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1 Part 7: Applications and Site Development LAUNCHING A SUCCESSFUL ONLINE BUSINESS AND EC PROJECTS CHAPTER 12 Content Opening Case: Vodafone Essar of India 12.1 Getting into E-Commerce and Starting a New Online Business 12.2 Adding E-Commerce Initiatives or Transforming to an E-Business 12.3 Building or Acquiring a Web Site 12.4 Web Site Hosting and Obtaining a Domain Name 12.5 Content Creation, Delivery, and Management 12.6 Web Site Design 12.7 A Five-Step Approach to Developing an E-Commerce System 12.8 Development Strategies for E-Commerce Major Applications 12.9 Vendor and Software Selection Managerial Issues Closing Case: Developing a Web 2.0 Platform to Enable Innovative Market Research at Del Monte Learning Objectives Upon completion of this chapter, you will be able to: 1. Understand the fundamental requirements for initiating an online business. 2. Describe the process of initiating and funding a start-up e-business or large e-project. 3. Understand the process of adding EC initiatives to an existing business. 4. Describe the issues and methods of transforming an organization into an e-business. 5. Describe the process of acquiring Web sites and evaluating building versus hosting options. 6. Understand the importance of providing and managing content and describe how to accomplish this. 7. Evaluate Web sites on design criteria, such as appearance, navigation, consistency, and performance. 8. Understand the process of building a Webstore. 9. Discuss the major steps in developing an EC system. 10. Describe the major EC development strategies and list their major advantages and disadvantages. 11. List the various EC application development methods along with their benefits and limitations. 12. Describe the criteria used in selecting software vendors and packages.
2 Opening Case VODAFONE ESSAR OF INDIA Vodafone Essar is a subsidiary of Vodafone Group Plc., a global mobile telephony company. Vodafone Essar operates in India, and in September 2009 it had about 83 million subscribers (about 26 percent of India s total mobile base) and was growing at 25 to 30 percent annually. The company needed an enabled Web platform to provide EC services to customers, employees, and partners. The Problem The rapid growth of the company, the size of the country served, the large number of subscribers, and the intense competition in the mobile telecommunications industry forced the company to develop a superb communication system with its customers and business partners. The old Web presence (static, HTML pages) was inadequate. A study pointed to a need for an e-commerce-enabled interactive portal that would care for customers, employees, and partners. The requirements of this EC application were many and diversified, since the company wanted to offer new services that would provide competitive advantage. The need for more functionalities, speed, ease of use, etc., became a necessity as well as the need for quick implementation of any attempted solution. The project was a very large scale one since it required robustness, scalability, high availability, flexibility, and security. Also integration with back-end systems was needed to facilitate order fulfillment. The company wanted to revamp its Web site, envisioning a Web portal that could enhance its Web site and extend value-added service functionalities on the Web; integrate with the telecommunication systems to offer content optimized for mobile phones; and integrate with the B2B extranet and/or its partners Web sites. E-commerce functionality was an integral and integrated part of this service enablement and customer-care goals. There was no detailed justification of the need for the portal and no quantitative analysis. Competitive and market forces and the rapid growth were considered qualitatively in the decision to undertake the project. The Solution Since the company s IT team was unable to build such a project by themselves in time, the company decided to outsource the system development. The company contacted three leading vendors. Discussions with all three companies, proposals to meet the needs rapidly, integration considerations, reputation of the vendors and their employees, and more factors were weighted in the vendor selection process. Furthermore, a mapping of the system requirements against the vendors product offering was also done. The winner was Microsoft. The solution implemented by the Microsoft team was a customer-focused, e-commerce-enabled Internet platform that is flexible enough to grow with the rapid growth of the company s business. The platform enables self-care by customers they are able to buy services, download content, and transact with Vodafone on their own. The solution also integrates seamlessly with the company s mobile platform and with hosted services and external service providers a strategic direction of corporate s Software as a Service (SaaS) initiative. The portal s back end was based on Microsoft Customer Care Framework (CCF) 2006, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, and Microsoft Commerce Server The middle tier utilized SQL Server 2008 and Microsoft Connected Services Framework 3.0. The portal interfaces with Vodafone s line-of-business applications, which provides for service-oriented architecture (SOA). Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 provides advantages such as comprehensive content management and enterprise search, accelerating shared business processes, and it facilitates information-sharing across the organization s boundaries. Commerce Server 2007 enables the creation of full-featured Web business applications, extension of business across communication networks, and integration of e-commerce solutions within the existing IT infrastructure. CCF is an enterprise software solution for contact and self-care centers that delivers a unified corporate agent desktop system that consolidates data from core business systems such as billing, CRM, and order management applications to the customer service agent desktop. CCF enables dramatic improvements in the contact centers efficiency by delivering an improved, consistent customer experience. The platform promises high availability, security, performance efficiency, and faster deployment of new services. Partner management is more efficient; and third-party applications and services can be acquired and integrated quickly. It has support for multiple end-user devices, such as desktops, mobile phones, Xbox, or the Zune. Implementation took about six months. Given the scale of the project, it could have taken double that time in other
3 organizations. This speed was the result of superb planning and the expertise of the corporate IT team and the Microsoft experts. The first phase of the solution enables a high-end and feature-rich corporate Web site for Vodafone. Customers can register themselves, log in, browse the catalogs of valueadded services and order or download their choices, pay their bills, and manage their subscriptions. New connections can also be bought via the portal. The portal supports third-party payment gateways from multiple providers to provide flexibility in payment and billing mechanisms. The portal houses other business applications as well. For instance, prospective employees can upload their résumés for Vodafone s HR team. For partners, the portal acts as a publishing platform. They can view their transaction and billing details and access Vodafone s CRM. In the second phase, integration with the mobile platform and the extranet network and portal has been done. This enables the availability of e-commerce services on mobile phones; business partner employees can use their mobile phones for nearly all the transactions that they can do on the offline Web portal. The Results The portal offers a secure and user-friendly platform and good response time. All the functionalities that were desired are fully supported. About 10 million subscribers regularly used the portal in Specifically five benefits have been achieved: 1. Robustness, scalability, and security. The robustness and performance efficiency of the portal translates to higher consumer satisfaction. The portal provides high availability for all services; assures a highly secure environment for user registration, e-commerce transactions, and subscription management; and is scalable to meet the growing needs of Vodafone, as it foresees exponential future growth. 2. E-Commerce customer support. The support for e-commerce transactions (the biggest factor in deciding to rebuild the portal) enables flexible payment mechanisms and value-added services in an easy-touse, user-friendly format. 3. Integration with other applications. The portal integrates seamlessly with Microsoft products and applications and content that Vodafone uses in other applications; thus, Vodafone s partners can easily use the portal interface to access those applications. 4. Good response time. The portal enables users to conduct transactions quickly. 5. Reduced time to market. The platform enables Vodafone to create and deploy new services quickly. Third-party or hosted applications and services can also be acquired and integrated in a short period of time. Sources: Compiled from Microsoft (2008) and vodafone.in (accessed November 2009). WHAT WE CAN LEARN... Many organizations need to replace manual or outdated computerized systems with a Web-based EC one, which is exactly what happened to Vodafone Essar. The first step was to envision the new system and its capabilities and to justify it. Justification can be quantitative and/or qualitative. In this case, there was a strategic need to do so, and the justification was qualitative due to the intangible benefits. This is usually the first step in developing EC systems as described in this chapter. From this point on, Vodafone followed a typical EC development process, which is described in this chapter. The major activities, after the EC requirements were articulated, were: selecting a vendor to plan and implement the EC. (Most organizations today, use vendor(s) for at least some of the development activities.) Next, Vodafone selected the system components and the development tools from the vendor. A joint vendor-company team was established to manage the implementation. Once the system was completed, its success was measured. The process described in this case is suitable to a large company that needed B2C and B2B capabilities on a large scale. This chapter also presents several alternative development options that can be fitted to different companies under different circumstances.
