Computer Weekly is proud to announce the winners of the E-Business
Excellence Awards
Mobile E-Business Award
Winner: Ideal boilers
The heat is on
Ideal sells boilers to fragmented and disparate market of
heating engineers. Managing this community is not an easy task:
large companies are easy to handle, but relationships with the
smaller installation companies are bewilderingly complex. These are
typically one or two-man companies for whom the mobile phone is the
main communication tool. Clearly, there would be massive benefit to
these if much of the technical information they need was available
via a mobile phone. The introduction of Wap has now made this
possible - an opportunity Ideal has seized. It now supplies
installers with free Wap phones, incorporating its Heating
Information Service. With it, the user can find information from
boiler dimensions to spare part numbers.
E-Business Design Award
Winner:aquazoo
The one that didn't get away
Aquazoo is a small, family run fish keepers shop in Croydon that
has achieved massive success, both commercially and with the
public, for its Web site (www.aquazoo.co.uk). Though the firm's
high street presence continues to be an important element within
the business, its Web site has extended the relationship the shop
has with the individual, both in terms of building loyalty and of
providing a new revenue stream. Aquazoo appeals to the serious fish
keeper by designing a more rigorous look that makes it stand out
from the crowd. Hit rates stand at around 1,000 unique visitors
weekly. The site also roots the on-going relationships with over
100 Aquatest subscribers, representing important repeat
business.
Computer Weekly E-Business Champion 2000
Winner: Simon Kujawa
The Computer Weekly E-Business Champion 2000 is Simon
Kujawa, installer director at Ideal Boilers. Simon impressed the
judges of the Mobile E-Business Award with his enthusiastic and
evangelical presentation, and with the obvious pride he took in his
company's Wap initiative.
Equally at ease with the technology underpinning the project, as
with the business strategy it supports, Kujawa embodies IT's
alignment with the core strategy of business.
For driving forward his company's e-business initiative with
such vigour, his reward is a brand new Lotus Elise - a car with
attitude for a man with attitude.
UK E-Business Gold Award
Winner: Charles Schwab Europe
For its pioneering work in the field of online trading,
Computer Weekly is delighted to declare Charles Schwab
Europe (CSE) the winner of the UK E-Business Gold Award. Patrick
Bossert, of the eTail Forum, judged the CSE site "a stunning
example of how e-commerce can be leveraged by a business to
revolutionise the manner in which it works." In just 24 months, CSE
has transformed its business from being totally offline to a point
where more than 70% of its business is conducted via the Web. In
the words of judge Martyn Emery, also of the eTail Forum, "The CSE
entry soon became the benchmark on which other entries were
judged." Full details of the ceremony will be published next
week.
E-Government Award
Winner: Companies house
On the record
Companies House is the government agency responsible for the
incorporation and registration of companies and the dissemination
of business information for company analysis and risk assessment.
Companies House Direct (www.direct.companieshouse.gov.uk) is the Web
site through which these activities are delivered online. The
aim is to provide customers with access to the full public
record of company information straight to their home or office
PC. Companies House Direct is a massive operation. The image
database contains over 25 million documents, formerly stored on
microfiche. To date, the online image bank provides all records
submitted on statutory forms since March 1995.
Winner: Netlinc
Education super-highway
NetLinc is Lincolnshire Country Council's response to the
challenge of the National Grid for Learning. It is a private IP
network that currently provides monitored access and online
learning resources to over 50,000 students based in over 215
schools within Lincolnshire. This represents over 98% of the
county's educational institutions, or over 2,200 PCs all supported
from one location. Several principles have steered the design of
the network. Easy-to-use content submission tools ensure
contributions don't come from just a few technical literates. An
active learning policy makes for a dynamic "smart" exchange of
information between parties rather than a passive
transmission/reception model.
E-business Marketing Award
Winner: Virgin Atlantic
Eight miles high
Global Miles Million Air, Virgin Atlantic's first
Internet-centric marketing campaign (www.virgin.com/millionair), has proven to be
the most successful acquisition project the company has run. At
its heart is the opportunity for customers to win one million
flying club miles. The competition is the start of an effort to
render a number of Web-based marketing tasks. For example, the
collection of e-mails for existing and prospective club members
is an important if simple goal. Once an online account has been
activated customers notice an immediate change in their
relationship with Virgin Atlantic. They can access account
details whenever they choose and regular product and service
information is available via an online newsletter.
