based tools for site maintenance and configuration
- Technical support
Assess security and hardware capacity
- Be sure your host is located in a facility that is physcially secure and has the means to deal with disasters such as fire, floods, power failures, etc.
- Be sure your host has the proper measures in place to secure your servers and the network they are on (ex. firewalls).
- Although your hardware is usually covered under warrantee, your company may not be able to afford the downtime associated with waiting for repairs.
Have a contingency plan with options such as additional technicians or backup systems in case of a failure.
Plan for upgrades
Remember that your site may experience increasing amounts of traffic. In turn, this increases the load on your server and can degrade site performance, resulting in slower response times and even server failure. Be proactive and put an upgrade plan in place before you experience problems.
Watch the cost of bandwidth
Increasing traffic will also demand more bandwidth, which means increased costs. In most cases, your hosting plan will include a flat monthly transfer rate (measured in gigabytes) with any additional use of bandwidth charged at a premium rate. In turn, you'll have to upgrade your hosting packaging for more bandwidth. Although the monthly rate will be higher, this is a cheaper option than buying bandwidth on an as-needed basis.
Plan to relocate your site
Always have a contingency plan for relocating your website to another provider. Even if your hosting company is reliable, it's a good idea to keep the doors open to other suppliers.
Website construction
The rule of thumb here is to ensure that your website is user-friendly, has a professional look, and is maintainable. You may want to consider hiring a professional developer or designer at a web agency.
Get a savvy supplier
Make sure you're working with somebody who is highly familiar with the Web. Don't let your designer overwhelm you with high-tech talk. You and your consultant need to understand one another. Ask to see their client portfolio and work with companies that use the latest industry-standard design technologies.
Supplier agreements and budgets
Make sure the agreement with your supplier spells out the functionalities and technological requirements for the site, as well as details such as security safeguards and credit verification procedures; changes at a later date could be costly. Know what is billable and what is covered under the guarantee. For example, errors in the implementation of the site would be covered, however, content updates would be considered billable. Be sure to negotiate technical support ahead of time.
Work with a clear timeline and budget, including specific payment milestones as the site is developed.
Clarify intellectual property issues, such as the ownership of software code, visual design and content. Remember that any aspects of your site that were developed by an outside company may have intellectual property restrictions. In most cases, the web development firm retains the intellectual property rights to any software code they write. This means you are paying for a license to use the software. (Some firms may allow you to purchase these rights but for a significant cost.) As well, agencies may stipulate that web visual designs cannot be used for other print publications.
Clarify confidentiality issues such as using customer information. It may be necessary to have your supplier sign a confidentiality agreement.
Site maintenance
Your site should be designed to be updated easily. Ensure employees are trained by the developer to use and maintain the site software. Alternatively, you may decide that the cost of having your employees maintain the site outweighs outsourcing the maintenance. Ensure there is a well-defined process for maintenance and corrective measures. Some companies charge an hourly rate, while others offer monthly contracts.
Customer support
Many small businesses outsource certain elements of their customer support such as logistics simply because they don't have the in-house resources to handle it themselves. If you're considering outsourcing your customer service support, keep these points in mind:
- Be sure the company is committed to protecting your image, name and reputation.
- Choose a company that has a proven track record and can provide you a full back-end solution.
- Have a backup plan if your volume exceeds capacity.