4 W12.4 Part 7: Applications and Site Development 12.1 GETTING INTO E-COMMERCE AND STARTING A NEW ONLINE BUSINESS Belew and Elad (2009) provide a complete guide on how to start an online business. This chapter describes some of the steps involved in setting up an e-business. GETTING INTO E-COMMERCE In this chapter, we will discuss some of the most common ways of starting an e-business. Specifically, this chapter presents the following topics: Starting a new online business (a start-up; see Section 12.1) Adding e-commerce initiative(s) to an existing business (i.e., becoming a click-andmortar organization; see Section 12.2) Transforming to an e-business (Section 12.2) Almost any e-commerce initiative will require support activities and services, as well as plans for attracting visitors to a Web site. This chapter presents the following with regards to these types of activities: Developing a Web site (Section 12.3) Hosting the Web site and selecting and registering a domain name (Section 12.4) Developing, updating, and managing the content of a Web site (Section 12.5) Designing a Web site for maximum usability (Section 12.6) Providing support services (Section 12.7) According to Hise (2007), becoming an owner of a business has become a national obsession in the United States, and the percentage of Internet businesses is increasing rapidly. AN E-START-UP IS A START-UP Before we start our discussion, we need to emphasize that an e-start-up is basically a startup and, as such, must consider all the issues faced by a physical start-up. Many books, magazines, and articles are dedicated to starting a new business. Magazines such as Entrepreneur are fully dedicated to start-ups. Copeland and Malik (2006) provide a 16-step process and guidelines for building a bulletproof start-up. They also provide a list of things to avoid, tools you need, tips for success, and more. The Internet is contributing to what Hise (2007) calls America s love affair with entrepreneurship. Several centers for information technology start-ups exist, some sponsored by major software companies. Example: Microsoft Startup Center The Microsoft Startup Center offers free step-by-step guidance, tips, and resources for starting a business, including an e-business. A wealth of information is provided under eight general headings: The Rules, Office Setup, Your Brand, Marketing, Sales, Finances, The Details, and, last but not the least, Employees. The Startup Center provides links to the IRS (tax), the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Startup Nation, and other resources, including Bank of America s Small Business Resource Center, which also offers valuable step-by-step tips. From furniture resources to how to jumpstart marketing with a free Web site from Office Live, the Microsoft Startup Center is worth viewing. Remember, new business owners should always seek the guidance of a professional tax consultant, accountant, and/or attorney to verify that all legal requirements have been
5 Chapter Twelve: Launching a Successful Online Business and EC Projects W12.5 met before starting and operating a business. For more information, see microsoft. com/smallbusiness/startup-toolkit. One of the major steps in launching any start-up is to find a viable product (service). This may take a long time, because the concept comes first, followed by a prototype, and then a market test. Also, finding the correct business model is critical (see Chapter 1 and the Online Tutorial). Umesh et al. (2005) provide some interesting guidelines to avoid dot-com failures. Specifically, they suggest looking at: (1) the growth rate of the intended market, (2) the timing of market entry, (3) revenue flow, and (4) what part of the cycle a market is in. For a free 14-session guide to starting a business, see myownbusiness.org/course_list.html. CREATING A NEW COMPANY OR ADDING AN ONLINE PROJECT In Chapter 1, we described the case of Zappos where an interesting idea and strategy led to a very successful online company. Most new businesses brick-and-mortar, pure-play, or click-and-mortar begin in a similar manner. The following three steps describe the process: 1. Identify a consumer or business need in the marketplace. Many businesses simply begin with a good idea. A magazine article, a personal observation, an unsolved problem, a small irritation, or a friend s suggestion may trigger an idea, and the prospective business owner sees a gap between what people want and what is available. For an example, see Case 12.1 (p. 12-6). Note that the key here is innovation. 2. Investigate the opportunity. Just because a person perceives that an opportunity exists does not mean that it is real. Perhaps the potential number of individuals interested in purchasing the proposed product or service is too small. Perhaps the cost of manufacturing, marketing, and distributing the product or providing the service is too large. The revenue model may be wrong, others may have tried already and failed, satisfactory substitute products may be available, and so on. For example, online grocery shopping would seem like a wonderful opportunity relieving busy professionals of the time-consuming and tiresome task of regular visits to a grocery store. Many have tried to provide large- and small-scale online grocery ventures (e.g., Netgrocer, Peapod, HomeGrocer, Webvan), but most have failed or continue to lose money because they misjudged the logistical problems associated with grocery warehousing and delivery. This is why it is so important to develop a business plan. One of the purposes of a business plan is to determine the feasibility and viability of a business opportunity in the marketplace. 3. Determine the business owner s ability to meet the need. Assuming that a realistic business opportunity exists, does the prospective business owner have the ability to convert the opportunity into success? Some personal qualities are important: Is the business in an industry the prospective business owner knows well? Is it something the entrepreneur loves doing? Are family and friends supportive? Business skills in staff recruitment, management, negotiation, marketing, and financial management are required, as well as entrepreneurial attitudes such as innovation, risk taking, and being proactive. Many good ideas and realistic initiatives have failed in the execution stage because the owners or other principals of the business lacked sufficient business skills to make it a reality. Boo.com, for example, seemingly had a great concept (retailing ultramodern, designer clothing) and superior software, but it failed because of the inability of management to organize the business and manage the projects necessary to bring Boo.com online before it burned through $120 million of start-up capital (Cukier 2000). The process for developing EC projects in existing companies is similar to that of starting a new business, except that step 3, just mentioned, changes to: Determine the organization s ability to meet the need.
