E Project implementation:
Reversals are such, that both Intranet implementation and ecommerce project need to be the Management’s will and responsibility. This company's project is a global one, a major improvement that will increase its efficiency, and will give, on the long run, a valuable strategic advantage on its competitors. This kind of project belongs to the BPR (Business Process Reengineering). Indeed, the introduction of the use of value-added network, multimedia and EDI are all of them new technologies that can offer solutions to the company’s management problems. However, if this project is not well managed, the company could become vulnerable. How can a company implement this technology? This proposal of project implementation is related to Catherine Ledig course (Management of Information system), Roland Lesuisse course (Project Management) and several readings[33].
E-1 Electronic business prerequisites
üValue chains identification (1)
üInteractions patterns study (2)
üElectronic value chain organisation (3)
üElectronic commerce return on investments (4)
The second prerequisite is the use of Intranet technology, otherwise the electronic commerce project is likely to be a failure. Large companies could face a lot of trouble if they start selling over the Internet, not using the IP standard to communicate within the company. The use of the Intranet technology is the first step towards electronic business. How could a company manage a commercial web site, communicate with customers or control the orders if it does not use software applications up to the Internet standards (IP Protocol)? To simplify, we could summarise the issue the following way: on line sales would be a new flow of data, for example orders, that would reach the company without being understood! We could strongly recommend to companies to invest in the Intranet technology first.
E-2 Evolutionary path of a web site
Evolutionary
path of a web site usually followed by MNCs
From an information
to a transaction model:
1
Image/ Product Information
2
Information Collection / Market Research
3.
Customer Support / Service
4
Internal Support / Service
5
Transactions
Evolutionary path of
a web site usually followed by Internet Start-ups or SMEs
From a transaction:
to an information model:
1
Transactions
2
Customer Support / Service
3
Image / Product Information
4
Information Collection / Market Research
E-3 Electronic commerce project: From IS to IOS
According to Pat Finnegan a lecturer at University College Cork in Ireland, an inter-organisational systems (IOS) to exchange structured data lie at the heart of any form of electronic commerce. Despite a number of years’ experience and some well-publicised success stories, IOS remain somewhat under-researched. Companies have no guidelines to lead their project. Companies must emphasis on the consideration of external entities. Electronic business implies that customers will have access to the company information’s system. If this access (through a web site) is not up to the expectations of the customers, the whole project might be a failure. Therefore, a deep understanding of customer’s need in terms of ordering is a priority. Besides, more and more market players will have access to the IS of the company. That’s the reason why the company must extend their IS capabilities externally, using for example :
·E-mail
·EDI
·WAN
(Wide area Network)
·The
Internet
·Conferencing
calls
·Shared
databases
·Share
information systems
·Video conferencing
And above all companies need to learn how to manage changes and reverse implied by this technology. The company will increasingly be “open” and this is not always secure. The extension of the company must be therefore well managed and controlled. Otherwise all the above mentioned tools will no matter how transform the way the company is working. The question is what are the most important objectives in an IOS audit?
One could first study the role of each participant (market players). Then exactly as we do the mapping of activities realisation, we can do the same including all partners of the company. To have this mapping correctly design is a prior objective. This is especially important as inter-organisational systems become quickly widespread and affect more of the value chain. It is then possible to acquire a network perspective of the whole system.
E-4 To be successful with an Ecommerce project
Project organisation : the pilot team
Life cyle of cycle of the Ecommerce project
 |
AuditDevelopmentImplementation
Maintenance
BeginningFirst test
The first phase is an audit that will be carried out to understand prerequisites and benefits, of the project, the feasibility of the project and the decisions about the fundamental objectives.
The second phase will start with the selection of all the means and resources the project manager need to achieve the goal. Then the budget can be discussed together with the planning.
The last phase is the use of the new information system and will start with the implementation of software solutions and tests. At this stage, the people’s training should be terminated. Step by step, the staff can start using the new system. Eventually, the maintenance gives the opportunity to review immediately the ease of use.
Ecommerce project step by step
1.Pilot group selection
2.Strategic decision making about the objectives of the company and its on-line presence
3.Information system audit and IOS (Inter-organisational sytem) audit. The latter consists of a precise analysis of the company’s exchanges with the main partners. In some cases, it is required to carry out an audit on the partners information system to ascertain partners will be able to place on line orders for example. They might have become part of the project themselves.
4.Research about all new ecommerce platforms and tools available. The latter should be compare using benchmarking methods.The decisions must be taken about on on-line business software solutions and one (or more) on-line payment solution (please refer to the ecommerce tools part of this paper).
5.Financial study. Two questions must be answered : When will it be a return on investment? What financial aid can company benefit from ? In, Europe, Administration are actually helping SMEs to invest in this new technologies. There are numerous opportunities, companies should use. EDI France can provide them with a good guide on financial aid. To conclude on that matters it seems that people that have ideas and prople that have the ability to make investment are not the same. This new industry needs business angels. Some answers to this question might be found at : www. Investir-it.com.
6.Business Process reengineering. In some case, depending on the size of the project, the IS of the company might have to be upgraded. We could recommend to companies to follow the Davenport’s principle to well manage the process improvement. The main principles are the following :
·TQM (Total Quality Management), principles and practices ensure high-quality products and services to both internal and external customers of business processes.
