Improving

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Improving
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The e-businessguide

• Developed by the Department of Communications,
  Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA) in
  June 2003
• Two main components
• a getting started booklet explains how to get a
  computer and get online (available from the
  e-businessguide website)
• the e-businessguide website - a detailed guide to
  using e-business

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The e-businessguide

• The e-businessguide has 6 main components

• Understanding
• Planning
• Building
• Protecting
• Managing
• Improving

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Improving
This section of the e-businessguide covers the
following topics

• About improving
• Evaluating your e-business
• Doing business with government online
• Procurement over the Internet
• Managing the supply chain and logistics
• Putting your catalogue online
• E-marketplaces

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Improving

• Most businesses using the Internet as a business
  tool know that the technology and use of email,
  e-commerce and just about everything to do with
  the Internet is always changing.
• So looking for ways to improve current uses of
  the Internet is necessary and makes sense.

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Improving Evaluating your e-business

• Evaluating your e-business is not just about
  asking users whether your website looks good or
  is easy to use.
• There are many issues that need to be
  evaluated beyond your website or use of email.
  For example
• are your e-business plan and business plan
  integrated?
• are you utilising the Internet to drive
  cost-savings as well as you might?

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Improving Evaluating your e-business

• What to evaluate?

• The first step in evaluation is to identify what
  needs to be evaluated. The aspects of e-business
  listed below and accompanying questions provide a
  starting point in this process
• Strategic issues How else can we use the
  Internet to improve profitability?
• Management Do we have an up-to-date and
  appropriate website strategy, policy and
  procedures? Are we using email responsibly?
• Content and features of the website Is the
  quality and scope of content and its maintenance
  as good as it could be?
• Revenue What else can be done to generate
  revenue via the Internet? 
• Efficiencies and cost savings How else can the
  Internet be used to cut business costs?
• Marketing and promotion Are we doing enough to
  promote our Internet services?  How could we do
  it better? Are we using it effectively enough to
  manage customer relationships? Are we using email
  correctly - ie according to ethical uses of email
  and avoiding spamming?
• Supplier/distributor management How can our use
  of the Internet improve the way we manage our
  suppliers/distributors?
  Cont/..

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Improving Evaluating your e-business

• What to evaluate?

• Distribution How else can we use the Internet to
  help distribute our services and products?
• E-commerce What (else) should we be selling
  online?
• Budget  Is the e-business operating to budget?
• Competitors What are our competitors doing
  online and what can we learn from it?
• Resources Is sufficient time and money allocated
  to maintaining our e-business?
• Risk assessment Do we have a risk management
  strategy? Is it effective? Is the website, and
  our computer systems that support it, secure
  enough against hackers?
• Legal and contractual Does any content on our
  website or the way we use/sell things online, or
  our use of email, break any laws? Do we have an
  appropriate contract with our web developers and
  ISP?
• Website usability Is our website easy to use?
  Does it make it easy for people to do business
  with us?
• Technical issues Is the website speed and
  reliability appropriate, and our connection to
  the Internet fast enough?

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Improving Evaluating your e-business

• How to evaluate?

• Focus groups Conduct focus groups consisting of
  your target users eg customers, suppliers,
  distributors and ask them to comment on the
  websites look and feel, ease of use and
  content.  
• Interviews Interview staff and ask them about
  various aspects of the organisations e-business
  in order to obtain frank feedback on internal
  issues. 
• Interview external users (eg suppliers) and ask
  them about their impression of, or experience
  in, dealing with the organisation via the
  Internet.
• One-off reality checks Ask visitors to your
  business, colleagues or friends to look at your
  website or read your e-newsletter and comment on
  aspects appropriate to the user.  
• Cont/..

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Improving Evaluating your e-business

• How to evaluate?

• Surveys and polls Create a survey or quick poll
  and put it online or on paper to gain customers
  views on aspects of your e-business.
• Feedback from the website Create an area in your
  website that invites users to provide feedback on
  your products and services, what they would like
  to see or be able to do on the site, and feedback
  on the website itself.  
• Benchmarking This measures your e-business
  performance against the e-business performance of
  one or more similar organisations (best done with
  an organisation that is similar to yours, in
  terms of industry sector, size, products and
  services, target markets and aims)
• Cont/..

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Improving Evaluating your e-business

• How to evaluate?