6 W12.6 Part 7: Applications and Site Development CASE 12.1 EC Application INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY AT AMAZON.COM Call it fate or call it the right person having the right idea at the right time. Whatever you call it, the idea behind Amazon.com and its founder, Jeff Bezos, seemed destined for each other. Bezos graduated from Princeton University with a degree in computer science, and his first job was in electronic commerce, building an EDI network for settling cross-border equity transactions. A few jobs later, he was a senior vice president at the hedge fund firm D. E. Shaw, responsible for exploring new business opportunities on the Internet. It was then that his intelligence, entrepreneurial talents, computing education, and e-commerce experience all came together in a brilliant idea: The most logical thing to sell over the Internet was books. Several years later he added dozens of other products. Why books? Bezos was willing to bet that book buyers would be willing to give up the cozy, coffee-shop, browsing environment of the local bookstore if he could offer them the earth s biggest bookstore, fantastic customer service, and features that no physical bookstore could match customer book reviews, author interviews, personalized book recommendations, and more. The rest of the story is the stuff of legend. Bezos left his six-figure Wall Street salary and wrote the Amazon.com business plan. The Amazon.com Web site was built in a cramped, poorly insulated garage. When Amazon.com launched in July 1995, a bell would ring every time the server recorded a sale. Within a few weeks, the constant bell ringing became unbearable, and they turned it off. Today, in one day, Amazon.com sells thousands of products to over 3 million customers. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Amazon.com invested $2 billion in physical warehouses and in other expansion opportunities. This was in line with Bezos vision for Amazon.com as broader than books and music. After years of large losses, Amazon.com announced its first small profit in the fourth quarter of As of 2005, the company is increasingly more profitable. During its first decade of operation, Amazon.com changed its business model several times, adding innovative ideas. It also acquired other companies or stakes in companies in several countries (e.g., joyo.com the largest e-tailer of books, music, and videos in China). Amazon Services, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon.com, has joint projects with a number of different partners (e.g., American Express). Amazon Theater offers film viewing from its Web site, as well as many more innovations. In 2008, Amazon.com expanded into downloadable books (recall the Kindle 2 e-book reader in Chapter 6), music, and movies. Bezos is indeed an innovator. His most original idea is his vision of Blue Origin, a futuristic center for suborbital spaceships. In the last few years, he has worked on commercializing space trips. Bezos Blue Origin commercial space venture is developing a vehicle to take occupants on a 10-minute ride to the edge of space, nearly 60 miles (96 kilometers) above the earth and back (see Quitter 2008). Perhaps it will only be a matter of time before customers can purchase tickets for space trips from Amazon.com. It all began with a smart entrepreneur whose life experiences gave him a brilliant idea that led to the founding of a legendary e-tailing company. Sources: Compiled from Business Wire (2004), Klotz (2005), and Quitter (2008). Questions 1. What were the opportunities and needs in the consumer market that inspired Bezos to create Amazon.com? 2. What factors, at both personal and business levels, led Bezos to his brilliant idea? 3. Visit Amazon.com and find some of its recent innovations. List five. Some Tips for Success Winnick (2006) provides the following five secrets to help you come up with the next big thing: 1. Do your homework. Research what s really happening in the world. Simple innovations are not understated. They have to be tangibly more effective than anything already on the market. For example, attend ExpoMart, where the annual Innovation New Product Exposition (INPEX), takes place.
7 Chapter Twelve: Launching a Successful Online Business and EC Projects W Aim for excitement. Make your customers say wow or finally, such as Bezos initiative to take customers into space. 3. Whittle, shape, iterate, and repeat. Test and improve the ideas and prototypes several times. Your designers and developers can do this. 4. Get real. Build physical prototypes to get feedback from friends, suppliers, and customers (see Copeland and Malik 2006). 5. Avoid creating a gizmo. Beware of creating a product (service) with obvious faults, even if it looks like a brilliant design. Even though a product (service) must be attractive to customers, it must also work. Beyond these general platitudes about what it takes to start a prosperous business, the owner of an online business must consider some requirements that reflect the online nature of the business. The first of these is the need to understand Internet culture. Activities such as spam, extensive use of graphics, forced visitor registration, and intrusive pop-up browser windows are counter to the accepted norms of behavior on the Internet. Cloning Entrepreneurs all over the globe try to clone or copycat the Web s most successful Web sites, such as ebay, Amazon.com, Facebook, and YouTube. For example, Amazon.gr called itself Greece s Biggest Bookstore, and had much the same look and feel as Amazon.com s site at the time when Amazon.com referred to itself as the Earth s biggest bookstore. This site is no longer live. CarSpace.com is a site with content provided by Edmunds for people who like cars. It has all the features you d expect on a site like MySpace, but its community members are mostly interested in cars. PLANNING ONLINE BUSINESSES Planning an online business is similar to planning for any start-up venture in that it centers on a business plan. Business Plan Every new online business needs at least an informal business plan. As defined in Chapter 11 and the Online Tutorial, a business plan is a written document that identifies a company s goals and outlines how the company intends to achieve those goals and at what cost. The primary reason an entrepreneur writes a business plan is to use it to acquire funding from a bank, an angel investor, a venture capitalist, or the financial markets. Similarly, in an existing business a business case needs to be written for any new large EC project so management can decide whether to fund it. A business plan also is important for a new venture as a tool to recruit senior management and to convince business partners to make a commitment to the business. A business plan helps ensure a thriving business by encouraging an entrepreneur to set goals, anticipate problems, set measures for success, and keep the business on track after starting it. A business plan forces the entrepreneur to be realistic about the business s prospects. Sometimes the most successful outcome of a business plan is a decision not to proceed. For all aspects of business plans for start-up companies, see hjventures.com. For a sample of business plan software, see planware.org, planmagic.com, and abs-usa.com. Palo Alto Software (paloalto.com) offers Business Plan Pro 2007, which includes more than 500 sample plans. Another resource is Microsoft s Small Business Center at microsoft.com/smallbusiness/hub.mspx. For more on getting started with a business plan A written document that identifies a company s goals and outlines how the company intends to achieve the goals and at what cost.
