2009 presents an opportunity for businesses to improve the way they do things and to re-think their business processes and methods. Businesses are constantly changing. The ones that keep up will thrive; the others will be left behind to struggle, especially in the economic climate we have today… yet change is nothing new to business.
Technology’s revolutionary influence
Today technology runs through all businesses, yet in some companies, the utilization is really low. Most businesses have a significant investment in technology. Yet in many enterprises, the workstations are relegated to fancy word processors and little more. To stay competitive it is essential that today’s business capitalize on their technology infrastructure to the greatest practical degree.
Let’s identify some technologies that should appear on everyone’s list, technologies that will impact a wide range of horizontal and vertical industries:
eBusiness
In many enterprises eBusiness is misunderstood. Those businesses think eBusiness is just for dot coms. The reality is that most any modern business can benefit from the things that electronic business processes can bring to it.
Getting Customers
The cost of acquisition of getting new customers is growing or out of control for many companies today. Advertising, marketing, prospecting, pre-qualifying and closing are critical business functions. By using the right technologies your company can lower its costs of acquiring new business and producing revenue.
Planning Strategies
Organizations today are building their enterprises around computing environments using networked and Internet-based systems. While these environments offer a number of business benefits, they also present challenges in migration, integration, and deployment which must be included in strategic planning.
Tracking Revenue
Developing a system to track daily revenue streams is crucial to maximizing company productivity and ROI. Many companies utilize computer based accounting, and they may outsource some financial services, however there are many benefits to be derived from an integrated, enterprise wide solution for both sales and GL.
Gaining Insight
To be successful, businesses need rapid, easy access to information about their customers, internal finances, and external market conditions—information collectively known as business intelligence. Without relevant data decisions may be more risky and may not be the best one for your situation.
Reducing Expenses
It is obvious to most managers and owners that you can improve cash flow by reducing overhead. When you perform an audit, it may not be readily apparent just where to make the cuts. Again, technology can help reduce your overhead through “virtual office” savings, “virtual meetings” and through a business database system that contains the necessary “intelligence” to facilitate a variable workforce which can expand and contract as demand requires.
Reducing Man Hours
Smart, progressive businesses know how to raise skill and efficiency levels to consolidate job descriptions - to do more work with fewer people. The proper implementation of technology can facilitate this, and can improve the overall efficiency of your staff. Become more independent from certain employees
Simplifying Work
Simplifying your business processes has many benefits, less stress, more productivity and higher profits. The work streamlining model process is to distill the most complicated business processes to a simpler level, by reducing the number of steps, make the process easier, and speed up the process. This may involve physical proximities as well as the technical logistics.
B2C Businesses
B2B businesses often embrace technology to use in specific ways such as with their supply chains, partner extranets, JIT inventory, and vertical marketing. B2C businesses are often at the forefront of using technology in their niche to compete and excel.
B2B Businesses
Modern B2C businesses often have favorite uses for technology such as online Web stores, POS systems for retail, RFID, and end to end integration for purchasing, shipping and receiving.
Today’s company depends on their Website.
Many company managers have a hard time determining the best course of action when it comes time to re-develop their Website’s software. A smart manager is realistic, and looks at return on investment, various what-if scenarios, and uses common sense.
A good business Web site begins with the concept, which is based on your businesses niche and audience. One of the challenges that a business owner has is to refine, identify and differentiate his businesses USP, or “unique selling proposition”. This will differentiate the company’s services or products in the eyes of the Web site visitor.
Once the concept is established, and the specific audience is determined a business owner can start setting goals for the Web site. The goals are different based on the expected results, which are derived from the online business model. An ecommerce site goals might be a certain number of sales for each product category. However a business “identity” site may have different goals, such as number of inquiries, number of visitors, search engine rankings for certain key words, etc. Once goals are set, then click paths, response mechanisms, and measurement tools can be put in place.
A good Web development firm can help your company focus its online niche, online model, and set goals, and then design the perfect site based on those requirements.
A good source for additional information on web development is this section on Computer eCommerce.
Which methods are you currently using to help promote your business or organization over the Internet?
There are many Internet advertising ”channels” you can use to give your business online visibility. Here is an overview of some of the most popular ones.
SEO - Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via organic search results based on the search engine’s spider and indexing algorithm. In practice this often involves writing special purpose articles (pages) which target certain search phrases.
SMO - Social Media Optimization is the practice of generating publicity through social media, online communities and community websites. Some of these sites include Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, Ryze, Xanga, and many others. Methods of SMO include adding RSS feeds, social news buttons, blogging, and incorporating media other than text including images and videos.
SEM - Search Engine Marketing is a form of Internet marketing that promotes websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs) using both organic and paid listings, including keyword placement bidding.
PPC - Pay-per-click, also known as keyword placement bidding, is Internet advertising on search engines, advertising networks, and content sites including blogs, where advertisers pay only when their ad is clicked by a visitor. On the search engines, such as AdWords on Google, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market.
