To succeed with any e-business initiative, careful planning is essential. Before starting your web project, be sure you know how you want to use the Internet to meet your company's business objectives. Do you want to scope out new market opportunities and increase sales, offer your clients a new channel for faster service, or improve productivity?
Clarify your strategy
Once you know your goals, the next step is finding the right
e-strategy, which helps you determine the scale of your project and how much you want to invest; it also provides you clear parameters that ensure your web project meets your business needs. For instance, your website could be used by customers to retrieve information, place an order, make a reservation or apply for a job. Or, your intranet site could be your major source of communications to employees. Ultimately, your objectives define both the target users and what they want to accomplish by using your site.
Arm yourself with knowledge
Depending on your level of understanding of web technologies,
e-business planning may be a daunting prospect since it involves a considerable investment of time and resources. It's a good idea to first ensure that you're well-informed about the latest issues, innovations and technology, so that you can make the right decisions about the
e-strategy that works for your company.
Whether it's driving traffic to your website, increasing productivity in your business or outsourcing e-business activities, here are some answers to the most frequently asked questions from our Ask a Professional Forum, where each month a BDC consultant answers entrepreneurs' questions related to business projects.
1. ebusiness basics
2. technology tool
3. ebusiness evolution
4. financing considerations
5. e-marketing aspects such visibility, driving traffic and search engine optimization
6. specialty retailing
When in doubt, seek external help. Ultimately, an outside consultant can give you objective advice on dealing with issues such as technology, visibility, and driving traffic to your site. You can contact BDC Consulting which offers affordable solutions such as e-business fundamentals and the latest models and applications to develop an effective strategy and action plan.