8 W12.8 Part 7: Applications and Site Development business plan in a small company, see smallbusiness.yahoo.com. The Online Tutorial on this book s Web site explores this topic in further depth and offers a detailed explanation of how to prepare a business plan. Also see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/business_plan and Session 2 at myownbusiness.org/course_list.html. business case A document that justifies the investment of internal, organizational resources in a specific application or project. The Business Case An existing brick-and-mortar business looking to move online (either to add EC projects or to transform itself to an e-business) needs a business case a document that is used to justify the investment of organizational resources in a specific application or project (see the discussion in Chapter 11). A business case for a large, resource-intensive EC project resembles a business plan. The Online Tutorial includes details on how to write a business case and the similarities and differences in writing such a business case and business plan. For a small or medium-size project, the business case can be much simpler. A high-level template for a business case that you can use to justify new online applications, such as a new e-procurement, e-learning, an extranet, or participation in a social network, is shown next. A HIGH-LEVEL BUSINESS CASE TEMPLATE This template shows the justification for the expenditure of resources on a specific online project or initiative in an existing business. If the business is considering a number of different initiatives, you should prepare a separate business plan or case for each one. If the initiative is for a new business, it will require a more comprehensive business plan. The template includes the following components: Goals. Begin with a specific description of what the business intends to achieve through the initiative increased sales, reinforcement of the brand or corporate image, improved customer support, reduction in communications and marketing costs, and so forth. A useful approach is to define the problem, propose a solution, and describe the expected outcomes or impacts. Conclude this section with goals one or more statements that succinctly describe a desired future condition toward which the business will direct its efforts. Here, it will be advantageous to use a business model. Cost savings. If one or more goals include reduction of existing expenditures, then calculate the following: (1) an itemized and quantified list of existing costs that the project will affect and (2) the estimated levels of savings that the project will generate (e.g., reduce long-distance telephone costs by 45 percent). Multiply the costs by the saving levels to find the expected reduction of expenditures. You should estimate these savings for a short-term time frame, perhaps the first three years of the project s operation. New revenue. If one or more of the goals suggests an increased revenue stream, then calculate (1) an itemized and quantified list of existing net income (revenue from sales minus cost of sales) the application or project will affect and (2) the estimated levels of new sales that you expect (e.g., increase product sales by 12 percent). When you multiply the net income by the increased sales levels, you get the expected amount of increased revenue. Do this for the same multiyear time frame as used in the cost-savings calculation. Extra benefits. List and, if possible, quantify any additional fiscal benefits that are associated with the project (e.g., improved staff productivity, faster collection of outstanding debts). If these are difficult to estimate, it is best to list them, but don t quantify them nor add them to the benefits identified previously. This approach
9 Chapter Twelve: Launching a Successful Online Business and EC Projects W12.9 will produce an overall more conservative estimate of benefits, building in an extra cushion for project success in the event that the business does not realize all quantified benefits. Cost of the solution. This is an itemized and quantified list of costs associated with the online project. You should estimate both direct costs (e.g., amortized costs of Web site development and Web site hosting) and indirect costs (e.g., staff training) for the period. Net benefits. Add together all benefits (i.e., cost savings, new revenue, extra benefits) and subtract the costs. The result should be a specific amount of expected monetary gains (or losses) resulting from successful implementation of the project in each year of the period being examined. Recommendation. Summarize the decision that is being recommended in light of the foregoing analysis. If the net benefit result is strongly positive, then a decision to proceed is likely, and you can start the next steps (e.g., a risk analysis, customer survey, staff hiring). If the results are slightly positive or negative in one or all years of operation, you can still justify the decision to proceed on the basis of seeing the online initiative as a long-term strategy, a competitive imperative, or simply the cost of staying in business. If the bottom line is strongly negative, then the most likely outcome will be a decision that there is no justification for the project, saving the business a lot of time and money. Even that can be viewed as a positive outcome of a business case. For details of this high-level template, see Online Tutorial T1. For many specific templates, see score.org/template_gallery.html. FUNDING A NEW ONLINE BUSINESS Launching an online business can be expensive. The brave entrepreneur is usually willing to invest personal funds from savings, open personal lines of credit, or take a second mortgage out on his or her house, but these sources of bootstrap funding are unlikely to be sufficient. According to Maier (2005), entrepreneurs should bootstrap as long as possible, but not wait too long to tap into the venture community. If the new venture involves significant risk, traditional sources of debt financing, such as a bank loan, can be difficult or impossible to get. For other sources of funding for a start-up business, see Rutgers (2009). For an introduction to sources of e-business funding, see businesspartners.com. First Round of Initial Funding: Angel Investors and Incubators When the entrepreneur s personal funds are insufficient, the entrepreneur will go to friends, family members, or to angel investors. An angel investor is a wealthy individual who contributes personal funds and possibly expertise at the earliest stage of business development. Angel investors can be found through organizations such as the Angel Capital Association (angelcapitalassociation.org) and newspapers, magazines, and business-oriented social networks (e.g., LinkedIn). An angel investor may provide the developer with an office, hardware, software, salary, and access to human and financial resources. In most cases, the angel investor also provides guidance or access to management expertise. In addition to sometimesaltruistic goals, the angel investor is looking for a reasonable return on the investment. In other words, the angel investor is almost always a preventure-capital funding source and may be paid later from the infusion of venture capital funds. An angel investor is an excellent source of funding for the entrepreneur; however, angel funding is scarce and difficult to find. angel investor A wealthy individual who contributes personal funds and possibly expertise at the earliest stage of business development.
