E-Business Planning and Implementation - Coursework Example

E- BUSINESS PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION (Your teacher’s due 1 CRM and its components CRM have several components which are essential for an organization. Each of these has different functions and practices. Some of the essential components of CRM are discussed below: Lead management It is used for distribution and tracking of sales leads. It is beneficial for many industries such as call centers, sales companies and marketing related industries. It involves mailing lists, making customized forms and managing market campaigns. This is mainly done to boast up the sales. People management It means using people effectively, at right time and right place. Therefore, it requires having appropriate measures to ensure that a particular job profile match with the skills of the person, which is the requirement of every organization, irrespective of size. Customer service In CRM customer service is the most essential component. The main reason of this is that CRM mainly focuses on gathering information, collection of customer data and provides information to all department of an organization. Therefore, all departments such as marketing, sales etc rely on this component in order to get knowledge about customers. Sales force automation Sales force automation is basically a software solution used by organizations for tracking customers, forecasting and sales processing. This component is adopted by CRM to overcome the need to identify possibilities of revenue. Work flow automation It includes streamlining processes and cutting cost. It provides benefit to the organizations to avoid many people doing one job again and again. It helps to reduce work by avoiding repetition and focuses on necessary task. It also involves filing out the forms and paperwork’s which are also essential in many organizations. Marketing It relates to promotion of activities such as promoting a product to a specific target market or to the public as a whole. CRM facilities marketing function by increasing its effectiveness, which can be done by evaluating and studying the targeted customers. Analytics It involves studying the data. This can help organizations to use the selected information in studying the fluctuations in market. This study can be done by creating figures, charts and diagrams on the basis of current and historical data. This is a vital part of CRM which studies the data. This data evaluation is required for estimation of business conditions in the market. Business reporting CRM plays a vital role in providing reports on various businesses. The main advantage of this thing is that one can get information about something any time within a short time span. It ensures accuracy and also facilitates export of reports from one system to the other. . Presently, latest trend of CRM is to use web services, in which organizations try to use components of different industries and they are used in such a manner that suits a particular business needs (Kandell Jackie, 2000). 1.2 Relationship between e-commerce and e-business. E- Commerce and E- Business mainly facilitates online buying. Both of these have played a vital role in global development. It has provided new opportunities and growth to the businesses worldwide. This resulted in smoothness of business across various nations through the use of e-commerce and e-business. Other than buying and selling e-business is also involved in traditional businesses such as customer support and online chatting. Information can easily be catered through download programs available on internet. This is the main reason that most of the business presently have converted into e-businesses. E-commerce had a huge affect globally because it promotes scientific and authentic analysis in relation to various aspects of businesses. It comprises marketing of goods, selling, buying and distribution services through electronic devices such as internet and other networks. This means that presently electronic devices are used for commercial transactions (Wyner Gorden A, 1999). 1.3 Benefits of using e-business E-business provides many benefits. It acts as an equalizer i.e. it promotes small, medium and start up enterprises to reach global markets. Some of the benefits of e-business are discussed below: Allows mass customization It provides such ordering systems which are easy to use. It enables customers to order and choose a product in accordance to their specification. For instance, a car manufacturing company using e-business can take online orders to build a car based on the preferences of customer specification within few days. This will work efficiently only if a company has advanced manufacturing and integrated systems. Network production This includes making an efficient production network with the contractors on the basis of online products. It provides many benefits such as reduction in cost, facilities of selling products and services, promotes strategic target marketing and new systems, a company having wide network of production can fulfill its gap in relation to non-competencies by taking services of other contractors online such as combination of specific components. Economies of scale The rapid growth in e-business promoted economies of scale in cost related to supply chain. It also promoted economies of scale in demand side by bringing together all buyers and sellers on one particular site. One additional increment in customer leads to more participation in demand. It helps to attract more users on e-market through participation of various network services. Example of industries Case of Amazon.com This is a virtual bookstore. It is not based on bricks or stores. In spite of that it is generating sales of $1.2 billion which is equal to that of Barnes and Noble superstores. Company is selling efficiently on web and making high profits. While doing business through e- business Amazon invested $56 million, while $118 was invested by Barnes and Noble superstores. This shows that working of Amazon was smarter than other competitors. It concluded that conducting business through e-business is cheaper as compared to doing business in a traditional manner. The Dot Com Frenzy In accordance with the statistics around 862 dot com companies have gained high profits in January 2010. Most of these companies are e-business companies which are linked to infrastructure companies, internet content providers, service providers etc. this shows that it have a wide network. It involves buying and selling of products online. Entrepreneurs set prices at low levels and people bargain on these prices. The result of this is that the person with high bid wins the product. Internet companies spend a large amount on e-businesses (Girishankar Saroja, 2000). 1.4 Changes while implementing e-business When a company is planning to introduce e-business, then it requires many changes to be done internally. Some of which are described below: Firstly, one needs to understand its present business i.e. what they are doing presently. Identify who will fill the orders of the company. This means selecting a range of online suppliers and manufacturer. It will require a separate department to handle customer queries online. In order to handle all returns of e-business an appropriate integrated system would be required to analyze and control the data. Payment criteria need to be finalized i.e. either it will be done on the basis of credit card or account transfers. This means that personnel in finance department should be knowledgeable to handle transactions online. Company will be required to link both internal and external systems to make data processing more flexible and efficient. It will need to work closely with their partners and suppliers, in order to satisfy customer needs. It will be essential to manage the entire value chain online i.e. processing orders electronically, electronic supply chain management and purchasing, cooperating with business partners and handling customer service (Lord Peter, 2002). 1.5 E-business strategy E-business strategy provides internet feedback to an organization. It is a method to measure and maintain return on investment. However, e-business lacks effective measurement systems in relation to ROI. Enterprises lack opportunities of monitoring and capturing metrics of return on investment in relation to businesses done online. E-business strategy focuses on following points: It focuses to generate such procedures and techniques through which more users can be attracted. Having effective and right internet affiliations on the company’s website. Ensuring that each company’s product is differentiated from the other on the basis of specification and having huge distribution network. Evaluating all controlling measures to ensure any illegal act such as preventing other companies to leverage ones business in order drive income and sales. To ensure that all affiliates are complying with set rules and guidelines. By focusing on these strategic points e-business helps to formulate future business strategies. Effective implementation of these strategies will lead fulfill the gap of measurement related to return on investment on e-businesses (Beynon-Davies P, 2004). References Beynon-Davies P. (2004). E-Business. Palgrave, Basingstoke. New York Times. Girishankar, Saroja. (2000) Customer Service for Business Partners. Information week.com: 65- 82. Kandell, Jackie. (2000). CRM, ERM one-to-one: Decoding relationship management theory and technology.Trusts & Estates, 139 (4): 49-53. Lord, Peter. (2002). Managing e-business challenges. Oracle white papers: 1-6 Wyner, Gorden A. (1999). E-business and E-commerce. Marketing Research, 11(2): 39-41. Read More