• Website usage statistics Usage levels and
  patterns of usage of your website are important
  statistics to gather and look at because they can
  inform you as to who is using your site and when,
  what is working, what is popular and where the
  "dead" areas are that require rejuvenation or
  cutting.
• There are various measurements used to express
  the usage of websites. Unfortunately, they are
  all unreliable to some extent for a range of
  technical reasons. The most common statistics
  that are captured
• Hit rate Recording one hit means that one image
  on a page, such as your organisations logo, has
  been downloaded onto the users computer screen.
  So a Web page comprising fifteen images or
  sections, which is not unusual for a home page,
  would notch up 15 hits on the counter. But
  remember, that does not equate to fifteen people
  viewing your site.
• Unique visitors and user sessions The unique
  visitor count refers to how many different people
  access your website in any given period. This is
  measured by the company that hosts your website.
• Cont/..

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Improving Evaluating your e-business

• How to evaluate?

• Depending on the aims of your website you may
  need to track all, or some of the following
• the pattern of access over one day, one week,
  each month
• trends in visitor numbers and how many repeat
  visitors
• what areas of the site are visited the most
• what areas of the site are visited the least
• what routes users take through the site
• how long they stay in the site
• at what point they exit from the site
• the country of origin of the users
• what functions visitors use the most
  e-commerce, online forms
• what documents are downloaded and how often.

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Improving Analysing results

• Online survey results, focus group feedback,
  anecdotal evidence collected in the tea-room, and
  results produced by software evaluation tools,
  all contribute to an overall picture of the
  health, success and popularity of your website.
• Do not rely on one evaluation methodology alone -
  ensure that you have collected evidence from a
  variety of people and through a variety of
  methods.
• If there is a consistency in the message you are
  getting about such things as the design,
  management of the site or the maintenance
  solution, then it is reasonable to assume that
  you have a problem that needs to be fixed.  

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Improving Analysing results

• There is no magic formula for analysing the
  results of evaluation, but there are some things
  you should be wary of
• Making changes in your website make sure you do
  not change those things in your site that are
  working.
• Acting on one form of evaluation your online
  poll on the home page may be the flavour of the
  month for some people to provide repeat,
  mischievous feedback, so do not act on polls
  alone. 
• Misinterpreting data statistics can be easy be
  misinterpreted - it is wise to refer the data to
  someone skilled in analysing statistics to ensure
  you act on valid interpretations.
• Listening to vested interests some will have a
  vested interest in telling you what is wrong with
  the site and how to fix it, so consider who you
  are listening to when analysing their feedback.
• Knee-jerk reactions avoid reacting immediately
  to feedback by changing parts of the site -
  rather, collate it and report the collective
  picture to the website management team meeting
  and draw up a planned, prioritised response.
• Ignoring the future the site might be
  progressing well and the feedback positive, but
  your users do not know what they do not know so
  you have to keep an eye to the future and try to
  anticipate what they may want one, two, three
  years from now.

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Improving Who does the evaluating and when

• Evaluation of websites should be
• systematic it needs to be undertaken by the web
  management team
• on-going there needs to be a plan and schedule
  for analysing and reporting on the various
  aspects of the site at set times during the year
• appropriate using the right analytical tools and
  methods and conducted to a level of rigour
  appropriate to your website and organisation.  
• Evaluation should be a standing item on the
  agenda of the web management teams regular
  meeting. Each month a consolidated report should
  be presented that summarises the findings of the
  evaluation activity undertaken since the last
  meeting. Solutions then need to be found to
  address the issues raised in the report.  
• Members of the web management team could
  undertake aspects of the evaluation themselves
  while some aspects may require third party
  expertise, such as reporting on site traffic and
  conducting focus groups and surveys.

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Improving Doing business with government online

• e-government refers to the use of information and
  communications technologies to improve the
  efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and
  accountability of government.
• Consider the range of business activities that
  you engage in where there is a requirement or
  need to work with government. These activities
  might include
• starting-up a business
• taxation
• paying taxes
• applying for licenses and permits
• checking legislation
• training and apprenticeships
• importing and exporting
• employing people
• grants and financial assistance
• closing down a business

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Improving Doing business with government online

• Investigate whether these services, help or
  information are available online by exploring the
  relevant sections of the following websites
• Business Entry Point (BEP) an online government
  resource for the Australian business community -
  www.businessgov.au
• The Commonwealth Electronic Tender System (CETS)
  a web-based e-tendering facility operating as a
  pilot system - www.tenders.gov.au
• Doing Business Online with Government assists
  suppliers to trade electronically with Australian
  Government agencies -www.agimo.gov.au/publications
  /2002/11/dbowg
• Commonwealth Purchasing and Disposal Gazette  
  The business opportunities section of the
  Government Advertising website www.ads.gov.au
  provides information on government tenders to the
  public free of charge and The Gazette Publishing
  System (GaPS) located at www.contracts.gov.au, con
  tains information about resulting contracts and
  standing offers and provides searching and
  reporting facilities for users. 