10 W12.10 Part 7: Applications and Site Development incubator A company, university, or nonprofit organization that supports businesses in their initial stages of development. venture capital (VC) Money invested in a business by an individual, a group of individuals (venture capitalists), or a funding company in exchange for equity in the business. Another important source of support, if not direct funding, for preventure-capital firms is an incubator. An incubator is a company, university, or nonprofit organization that supports promising businesses in their initial stages of development. Although some incubators offer start-up funding, the primary purpose of most incubators is to offer a variety of support services office space, accounting services, group purchasing, reception services, coaching, and information technology consulting at little or no cost. In return, the incubator receives a modest fee, equity in the company, or both (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/business_incubator). Second Round Financing: Venture Capital One major source of funding new ventures is venture capital. Venture capital (VC) is money invested in a business by an individual, a group of individuals (venture capitalists), or a funding company in exchange for equity in the business. Venture capitalists tend to invest in companies that have identified what seems to be an outstanding business opportunity, have taken some action to make the opportunity happen (e.g., written a new software application, secured a patent, built an interesting social network that attracts many visitors, conducted some promising experiments, or recruited key personnel), and need an infusion of funds and management expertise to expand the business. Some venture capitalists may have connections with CEOs who would be good strategic guides for the business; others may be more market specific. It is therefore important to match your VC with your business. Venture capitalists usually invest large sums of money and expect, in return, some management control and a profit on their investment within three to five years, when the successful start-up goes public (an IPO) or when a larger company merges with it or acquires it. The downside for the start-up business to acquire VC is minimal; it loses some control over the business in return for funds it is unlikely to acquire from any other source. The more difficult problem is finding VC. Due to the many dot-com failures in 2000 and onward, many VC sources have disappeared, and competition for venture capital is fierce. Some well-known VC companies are vfinance Capital (vfinance.com), the Westlake Securities (westlakesecurities.com), and Garage Technology Ventures (garage.com), which was founded by personal-computing guru Guy Kawasaki. Venture capitalists may be start-ups. Most of them lost large amounts of money for their investors during the dot-com bust. For more information, see the National Venture Capital Association (nvca.org), the Venture Capital Marketplace (v-capital.com), Mobius Venture Capital (mobiusvc.com), and VC Fodder (vcfodder.com). Additional Funding: A Large Partner As part of a VC investment or after the depletion of VC money, one or more large companies may step into the process. For example, Yahoo!, IBM, Microsoft, Motorola, Google, Time Warner News Corp., and Oracle have invested in hundreds of EC startup companies. Eventually, they may acquire the start-up completely. Such investments are frequently done in complementary or competing areas. For example, Yahoo! is a major investor in Google and in Baidu in China; News Corp. acquired the start-up MySpace; and Google invested in dozens of companies related to advertising, including the purchase of YouTube in Microsoft purchased a part in Facebook in 2008, and ebay owns 25 percent of Craigslist. Google and other EC companies are buying companies even before they try to get the VC support. The IPO Once the company is well known and successful, it will go to a stock exchange to raise money via an initial public offering (IPO). In such offerings, investors will pay a much larger amount of money per share than that paid by the initial and secondary funding source, sometimes
11 Chapter Twelve: Launching a Successful Online Business and EC Projects W or 10 times more per share. A vivid example is the launch of Alibaba (Chapter 5); its IPO was valued in the billions of U.S. dollars on the Hong Kong stock exchange in October (The stock is now listed on the OTC market in the United States.) Section 12.1 REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. List the major steps in the process of building an online business. 2. Describe the formation process of a typical online business. 3. What special requirements must an online business consider in its formation? In e-business planning? 4. What is a business case, and how does it contribute to business success? 5. Describe initial, secondary, and IPO funding options available to a start-up. 6. What is an angel investor? An incubator? 7. How does a VC company support a start-up? 12.2 ADDING E-COMMERCE INITIATIVES OR TRANSFORMING TO AN E-BUSINESS Creating an e-business start-up certainly is exciting, but it also is very risky. As with any other business, the failure rate is very high. However, in cyberspace the uncertainties, plus lack of experience, may result in an even higher rate of failure. Nevertheless, thousands of new online businesses have been created since 1995, mostly small ones (see Chapter 11). A much more common strategy is adding one or several EC initiatives to an existing business. ADDING EC INITIATIVES TO AN EXISTING BUSINESS Almost all medium-to-large organizations have added or plan to add EC initiatives to the existing business. The most common additions are: A Webstore. Adding an online sales channel is common in both B2C (e.g., godiva.com, walmart.com) and B2B (e.g., ibm.com). The required investment is fairly low, because inexpensive Webstore hosting and software is available from many vendors (see Sections 12.5 and 12.9). A Webstore can be built fairly quickly, and the damage in case of failure may not be too large. A portal. As discussed in Chapter 2, there are several types of corporate portals. Almost all companies today have one or several portals that they use for external and/or internal collaboration and communication. A Webstore for employees or for external customers will include a portal. Adding a portal (or several portals) may be a necessity, and it may not be preceded by a formal business case. Issues of content and design, as well as security, are of utmost importance. Because many vendors offer portal-building services, vendor selection may be an important issue. E-procurement. This EC initiative is popular with large companies, as described in Chapter 5. E-procurement frequently requires a business plan and extensive integration (both internally and externally), so an EC architecture must be in place. Auctions and reverse auctions. Large corporations need to consider building their own auction or reverse auction (for e-procurement) sites. Although forward auctions can be added to a Webstore at a reasonable cost, a reverse auction usually requires more integration with business partners and, consequently, a larger investment and a business case.
12 W12.12 Part 7: Applications and Site Development M-commerce. Many companies are embarking on wireless applications inside the organization and on selling and advertising via m-commerce technologies. Enterprise social networks and Web 2.0 tools. Many large companies now offer blogs and wikis; others (e.g., Toyota, Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo Bank) operate enterprise social networks. Organizations may consider other types of EC initiatives, following the business models presented in Chapter 1. For example, Qantas (qantas.com.au) sells tickets online directly from its Web site and from a B2B exchange; it buys supplies and services from its e-procurement site as well as from several exchanges; it provides e-training for its employees; operates several corporate portals; offers online banking services to its employees; provides e-crm and e-prm; manages its frequent flyer program; supports a wireless notification system to customers; and so on. Large companies, such as GE and IBM, have hundreds of active EC projects. TRANSFORMATION TO AN E-BUSINESS As the brick-and-mortar organization implements more EC projects, it becomes a clickand-mortar organization, and eventually an e-business. Being an e-business does not imply that the organization is a pure-play company; it just means that it conducts as many processes as possible online. A rapid or large-scale change from brick-and-mortar to e-business involves organizational transformation. For planning such a transformation, see Basu and Muylle (2007), who outline a detailed process for such a transformation. What Is Organizational Transformation? Organizational transformation is a comprehensive concept that implies a major organizational change. According to McKay and Marshall (2004), a transformation is not only a major change, but also a sharp break from the past. The key points in understanding organizational transformation are as follows: The organization s ways of thinking and vision will fundamentally change. There will be revolutionary changes to the process and context involved in creating a new organizational vision and rethinking business models and business strategy. The change must involve a substantial break from previous ways of acting. It will likely involve discovering and developing new opportunities and new ways of doing things. The change must permeate through and impact on the behavior of a majority of organizational members. The change will involve creating new systems, procedures, and structures that not only enable and dictate how new processes function, but that will also impact on the deeply embedded business models and understandings that drive the organization. An e-business transformation is not solely about technology. Technologies must be integrated with possible changes in business strategy, processes, organizational culture, and infrastructure. How an Organization Can Be Transformed into an E-Business Transforming an organization, especially a large company, into an e-business can be a very complex endeavor. For an organization to transform itself into an e-business, it must
13 Chapter Twelve: Launching a Successful Online Business and EC Projects W12.13 transform several major processes, such as procurement, sales, CRM, and manufacturing, as well as deal with change management. Such a transformation involves several strategic issues. Lasry (2002) raised several of these issues in an investigation of the rate at which brick-and-mortar retail firms adopt the Web as an additional sales channel. He examined organizational strategies, such as internal restructuring, the formation of joint ventures, and outsourcing. He concluded that implementing EC requires a disruptive and potentially hazardous change in core features. He suggests that companies spin off EC activities as part of the transformation process. Müller-Lankenau et al. (2006) provide a comprehensive description of the transformation to e-business, describing both the internal and external processes supported by IT, as shown in Exhibit They then show the support of IT at each stage. Finally, they describe the necessary change management activities. Baseline EXHIBIT 12.1 Road Map to Transformation IT sophistication to support external business process Informational Basic Web Site Interactive Site Transactional Sites External Process Collaborative Sites Convergence New Process IT sophistication to support internal business process Effective Individual Effective Team Effective Enterprise Internal Process EC Initiatives e-procurement e-crm Storefront e-training C-commerce Social computing Stages in Becoming an E-Business Source: Ginige, A., et al. A Road Map for Successfully Transforming SMEs into E-Business. Cutter IT Journal (May 2001). Used with permission of the author.
