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The most successful businesses of
digital age are those that understand confluence of business and technology…how to apply emerging technology to business processes to get things done faster, with less expense and with fewer mistakes. Considering its importance, there seem to be few guidelines or best practices information available on strategic application of technology to business challenges. While many organizations already transact businesses on Web, many have failed to turn a profit and worse, some have damaged customer relationships by providing unreliable or poor-quality service.
Although each business is unique, all businesses can benefit from a adopting a structured approach that taps into body of knowledge we’ve accumulated from e-business successes and failures to date. At BusinessTechKnowledge, methodology we use to increase effectiveness of e-business initiatives is called IDEAS. This paper presents a high-level outline of IDEAS process that can be used as a checklist for emerging and expanding e-businesses. IDEAS for e-business success
E-business success requires more than setting up a shopping cart and accepting online payments. Today’s leading e-businesses generally have succeeded by adapting products to Web channel and strategically integrating Web with other customer channels. Using a methodology that integrates design, development and marketing components of e-business can help control costs and improve your chances of success on Web. The IDEAS e-business method includes five phases:
Identify - and document critical components your business needs to create an interactive presence Web.
Design - a solution by matching business requirements to appropriate technology solutions
Evaluate - objectively review project plans and make any changes you need to succeed
Act - building, testing, and refining your Web site and business processes
Service – Providing great care for your customers is much more cost-effective than finding new ones
We use term phase to mean an aspect or part of a process, rather than a distinct segment. In practice, some of phases will overlap and cycle of phases will continue as long as you’re in e-business.
For example, Evaluation stage may lead you to decide on an Action to Identify profitable market segments. You would then Design a plan to tap these segments, Identify how this plan is to be Evaluated, and so on. A huge advantage of Web-based channels is that they can instantly be changed or refined in response to new opportunities, market trends, competitive factors and more. Although every part of IDEAS methodology may not apply to your business, you may benefit from applying some parts or creating a similar structured methodology. Please visit our Web site to read entire IDEAS White paper – it’s free!
Next - five steps revealed!
