The electronic business

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The electronic business

Not just IT

Modern organizations are utterly dependent on electronic information. Their telephones, computers, Internet links, data channels and email are their nervous system. Without them they cannot stay alive for more than a few days. They can rightly be called electronic businesses.

But there is more to an organization than data and electronic communication. There are its people, purposes, customers, suppliers and partners, processes, traditions, accounting and other control systems and so on. Each is important, each is necessary and all must be kept in balance.

Electronic businesses must build on a secure organizational and commercial foundation. Only then can they go about transforming themselves into a marketing-led organization with some certainty of lasting success. Without such a solid base, it is a waste of time and money to adopt newer channels such as electronic auctions and newer technologies like wireless working.

Set out below is our view of what that solid foundation should consist and how I can help you achieve it.

Ingredients for success

The successful electronic business is not about creating a stylish Web site, running an efficient supply-chain system or using the latest security software. These are important, to be sure, but form only a part of the picture.

There are five main steps involved in becoming a successful electronic business:

deciding and agreeing on what you want to do as an organization,

getting or developing the best people, information and processes needed to make that possible,

making reliable and efficient links between them,

integrating the result with the rest of the organization and with trading partners, and

keeping all these aligned to business objectives.

It sounds easy, put this way, but each step can be difficult and time-consuming. I help you to work through all of them - quicker and more safely than you would on your own.

Making a start

As with any major business change, becoming an electronic business must start with clear thinking about what you are trying to achieve. That could be as all-embracing as rethinking your marketing strategy or as closely focused as creating efficiencies in your internal supply chain. Whichever it is, I can help bring clarity and discipline to this stage.

Despite the continual emphasis everywhere on technology, business objectives are still achievable only by and through people. The human and organizational aspects of system changes are therefore crucial. They are also usually the hardest to get right.

Making these changes can often be hardest to do well for managers whose training and experience have concentrated on technology. I can help with this, include advising on group communication flows, knowledge management, ergonomics and cultural integration.

The importance of systems

Choosing the right system is nonetheless crucial. I can advise on, for example, ecommerce systems, business process automation, groupware, electronic mail, and document management. You might, perhaps, want help in selecting the best solution, an outside view on the abilities of competing suppliers or help in implementing the chosen system. I can do all these for you or, better still, with you.

Making the changes real

Good implementations distinguish themselves from failures by closely and quickly integrating the new with the existing. Again, this is as much to do with people and non-computer processes as it is to do with the technology.

Unless new systems and processes become rapidly embedded in the everyday work of the organization, they risk being starved of attention and support. Ultimately they will be rejected, like a graft that does not take.

Making sure this embedding takes place is not something to be done as an afterthought. It must start at the same time as thinking about system choice and must be part of system design. I can help you bring this about.

Finally, in any particular system change cycle, there needs to be an assessment of:

what has been achieved,

what has changed,

what turned out differently from the plan, and

what has been learned.

These lessons must then be spread around the whole organization, otherwise they will be wasted. I can advise on and help you gather and promote this knowledge.

The diagram below summarises our view of the important flows and relationships in the electronic business. At the heart of it are your people, information and processes - they are unique and strategic. (For more on process management, see here.)

Click on the diagram to see it larger.

How I go about it

My objective in all my assignments is to save time for my clients and to make a good result more likely. While doing this, I try always to leave clients better informed and better able to deal with the future than before I arrived. It is never part of my agenda to leave you dependent on consultants.

For more on what I can do for you, please go to the What I do page.