14 W12.14 Part 7: Applications and Site Development (baselinemag.com) offers a calculator to measure the cost and value of business transformation. For details on business transformation, see Strassmann (2007). Business Process Reengineering (BPR) Several studies have examined the transformation to e-business. For example, Chen and Ching (2002) have explored the relationship of BPR and e-business and the change process both for individuals and organizations. They propose a process of redesigning an organization for e-business, providing several research propositions. Others have explored the use of simulation modeling for enabling transformation to e-business, examining the BPR process and using simulation and process maps to support the process. Turban et al. (2011) describes the use of business intelligence in BPR. Finally, organizational change issues in transformation to e-business need to be addressed. business process management (BPM) Method for business restructuring that combines workflow systems and redesign methods; covers three process categories peopleto-people, systemsto-systems, and systems-to-people interactions. Business Process Management Business process management has been used to facilitate organizational transformation. The term business process management (BPM) refers to activities performed by businesses to improve their processes. Although such improvements are hardly new, software tools called business process management systems have made such activities faster and cheaper. BPM systems monitor the execution of the business processes so that managers can analyze and change processes in response to data, rather than in response to a hunch. BPM differs from BPR in that it deals not just with one-time changes to the organization, which is what BPR does, but with long-term consequences. The major activities of BPM are process design, process execution, and process monitoring. For details, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/business_process_management and Jeston and Nelis (2008). Software Tools for Facilitating Transformation to E-Business Several vendors offer methodologies and tools to facilitate transformation to e-business (e.g., see IBM 2006). Using special methodologies, organizations in the public sector, such as the Federal Aviation Administration, the Office of the Comptroller in New York City, as well as public utilities, can achieve dramatic cost and cycle time reductions. Change Management Transforming an existing business to an e-business or adding a major e-commerce initiative means a manager must change business processes and the manner in which people work, communicate, and are promoted and managed. According to Ash and Burn (2006), this requires systematic attention to learning processes, organizational culture, technology infrastructure, people s thinking, and systems. Employees, business partners, and even customers may resist such a change. Ash and Burn have developed a model of e-business change as well as a model for managing e-business change. Chu and Smithson (2007) provide a case study for organizational change in an automobile manufacturer. For more on change management, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/change_management. Section 12.2 REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Which EC initiatives are brick-and-mortar organizations most likely to add? 2. Describe the steps in becoming an e-business and the major activities involved in the process. 3. List some of the issues involved in transforming to an e-business. 4. Define BPR and BPM. 5. Describe the major characteristics (key points) of organizational transformation.
15 12.3 BUILDING OR ACQUIRING A WEB SITE Chapter Twelve: Launching a Successful Online Business and EC Projects W12.15 Every online business needs a Web site. A Web site is the primary way any firm doing business on the Internet advertises its products or services and attracts customers. Many Web sites also sell products and services. The Web site may be a Webstore, a portal, an auction site, and so on. How can an organization build or acquire such a site (see Rutgers 2009)? First, let s examine the major different types of Web sites that exist. An entrepreneur can start an online business for just $300 (Swanhill 2009). CLASSIFICATION OF WEB SITES Web sites come in all shapes and sizes. One of the major distinctions made in Web site classification is the level of functionality inherent in the site: An informational Web site does little more than provide information about the business and its products and services. For many brick-and-mortar businesses, an informational brochureware Web site is perfectly satisfactory. The major purpose is to have a presence on the Web. An interactive Web site provides opportunities for the customers and the business to communicate and share information. An interactive site will contain all the information about products and services that an informational site does, but it also delivers informational features intended to encourage interaction between the business and customers or among customers, such as an e-newsletter, product demonstrations, blogs, and customer discussion forums. An interactive Web site will strongly encourage feedback by including contact addresses; providing feedback forms, wikis, and blogs; and promoting completion of online surveys. Features such as the ability to search the site, a welldesigned site map, and mouseovers (clickable buttons that change shape or color when a visitor passes a mouse cursor over the button) make navigation more interactive. Valueadded tools such as currency converters, price comparisons, calendars, and various types of calculators (e.g., a mortgage calculator on a bank s Web site) can enhance interactivity. At a higher level of interactivity are attractors Web site features that attract and interact with site visitors. Attractors such as games, puzzles, prize giveaways, contests, and electronic postcards (e-cards) encourage customers to find the Web site, visit again, and recommend the site to their friends. For example, Ragu s Web site does not sell spaghetti sauce or other Ragu products, but the recipes, customer interaction ( talk to Mama ), and other features make this an attractor-loaded site that increases brand awareness and sells Ragu s products in the customer s next trip to the grocery store. Coca-Cola and Disney have similar sites. A transactional Web site sells products and services. These Web sites typically include information and interactivity features but also have sell-side features, such as a shopping cart, a product catalog, a customer-personalized account, a shipping calculator, and the ability to accept credit cards to complete the sale. A collaborative Web site is a site that allows business partners to collaborate (i.e., it includes many supportive tools; see Chapter 6). B2B exchanges may also provide collaboration capabilities. BUILDING A WEB SITE Assuming that a business has completed the preparatory work of business formation writing a business plan, deciding what type of site it wants to build, and acquiring initial funding it is ready to build a site. The process of building the site is illustrated in Exhibit Templates are available at smallbusiness.yahoo.com/webhosting/websitetemplates.php. The forthcoming sections discuss each of the steps illustrated in Exhibit informational Web site A Web site that does little more than provide information about the business and its products and services. interactive Web site A Web site that provides opportunities for the customers and the business to communicate and share information. attractors Web site features that attract and interact with visitors in the target stakeholder group. transactional Web site A Web site that sells products and services. collaborative Web site A site that allows business partners to collaborate.
