Behind the hype, many UK firms are struggling with the e-business
basics. David Bicknell reports on E-Business Review's research into
corporate Britain's online plans
Much of what is going on within the e-business agendas of
British firms cannot be explained by graphs, flow diagrams or pie
charts.
For this reason, at the end of last year, E-Business Review
commissioned some qualitative research into the attitudes and
experiences of managers working on Internet-based business
projects.
With the help of Actionline Research, we set up a series of
in-depth face-to-face and telephone interviews with more than forty
managers at small, medium and large companies in the finance,
manufacturing, retail and distribution, transport and logistics and
public sectors. Together with the quantative research we published
in our December issue, they provide a valuable insight into
Britain's progress in the New Economy.
Who is responsible from E-business strategy?
During the research, over a dozen different job titles were
given by managers working on e-business projects. They ranged from
the obvious 'e-commerce director' and 'project leader for
e-business' to business development director, marketing director,
website manager and IT manager.
The research also found that there is a degree of team
involvement in devising a strategy, and that the key individual
responsible for co-ordinating the team may not be the most senior
participant. So, in some companies, there is an e-business project
leader at middle-management-level responsible for bringing together
directors and senior managers across both commercial and technical
functions. One member said, "There are only five of us in our
project team, but we have pulled in other people as and when
throughout the process. I represent the IT side; three of the group
have come from marketing, with the sales and marketing director and
the project director. We've had our product manager involved, our
marketing manager, operations director and our credit manager from
finance."
The research also examined the role of the IT department in
delivering an effective e-business strategy that meets business
needs. For example, whether the IT department is proactive or
reactive depends on the relationship with others in the
organisation.
Typical of the approach is this comment: "I'm the IT manager and
I'm the one who will be ready if we decide to go ahead - it will be
somebody from marketing who will get things going".
How are you using E-business?
The research also received a number of responses to questions
about what they see as the aims of their e-commerce or e-business
strategy. Many were keen to stress that their e-business strategy
was not so much for getting new customers, but more a case of
communicating with existing ones.
Those companies who are strongly customer-driven will
necessarily see one of their major rationales of their e-business
strategy making things easier for the customer. For others, perhaps
those in the early stages of Web development, the website will only
be a 'presence' or a 'brochure' on the Web, and that does not
necessarily mean that offering interactive services is going to
follow quickly.
For other companies, their e-business development took off
because they realised that their competition has beaten them to the
punch. One IT manager within a traditional components business
suggested that he had been trying to convince his managing director
about e-business for some time, but never got anywhere.
"He was a little reluctant, because he didn't think there was
anything in it in our industry, because it's an old fashioned
business. But what kicked him into life was when one of our
competitors launched a site. Then it was, "Oh we'd better do
something then".
Those organisations that are not customer-focused are instead
using e-business to streamline their activities, save time and cut
costs and create benefits to the organisation.
How has e-business affected your organisation?
In most organisations tackling e-business, there is support from
the very top of the company, with boards involved right from the
start, discussing strategy, giving approval for go-ahead and
setting timescales. In some organisations, those responsible for
e-business had encouragement - but no clean slate - to make a
success of e-business.
In some cases, top executives went even further. One board did a
tour of Europe, addressing every employee about the change taking
place and the impact it would have on them.
To help get their strategies off the ground, a number of
companies had contacted external consultancies to advise on
strategy development. But it was not necessarily the case that the
bigger fish gave the best advice. Some decided smaller was
better.
Looking at companies' relationships with their key customers,
the trend is likely in future to be based on building closer
electronic links with a small selection of key clients. For some
companies, email has opened the door for this.
"We will become closer to our customers. The whole strategy will
be to tie customers in to us so they don't even think of going
anywhere else. It will be a partnership arrangement."
E-business Concerns
Whatever their progress, most are suffering from the same
issues. These include:
- importance of sorting out back office functions before opening
their operations up via the Web
- the need for integration with internal systems, such as
accounting
- compatibility with legacy systems
- building up internal expertise
- fitting strategy with current market conditions, and other
corporate priorities.
For many organisations, what they really need is the right
information to help them. Too many are being bombarded by
information from suppliers on a daily basis, when what they say
they need are details of what others are doing, warts and all. Too
many success stories only make them feel nervous.
The sheer number of 'solutions' put forward also causes concern.
Having staff responsible for e-business who may have come from
marketing rather than a technical focus has not helped.
One attended a conference attended an 'e-tailing conference' to
gain knowledge. But was dismayed to find that he was unable to cope
with the technology.
Another moaned, "There's a mind blowing plethora of suppliers
out there. I've been struggling over the past few weeks to try and
get some kind of objective value judgement between three companies.
But they are all coming at it from slightly different ways. It's a
challenge to get them to some sort of starting line where I can
compare apples and apples."
Perhaps not surprisingly, few respondents were confident enough
to suggest they were at the forefront of their sectors. Even among
those organisations that seem to be more advanced than others,
there remains a degree of uncertainty.
One company representative summed up the mood. "I'm a bit
schizoid about it. Some days I think nobody else knows more about
this than I do, and others, I think they know more than me. I think
the bottom line is that we're not way behind, and we're not way in
front either. There are a lot of people groping about in the fog,
and I'm probably one of them."
Wish list: e-commerce aims
- To facilitate the customer
- To provide product information
- To act as a shop window
- To serve as a marketing tool
- To be seen to have a website
- To streamline, save time, cut costs