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Improving Procurement over the Internet

• Business can purchase products and services from
  other businesses by using the Internet. Two
  companies, one the supplier and the other the
  purchaser, can transmit inquiries, orders,
  invoices, payments etc. directly via the
  Internet.
• In this way the purchaser can
• manage supplier relationships and accounts more
  easily as they are more automated
• save time writing out and tracking orders
• manage cash-flow more easily. 
• The supplier benefits by being able to respond
  more rapidly to orders and can manage cash-flow
  more easily.  
• Procurement using the Internet is referred to as
  e-procurement.  

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Improving Procurement over the Internet

• What to do?
• Research the advantages and challenges of
  adopting e-procurement by enquiring from your
  industry association and by researching on the
  Internet.
• The following documents provide a good starting
  point for your research
• Australian Institute of Purchasing Materials
  Management Ltd - search for e-procurement on this
  site. There is an article e-Procurement or
  Procurement Strategy - which comes first?
  published in May 2002. www.aipmm.com.au/knowledge_
  lib/default.asp
• From the AusWeb02 conference Reverse Auction
  e-Procurement A Suppliers Viewpoint -
  E-procurement is one of the shining lights in
  the evolving e-business story and this paper will
  look at a case study of an online reverse auction
  where a major Australian manufacturer sources
  logistics services for most of its commodities.
  http//ausweb.scu.edu.au/aw02/papers/refereed/stei
  n/paper.html

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Improving Managing the supply chain and
logistics

• A supply chain encompasses all activities and
  information flows necessary for the
  transformation of goods from the origin of the
  raw material to when the product is finally
  consumed or discarded. 
• This typically involves distribution of product
  from the supplier to the manufacturer to the
  wholesaler to the retailer and to the final
  consumer, otherwise known as nodes in the supply
  chain.  The transformation of product from node
  to node includes activities such as production
  planning, purchasing, materials management,
  distribution, customer service and forecasting.  
  
• Ultimately the ability to do business effectively
  depends on the efficient functioning of the
  entire supply chain.

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Improving Managing the supply chain and
logistics

• Proven supply chain models rely on the Internet
  to transfer information electronically, which
  underpins communication and collaboration between
  businesses along the supply chain. 
• Using the Internet in this way has a number of
  benefits, which include
• saving money and time by removing paper
  transactions purchases orders, invoices,
  consignment notes and speeding up response
  times
• reducing errors in the information passed along
  the supply chain by avoiding re-keying data from
  hand-written or faxed documents
• improving satisfaction of customers or suppliers
  (i.e. next node in the supply chain) with the
  delivery of information in real time (i.e. at
  the point at which product is moved)
• integration of dispatch and distribution data
  with product development data at each node of the
  supply chain, resulting in real cost savings.  

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Improving Managing the supply chain and
logistics

• Consider your supply chain and research the firms
  and functions and whether using the Internet can
  enable your supply chain to function more
  effectively.  Then research the data you need
  from another node in the supply chain to conduct
  your business.  
• For collaboration to work it may be necessary to
  champion its cause and discuss with others how to
  collaborate to share data openly to improve
  supply chain management.  
• Seek advice from your industry association for
  guidance on technology solutions and open
  standards to adopt in information exchange and
  messaging of business documents.

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Improving Managing the supply chain and
logistics

• Information Technology Online (ITOL)
• www2.dcita.gov.au/ie/ebusiness/developing/itol
• An Australian Government funded program
  administered by DCITA.
• Designed to accelerate the national adoption of
  e-business solutions, especially by small to
  medium enterprises (SMEs), across a broad range
  of industry sectors and geographic regions. 
• ITOL encourages industry groups and small
  business to identify and adopt commercial uses of
  the Internet to support productivity and
  profitability. The ITOL Program is a catalyst for
  industry groups to work collaboratively to solve
  common problems on an industry-wide basis, rather
  than working individually and developing multiple
  solutions and in some cases unnecessarily
  duplicating efforts. The preferred e-business
  solutions are open and inclusive for all
  participants.
• NOIE has also produced a guide to successful
  e-business collaboration which is available at
  www2.dcita.gov.au/ie/publications/2002/12/itol_exp
  erience

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Improving Putting your catalogue online

• One of the components of interacting along the
  supply chain is the cataloguing of products that
  could be used as inputs for the next node in the
  supply chain. 
• Putting this catalogue online can improve
  internal business efficiencies and ultimately the
  functioning of the entire supply chain.  
• An e-catalogue is an online presentation of
  information on products and services that are
  offered and sold by an organisation.
• For organisations that do not have a large range
  of products or services, putting its catalogue on
  the Internet is not a difficult task. However,
  for those with large product lines and many
  service offerings, multiple buyers, complex
  supply-chains and logistics, converting to an
  e-catalogue system is a complex task and requires
  careful planning and implementation.  