Directories - Directories are Web sites which specialize in linking to other web sites and categorizing those links. The largest of these is Yahoo!, and shouldn’t be confused with Yahoo! Search. There are local, national and vertical market directories where your business or organization can be listed.
Links - The secret to attaining a good Google placement is back-links. Several of the prominent search engines believe that back-links are an important factor in ranking your site. There are several ways to solicit and obtain links which go back to your site, and preferrably not just to your home page.
Affiliate Programs - Affiliate marketing uses one website to drive traffic to another. This is a an online marketing channel which is frequently overlooked by businesses. SEO e-mail, and SMO capture media attention, affiliate marketing is lower profile, but can still be very effective for certain types of businesses.
Online publicity - Publicity can help your business rise above the “noise level” on the Internet, but it takes planning and preparation to do it effectively. Publicity can be an ongoing part of your marketing program, not a one-shot effort you make when you launch your business. With a proper publicity plan, you formulate an image for how you want your company portrayed in the media. Then you establish your methodology and benchmarks that will help you achieve those goals.
Syndicated Content - In the age of blogs, news sites and RSS feeds, syndicated content is growing in popularity. Web syndication is a form of syndication in which your unique website material is made available to multiple other sites. In practice this involves making RSS web feeds available from a site in order to provide other people with a summary of your site or blog’s recently added content.
Web site Awards - There are many different so called organizations giving out awards for web site design and content. However the best ones can still serve a useful purpose in giving some level of recognition to your organization’s Web site. The best ones are the Webby’s and for online advertising (interactive category) the Clio Awards.
Email Marketing - In this age where direct mail and catalog marketing are declining, email marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses email as a means of communicating business oriented or informational messages to your particular audience. In its broadest sense, every e-mail sent to a potential or current customer could be considered e-mail marketing, however it often refers to segmented broadcast email campaigns.
Offline Integration - It is always important to integrate your Internet marketing with your traditional branding, sales, promotions and advertising efforts. if you’re not integrating your online marketing efforts with offline materials, you may be doing more than just losing a potential advantage – you may be doing damage to your brand.
Peace of Mind is a Matter of Trust
Business technology is a complicated field, you need a responsible expert to give you unbiased opinions. Seek out the advice of an unbiased, trusted source who is technically competent AND understands your business and what you do.
Technology Providers often aren’t business experts
Business owners are often in a difficult position. They need advice on what to use to help their business produce revenue and lower costs. However, more often than not, technology providers are primarily programmers or are techology focused, rather than business process focused.
Technology Providers are often biased
In addition, technology providers are often biased to what they know, and are unlikely to share other options, which might be perfect for your situation.
The Solution
The answer to making the right choices for your business is to seek out a trusted authority who is an honest and responsible person and represents an ethical organization who is unbiased and also takes the time to understand you, your business, and what needs you have.
What do successful companies do as far as making use of the Internet?
Some companies hardly give a thought to whether or not they are really taking advantage of the power of the Internet. The Internet is no longer in its early stages: it has evolved, proven itself and has shown to be a tremendous asset when used correctly.
Time and time again, we hear of companies and organizations that are dissatisfied with the results being produced by their Web site or other business technology. Typically we find that the reason for the poor results is that they have been unsuccessful in taking advantage of the many business benefits a web site can offer. This is usually not their fault. Quite frankly, we find that while many of the web design firms can build decent looking web sites, but very few of them have the business expertise and experience to design sites that will produce results for their clients, nor are they Internet marketing experts.
The most successful companies have a strategy and a plan to make the most out of this medium
They create an integrated plan - their Internet marketing and their business or organization integrates their online strategy into their annual business operational plan.
They are realistic -A successful company knows how to set initial realistic goals, upon which they can build and grow - sometimes substantially - however they know they have to start with achievable, believable goals which match their organization.
They accurately fund - Lesser companies don’t invest much in their Web site or Internet marketing or email. They try to cut corners and don’t see the value. Successful companies understand that the Internet is here to stay and is a cornerstone of any business or organization and should be properly included in the annual budget with realistic figures.
They manage - Successful companies have a project and process management system they can depend on to give them the power and accuracy to complete technology initiatives on time and on goal.
They measure - Companies who are the most savvy know what metrics to use to measure success, and to help them to make decisions on what direction to take once a change is in order.
They change - Smart, practical companies know that the end of a technology initiative is not the end, it is the beginning of a process that involves managed change, which matches the changing goals and needs of the company or organization over time.
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Welcome to my blog. There are many Brian Williamses out there, including some famous people. I am a business consultant who specializes in understanding how successful businesses use the Internet. I have decades of experience working with business owners, general managers and CFO’s. Whether you just started your business or your business has been around for a while I can help your business or organization. Please watch for upcoming articles.