16 W12.16 Part 7: Applications and Site Development EXHIBIT 12.2 The Process of Building a Web Site 1 Select Web Host 2 Domain Name 3 Create Content 4 Web Site Design Select host or a vendor Get yourself or host will provide What will be on the site? Who contributes? Catalog? Look, colors, typography (Section 12.4) (Section 12.4) (Section 12.5) (Section 12.6) 6 Advertise 5 Construct Site Promote your site, attract visitors Program and test the site, integration (Section 12.8) (Section 12.7) Section 12.3 REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Distinguish among informational, interactive, transactional, and collaborative Web sites. 2. List the six steps in building a Web site WEB SITE HOSTING AND OBTAINING A DOMAIN NAME This section discusses the decisions about whether to own (self-host) or rent, where to host the Web site (storebuilder service, ISP, pure Web hosting service, or self-hosting), and about the site s domain name in making these decisions. For details, see Rutgers (2009). WEB HOSTING OPTIONS The following are the major Web hosting options. storebuilder service A hosting service that provides disk space and services to help small and microbusinesses build a Web site quickly and cheaply. Storebuilder Service A storebuilder service provides Web hosting as well as storage space, templates, and other services to help small businesses build a Web site quickly and inexpensively. An example of a company that offers comprehensive store-building hosting services and software is Yahoo! Web Hosting. Yahoo! s base service offers Web hosting as well as customized templates and other support for $9.95 per month; the next plan up, which is offered for $11.95 a month, offers additional services; a package for professionals that includes security features is available for $12.95 a month. All levels of Yahoo! Web Hosting include access to template-based software, SiteBuilder, which offers more than 330 customizable templates. The software can be used to build a Webstore quickly and easily (see Section 12.9 and Team Assignment 4). Yahoo! s Web Hosting package also provides marketing tools, domain name selection assistance, a payment gate, storage (disk) space, and shipment services. The package also works with Yahoo! Merchant Solutions, which is described in Section Yahoo! Web Hosting usually offers a Web site address (e.g., a URL, such as smallbusiness.yahoo.com/mybusiness), management tools, security features, and Internet connection maintenance. Yahoo! combines Web
17 Chapter Twelve: Launching a Successful Online Business and EC Projects W12.17 hosting and store building, but other vendors may separate the two functions, as shown later in this section. The advantage of a storebuilder service is that it is a quick, easy, and inexpensive way to build a Web site. The disadvantages are the lack of a strong online identity, limited functionality (e.g., accepting credit cards may not be possible), dependence on the service for proper management of connectivity to the site, and some lack of differentiation (the Web site tends to look like other sites because everyone is using the same set of templates). Despite the disadvantages, storebuilder services are the prime choice of small and sometimes medium-size businesses (see Case 12.2). CASE 12.2 EC Application HOW SMALL COMPANIES USE A STOREBUILDER SERVICE The following are illustrative examples of how small companies build e-stores using storebuilder services. Ken and Pat Gates retired in While surfing the Internet, they discovered how easy it was to go into e-commerce. The couple decided to sell online products related to their favorite collegiate sports teams. Using Yahoo! s Web Hosting service and templates, in 2003 they built their store, College Sports Stuff (collegesportsstuff.com), and generated $35,000 in sales. By 2005, they covered 62 teams, including noncollege ones, tripling their sales. Their store ships customers orders within an hour. Using Yahoo! s SiteBuilder software, Springwater Woodcraft, an established Canadian furniture manufacturer, was able to add a new sales channel (springwaterwoodcraft.com). The software helped not only with sales but also with accounting. It also led the company into the international market. Taylor Made adidas Golf (TMaG) is the world s leading manufacturer of metal and wood golf clubs. When it launched the revolutionary r7 Quad, TMaG had to make sure that its customers (golf retailers) would understand the new product and its benefits in order to transform those benefits into customer sales. To do that, TMaG created courses that it offered online to educate golf retailers. Using Yahoo! Merchant Solutions, it rapidly launched the e-training B2B project (tmagconnection.com). Participation in the course was high, and when the store opened online, it attracted 15 percent of all TMaG customers, who placed $600,000 in orders in the first three months. The company has created several other Webstores (e.g., one for selling its products to employees of TMaG s parent company). In 2002, Jack Sheng teamed up with a couple childhood friends to sell electronic gadgets on ebay. When they knew they had a viable business, they started a Yahoo! store. He knew he needed a reliable and flexible e-commerce platform that could grow with his business. Trusting the Yahoo! name, he found that the Yahoo! Merchant Solutions service allows him to carry thousands of products without running out of shelf space. Using the stable platform, the site doesn t slow for customers, in spite of the large number of products involved. Yahoo! also offers flexibility and customization of the store. Integration with Yahoo! Sponsored Search allows him to add tracking codes in order to measure his online marketing effectiveness and determine which online ads and keywords work best; Yahoo! Search Marketing has helped his online store grow exponentially; and integration with PayPal offers a consistent customer experience as well as reducing fraud. Using both ebay (auctions) and Yahoo! (selling) maximizes exposure to customers while minimizing the cost of acquiring customers for each channel. The business still sells cool electronic gadgets on ebay and Yahoo!, including accessories for cell phones, PDAs, and computers. But they now carry 3,000 separate accessory SKUs on eforcity.com plus 30,000 DVD titles. The business has been growing about 100 percent every year using Yahoo! Merchant Solutions. Sources: Compiled from Yahoo! ( ) and authors experience. Questions 1. What benefits did the owners of these businesses derive from using Yahoo! s services? 2. Identify the common elements in all these cases. 3. Why would a large company, such as TMaG, use templates to create a B2B site?