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Improving Putting your catalogue online

• Advantages of an e-catalogue

• it can be updated more efficiently and cheaply as
  the publishing process is faster and there are no
  printing and paper costs
• price changes and availability can be updated
  immediately a new product or service becomes
  available or there is a supply issue with a
  product or service
• it is available to customers anywhere in the
  world, 24 hours a day, seven days a week
• coupled with an online payment system, it
  encourages sales and assists cash-flow
• through the use of cross-links and
  product-to-product association the website can
  automatically encourage users to purchase
  additional products (cross-selling) and more of a
  product or service (up-selling)
• it can improve access to product catalogues by
  standardising content and providing multiple
  search criteria so that users can find it easily
• it can provide images and diagrams to demonstrate
  product features.

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Improving Putting your catalogue online

• Disadvantages of an e-catalogue

• if the business has a large range of products or
  services that change price or availability often,
  then an e-catalogue requires a sophisticated
  website solution which can be costly to establish
  and maintain
• to reap the full benefits of having an
  e-catalogue, a business would need to coordinate
  its customer and product databases, stock and
  inventory systems and financial systems and then
  ensure that these systems, or at least the
  website, could talk to the relevant systems of
  its suppliers and distributors this is no mean
  feat.  

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Improving Putting your catalogue online

• The challenges

• The major challenge that SMEs need to be aware of
  is that developing and maintaining an e-catalogue
  is different from updating and publishing a print
  catalogue. Buyers use different technologies to
  read e-catalogues, many of which are not
  compatible, so suppliers if they decide to sell
  to multiple buyers electronically must learn
  how to adapt its catalogue information to this
  type of operating environment.
• You should not be seduced into thinking that
  having a catalogue on a website equals an
  e-catalogue.  While potential buyer(s) can
  certainly visit a website and read the
  information posted there, the real efficiencies
  and productivity gains are made by linking the
  relevant parts of the back-office
  database/financial management information system
  (e.g. MYOB, Quicken, Attache) to the buyers
  e-business application.  
• Cont/..

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Improving Putting your catalogue online

• The challenges

• The key question the SME needs to remember is
  with all these technical and operating
  requirements imposed on me by either buyers or
  intermediaries, what needs to be done to reduce
  data customisation tasks, order re-keying and
  numerous log-on requirements for updating data?  
• To this end, SMEs need to have a well-structured
  product/service database that uses recognised
  national and international standards (eg. ABN for
  business identification, ANZIC codes for industry
  classification, UNSPC for units of measure,
  EAN/UCC numbers for product identification). 
  Using such standards means the catalogue
  information can be mapped, transformed and
  searched more effectively by potential buyers. 
  This approach reduces effort in recreating and
  updating catalogue content, can adapt quickly to
  changing technologies and applications, and
  provide a basis for establishing a scalable
  e-catalogue infrastructure.  

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Improving E-marketplaces

• An e-marketplace is an electronic exchange where
  firms register as sellers or buyers to
  communicate and conduct business over the
  Internet. 
• Services offered by e-marketplaces include
  business directory listings, electronic
  catalogues for online purchasing of goods and
  services and trading or transaction services. 
• E-marketplaces that are worth considering are
  those that interconnect with other marketplaces
  and allow low-cost connection to a firms
  financial accounting systems.  
• There has been significant rationalisation in the
  number of e-marketplaces operating over the last
  few years, and careful consideration is needed
  before making a commitment to join an
  e-marketplace, to determine whether it is
  appropriate for your business needs.

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Improving E-marketplaces

• Advantages of joining an e-marketplace

• greater opportunities for suppliers and buyers to
  make new trading partnerships, either within
  their supply chain or across supply chains
• the potential to lower the costs of negotiating
  and making transactions with automation of
  standard business procedures
• the potential for more transparent pricing as
  buyers and sellers take the opportunity to trade
  in a more open environment
• the opportunity to access value-added services
  such as inventory control and management of
  dispatch and distribution processes using
  electronic systems
• the potential to access global markets.  

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This is the final stage of the e-businessguide. P
lease refer to the Resources section of the
e-businessguide website for case studies and
additional information.