·Industrial engineering provides process measures, controls on process efficiency and effectiveness, and standardised procedures.
·Workflow design that incorporates the concurrent management of technological and human change.
·Process redesign incorporates innovations and eliminates non-value added time and costs from processes.
·The introduction of competitive (aggressive) information technology enables superlative customer quality and service.
We could advise companies to use also use the Davenport’s “process Improvement Model38”. Several kind of softwares can be use to map information flows such as ADONIS.
7.The next step is to create the final project document that includes all the details about the project. This will be the reference for the call for tender. Several companies will have to join to carry out the project such as an SSII, one on-line bank, a telecom operator to host the merchant serve
8.Planning phase. The planning must includes all tasks, all market players. The pilot group of the project should use project management software.
9.Training phase. The company’s staff needs to be involved in the project as soon as possible. Each department should delegate one person to help the fulfilment of the project. One team can then be trained to manage the on-line business activity. One salesperson could become responsible of the on-line marketing and learn during the training how to promote the products on-line, how to manage on-line orders, how to use customers profiles to better identify the customers and grant them discounts. One person from the financial department will be trained to manage the accounting of all on-line transactions. Least but not last one person responsible for the company’s logistics will be trained to manage the on-line stocks and deliveries.
10.Ecommerce web site building. The web site will be created in three main phases : The first phase is to organise information, more specifically the on-line catalogue structure. The second phase includes all decisions about the web site lay out in terms of graphic art. The last phase is the programming and the creation of the databases that will be link to the web site. According to the company’s objectives, the BPR will include the integration of the web site into the company’s information system.
11.Management of the web site and maintenance is the last step of the project. This should
also be the time to analyse results.
In order to conclude, on ecommerce management project, we can give few more advises to companies :
Financial aspects :
·All costs must be identified before the beginning of the project. Each companies that will realise the project should precise in advance the budget they need in term of investment and running costs. All software licences must be included as well as updates costs.
Legal aspects:
·The company that is building the site must own all documents (pictures….) at least the copyright.
·One dedicate person must to be in charge of the on-line legal issue such as the evolution about VAT, customs duties and other taxes ...
Further information on the legal issues can be found on the European Commission web site39.
Strategy and business models :
·MNCs must have a clear strategy about which part of the company will be in charge of on-line sales. Will it be the head-office or each subsidiary for each national market? The latter division might be difficult to do. There is only one electronic market…..
·The company must define in advance why its services or products will be successful on-line. What are the key advantages? (price, features of the web site, on-line help for product selection, new products, a rich content that customers are usually looking for…).
Marketing :
·Use on-line communities to promote the existence of the company. Large on line business should dedicate one person to always be on line on behalf of the company. Other advises : Use clever keywords to create each page. Help visitors to give comments about the web site. Tests their reactions, and be flexible. Answer Email within 12 hours.
Eventually, be the first companies that invest in this new market, will be the the first to test it and therefore the first to master this technology.
Ecommerce – Possible Obstacles
ØThere is a lack of a legal framework about on line business.
ØCustomers or business partners might be reluctant to use Internet even if they can.
ØIn terms of administrative tasks (accounting, sales…), the staff will have to manage both company’s businesses: on and off line and at the same time. This can become tricky.
ØTo
be able to deliver on line customers, the company’s logistics might have
to be upgraded. This can become one of the major cost implied by ecommerce.
CONCLUSION
In terms of business, the the new market poses a weighty, yet exciting challenge. A successful ecommerce will save money, improve product quality, cut lead times, reduce inventories and, in general, enhance the effectiveness of the supply chain. One of the key issues identified is the ability of the company to understand how it can add value to the product created on the traditional market and then on how different strategies might be required to add value in the digital market. On line goods customisation is a good example of added value creation in this new market.
This three concepts Intranet, Extranet, Ecommerce imply the same technology based on the IP protocol. Within the borders of the company, the “browser” (such as Netscape) is becoming the universal “client”. Externally, ecommerce will remodel the company’s business and its link to their environment. The partners or other market players will also be part of the inter-organisational information system of the company via the Extranet. The next step will be to use this emerging market for extended GroupWare use on the Internet. Informational Technology, previously a simple tool, thus becomes the key driving force of a company’s business strategy.
However, technologies are tools that people can simply choose to use or not. Their effectiveness requires organisational changes rather than technical ones. The digital revolution can only be successful if managers are trained and skilled to run an updated organisation - and if the people want to use it. The successful modern manager will need new skills which have developed through the use of information systems like the Intranet. S/he will more than ever need to decentralise information. The company is no more an sum of different kinds of jobs (functions) but of different kind of processes (information flows).
The Internet revolutionises the dynamics of international commerce and, like any other medium will become a major force in democratisation of capitalism. For example, SMEs will be able to compete more easily in the global marketplace. Consumers will also benefit from the expanded range of products, services, information, learning materials to which Internet gives them access. And if the company is a new market player such as Peapod.com or choix.com, linking the producer and the end consumer in a direct relation, then it is possible that traditional wholesale monopolies will fall….
The emerging digital market is not only a challenge for companies but for the whole society.
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