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NobleOak's team of business experts have put together articles on
business planning and business models, marketing plans, and tips and
strategies on web site design and functionality. We also introduce
the terms 'pixie dust' and 'guerrilla marketing' both vital elements
to your short and long term business success. Enjoy!
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"Web Site Functionality" (Part 2 of 2)
Data
The web is all about ... data. People want to get the information and get off your site. The killer app is ... information not downloadable movies.
Many real estate people don't put prices on their web sites; they want people to call in for that info. This is in most cases a mistake in my view. If you are selling lots for $150k each, you want to screen out people who are looking for $35,000 lots- less embarrassing for them and better for you.
Relationships
People are forming intense relationships on line- between suppliers and their clients, romances, pen pals, game playing buddies (Bobby Fisher, the reclusive chess genius, who has not been seen in 25 years, is reputed to be playing speed chess against other grandmasters over the net in 2001), newsletters, discussion groups, IM, chat rooms, video conferencing, cyber sex, and so on. Check out www.sissyfight.com to see how little girls are building relationships on the web.
Computers did not really find their métier, reach their potential until they became mediums of mass communication with the advent of Mark Andreesson's Mosaic browser in 1992, 93 and 94. They took almost as long as early 20th Century electrification (a rollout in N.A. that took many decades) to start to lift the productivity curve. And we are just at the beginning of the productivity impacts of the web despite the recent slowdown of 2001.
Supply Chain Management
Most people take this to mean managing your relationships with your suppliers. I think the definition should include beginning to end- from the customer to the end product or service to the furthest possible supplier. This is e business not to be confused with e commerce.
The internet is all about automation.
That means that downloading music from the net makes sense but placing an e-commerce order for an amazon.com book on a UPS truck, followed by a UPS plane, then another UPS truck just to get it to your front door to find that you are not home, that does not sound like a revolutionary technology to me.
But amazon.com does offer some truly astounding advantages to the user- their use of a relational data base means that their web site can prompt you with titles of other books that other people are buying who bought the one you were initially interested in. Because they have millions of customers, this is a powerful short cut for researchers. It also obviously helps amazon.com sell more product.
When IBM, Microsoft or others finally perfect e-paper and the appropriate tablet type of hardware, then the amazon.com model for book selling will have truly arrived.)
E business means that when you sell tons of hockey skates in Ottawa, Canada and lots of basketballs in Tampa, Florida that your e-inventory system knows this and your suppliers of hockey skates and basketballs know this so that more skate are automatically sent from your suppliers to Ottawa and more basketballs to Tampa. That is exactly what Walmart's inventory system can do.
It means that in your architecture office, your suppliers and sub contractors like say the structural engineer or HVAC systems engineer have access to your design drawings, they can add their designs to them, invoice you for their time and your billing systems are tied to your clients including construction certification. It means that your consultants show up in the field at the right time to certify things!
Customization
The web allows you to customize your offerings. Every customer or client can be treated differently.
In the home building business, customers can each choose a different upgrade package and your suppliers can respond accordingly. As they add more features to their shopping carts, their total price is changing too.
You want to be using standard processes to produce custom products or services (eg., web based, reverse out the work to clients, new home store)-- this gives you maximum leverage of your Intellectual Property. Custom processes for custom results is expensive (eg. the traditional consulting business.) The worst model is of course where you have custom processes to yield standard products or services (the barber or the shoe maker).
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| 11/1/2002 |
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"Mapping Interface"
"Getting the Business Model Right and Pixie Dust"
"Tips On Web Site Design"
"Web Site Functionality" (Part 1 of 2)
"Web Site Functionality" (Part 2 of 2)
"Marketing Plan: Find Clients and Customers through Guerrilla Marketing" (Part 1 of 3)
"Marketing Plan: Find Clients and Customers through Guerrilla Marketing" (Part 2 of 3)
"Marketing Plan: Find Clients and Customers through Guerrilla Marketing" (Part 3 of 3)
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