E-recruitment & training award
Winner: Netlinc
Education super-highway
NetLinc is Lincolnshire Country Council's response to the
challenge of the National Grid for Learning. It is a private IP
network that currently provides monitored access and online
learning resources to over 50,000 students based in over 215
schools within Lincolnshire. This represents over 98% of the
county's educational institutions, or over 2,200 PCs all supported
from one location. Several principles have steered the design of
the network. Easy-to-use content submission tools ensure
contributions don't come from just a few technical literates. An
active learning policy makes for a dynamic "smart" exchange of
information between parties rather than a passive
transmission/reception model.
E-Commerce Award
Winner: Charles Schwab Europe
Taking stock
Charles Schwab Europe (CSE) was the first firm to offer online
trading in the UK. The Web site (www.schwab-europe.com) is composed of two
parts. The first is public and contains information aboutthe
company and services. The second is private, secure and only
accessible to clients. The secure Web site sells financial
products that are traded on UK and US exchanges and provides
24x7 access. The Web site channel sits alongsidea call centre
service, although over 70% of transactions are conducted over
the Web alone. Since launching in 1998, the site has conducted
over one million trades, amounting to over £5bn of business.
More than 100,000 customers are now registered.
E-Business Start-Up Award
Winner: Aviation Briefing
Up, up and away
Aviation Briefing provides a specialist but critical
service:
The supply of online flight briefing information for pilots. The
aim of this is to gather together all the meteorological data
required for a flight to a single source (www.avbrief.com). Take-up of the service has so
far exceeded expectation, with the site currently receiving visits
from about 2,500 users per month. Registered users now number close
on 15,000. To date, the service has been used only by private
aviators in the UK. But plans include tuning the system to the
commercial demands of international flight operators who also use
the services. Another part of the service is the delivery of SMS
messages to mobile phones. Wap testing is currently underway.
Knowledge Management Award
Winner: A recipe for success
Really cooking
E-business consultancy, A Recipe for Success
(www.arfs.co.uk) offers project-based business
services for organisations looking to develop an e-commerce
strategy. As the company rapidly expands, the challenge is to keep
everyone - consultants and customers - firmly in touch. A Web site,
part public, part private has provided the link, offering an online
knowledge management system enabling staff and customers to share
information and communicate over a distance. The system has
dramatically enhanced the kind of service the company offers to
customers. For example, customers are able to access comprehensive,
consistent and up-to-date information about work being carried
out.
Supply Chain Management and Procurement award
Winner: J Sainsbury
Plus a little bit more
Sainsbury's, the high street chain of supermarkets, was looking
for more from the electronic supply chain than was provided by
traditional EDI. The firm wanted to work with
its suppliers on promotional events and new product
introductions. It wanted to ensure full visibility of sales, depot
stocks and store availability. The Sainsbury's/Eqos Collaborative
Planning System (CPS) has been devised to fit the bill. The
cross-supply chain communication it provides can trigger alarms on
stock shortages, and instant feedback on promotion successes and
failures. Sainsbury's anticipates £2.5m direct savings a year,
reduction of wastage and reduced administration through the Web
site.
IT Industry Award
Winner: Watford Electronics
Current state of play
The ability of Web sites to transact tangible business
automatically is a key measure of any e-business effort.
Watford Electronics' site (www.watford.co.uk) succeeds in this, by
automatically forwarding orders to suppliers, and by keeping
customers informedat all times of the sales cycle.
In fact, in the 18 months since the company has had the Web site
up and running it has become entirely virtual. It does not hold
stock at all now. This means goods can be sold at very low margins,
with minimal overheads, giving the company tremendous flexibility
for growth. The sitehas done extraordinarily well since May 1999,
and has generated revenue of £500,000 per month.
E-Business SME Award
Winner: Timberweb
Jacking up lumber
TimberWeb (www.timberweb.com) was launched in 1997 as the
world's first business-to-business marketplace for the timber
industry. Its trading platform, eTrader, creates a
user-friendly, secure business environment providing
transparency and independence forbuyers and sellers. It offers
businesses a single-point, flexible andcost-effective means
oftrading. Innovative features include using fuzzy logic inthe
timber tradingknowledge database easing use for their
customers.
The site is currently attracting over 1.2 million hits a month,
30% more than inJanuary of this year.
Customer Relationship Management Award
Winner: Woolwich
A wrap with Wap
The Woolwich was the first UK bank to offer its customers the
luxury of access to Internet banking services from their
Wap-enabled mobile phones. Customers can now view their accounts,
transfer funds between accounts, pay bills and view statements all
from their handset. The Wap service has proved attractive to
existing customers, building loyalty, as well as some new
customers. The success of the site is not only measured in terms of
hit rates but also of the glowing reaction it received from the
markets. Products are improved on the back of the service. For
example, allowing the quick switching of cash between current
accounts and savings accounts to maximise interest earning
potential for the Woolwich's customers.