18 W12.18 Part 7: Applications and Site Development EBay also offers Webstore software tools for its merchants. For more on ebay stores, see pages.ebay.com/storefronts/seller-landing.html. Amazon.com offers a similar service (see webstore.amazon.com/webstore-for-ecommerce-business). The advantage of going with storebuilder services is that hosting at Yahoo! Store, Amazon.com, or ebay exposes the sellers to the large number of potential buyers who visit these sites (e.g., see Elms 2006). Web hosting service A dedicated Web site hosting company that offers a wide range of hosting services and functionality to businesses of all sizes. ISP hosting service A hosting service that provides an independent, standalone Web site for small and medium-sized businesses. self-hosting When a business acquires the hardware, software, staff, and dedicated telecommunications services necessary to set up and manage its own Web site. A Dedicated Hosting Service A Web hosting service is a dedicated Web site hosting company that offers a wide range of hosting services and functionality to businesses of all sizes. Companies such as Hostway (hostway.com), Go Daddy (godaddy.com), Mosso (at rackspacecloud.com), and 1&1 (1and1.com) offer more and better services than a storebuilder service because Web site hosting is their core business. Almost all Web hosting companies have internal Web design departments to ensure the cooperation between the designer and the host. Also, functionality such as database integration, shipping and tax calculators, sufficient bandwidth to support multimedia files, shopping carts, site search engines, and comprehensive site statistics are likely to be readily available. Major services are offered by IBM Global Services (ibm.com/services/us/gbs/bus/html/bcs_index.html) and Microsoft (see microsoft.com/smallbusiness/startup-toolkit). ISP Hosting Combined with Web Design The same company that delivers and Web access to a business probably can host the company s Web site. An ISP hosting service provides an independent, standalone Web site for small and medium-sized businesses. The ISP will probably provide additional hosting services (e.g., more storage space, simple site statistics, credit card gateway software) at the same or a slightly higher cost than the storebuilder services. The List of ISPs (thelist.com) provides lists of ISPs and providers of commercial Internet access. The major difference between a storebuilder and an ISP hosting service is that with the ISP service, the time-consuming and sometimes expensive task of designing and constructing the Web site becomes the responsibility of the EC business. Self-Hosting With self-hosting, the business acquires the hardware, software, staff, and dedicated telecommunications services necessary to set up and manage its own Web site. Selfhosting is beneficial when a business has special requirements, such as maximum data security, protection of intellectual property, or, most likely, when the business intends to have a large and complex site. The disadvantages of self-hosting are the cost and the speed of construction. The other Web hosting options allow the hosting company to amortize the costs of site hosting across hundreds or thousands of customers. A business that hosts its own Web site will have to bear these costs alone, not to mention concerns about security and full-time Web site management. These costs must be weighed against the benefits of better control over site performance and increased flexibility in site design, improvement, and functionalities. REGISTERING A DOMAIN NAME Selecting a domain name is an important marketing and branding consideration for any business. The domain name will be the business s online address, and it provides an opportunity to create an identity for the business.
19 Chapter Twelve: Launching a Successful Online Business and EC Projects W12.19 Domain Names A domain name is a name-based address that identifies an Internet-connected server. Usually, it is designated by the portion of the address that comes to the left of.com or.org and includes the.com or.org. The domain name should be an easy-to-remember name (e.g., congress.gov) that the domain name system (DNS) maps to a corresponding IP address (e.g., ). Each domain name must include a top-level domain (TLD). This is either a general top-level domain (e.g.,.com or.biz for commercial businesses,.org for nonprofit organizations,.name for individuals), or it is a country-code top-level domain (cctld) (e.g.,.au for Australia,.jp for Japan). Most cctlds also have a second-level domain name that indicates the type of organization (e.g., redcross.org.au, yahoo.co.jp). At the left side of the domain name is the organization s name (e.g., dell.com), a brand name (coca-cola.com), or a generic name (e.g., plumber.com). Domain Name System and Its Implementation The domain name system (DNS) is a hierarchical naming system for computers, services, or any resource participating in the Internet; it is like a directory. An often used analogy to explain the DNS is that it serves as the phone book for the Internet by translating human-friendly computer host names into IP addresses. The DNS makes it possible to assign domain names to groups of Internet users in a meaningful way, independent of each user s physical location. Domain name assignment is under the authority of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN; icann.org). ICANN has delegated responsibility for domain name registration procedures and database administration in the general TLDs to top-level domain administrators such as Afilias (for.info), Public Interest Registry (for.org), and VeriSign Global Registry Services (for.com and.net). Similarly, regional Internet registries administer the cctlds (e.g., Nominet for the.uk domain, Japan Registry Service for.jp). Hundreds of ICANN-accredited registrars carry out the actual registration of domain names. These are located in various countries, but most are in the United States. A list of these registrars is available at icann.org/registrars/accredited-list.html. A domain name registrar is a business that assists prospective Web site owners with finding and registering a domain name of their choice. Some investors and speculators have made a fortune from buying domain names and then selling them. Sloan (2007) provides an overview of how this is done, including how the domain owner collects money from advertisers. Some domain name owners have over 5,000 names, and one owner built a $30 million empire. A useful resource for learning more about domain names and the registration process is About Domains (aboutdomains.com), which offers guides and resources for successful Internet presence, including a domain name glossary, a registration FAQ file, and horror stories from domain name owners who have had bad experiences with registrars. Also see How to Register a Domain Name at 2 Create a Website (2createawebsite.com). You can also get a domain name at smallbusiness.yahoo.com/domains. domain name A name-based address that identifies an Internet-connected server. Usually it refers to the portion of the address to the left of.com and.org, etc. Domain Name System (DNS) A hierarchical naming system for computers, services, or any resource participating in the Internet; it is like a directory. Section 12.4 REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the different Web hosting options? 2. What is a mirror site? Why would a company use a mirror site? 3. What criteria should an online business consider in choosing a Web hosting service? 4. What is a domain name? Why is selecting a domain name an important step for going online? 5. How are domain names controlled in order to avoid duplication?
20 W12.20 Part 7: Applications and Site Development content The text, images, sound, and video that make up a Web page. dynamic Web content Content that must be kept up-to-date CONTENT CREATION, DELIVERY, AND MANAGEMENT Content is the text, images, sound, and video that comprises Web pages. Creating and managing content is critical to Web site success because content is what a visitor is looking for at a Web site, and content is what the Web site owners use to sell the site, the product or service, and the company that stands behind the site. A successful Internet presence has always been about effective delivery of the information the visitor wants Content is king! This section describes the role content plays in successful online business operations and the key aspects of creating, delivering, and managing Web site content. For details, see Rutgers (2009). CATEGORIES AND TYPES OF CONTENT Providing content to EC sites may be a complex job because of the variety and quantity of sources from which to acquire content and the fact that the content must be updated frequently. Also, B2B content, especially in online catalogs, may include pictures, diagrams, and even sound. In addition, content may involve security, quality, and permission issues. One of the difficulties in Web content management is that some content needs to be kept up-to-the-minute (e.g., news, stock prices, weather). This is referred to as dynamic Web content, as distinguished from static Web content, which is updated infrequently. For each type of content, companies may use a different approach for content creation and delivery. Exhibit 12.3 shows the content life cycle. As shown in the exhibit, once content is created, it may appear in different formats (e.g., text, video, music). Then, it moves to a content syndicator. A syndicator (to be described later in this section) moves the content to a portal or news site. From there, a hosting service moves the content, possibly via an optimizer (such as akamai.com). The optimizer delivers the content to the final consumer. We will discuss this process and its elements in more detail a bit later. EXHIBIT 12.3 Digital Content Delivery Life Cycle Original Sources of Digital Content Text, video, music News, scores, data Stock quotes, etc. Content Syndicator (Intermediary, content broker) EC Portal or News Site General portals Niche sites (financial, sports) Broadband or Dial-Up ISP Connection to Virtual Visitor, personalized content Digital Content Delivery Optimizer (Cache, streaming) Web Site Hosting Service (Server mgmt.)
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