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One size doesn’t fit all; your solution will be unique Every business is absolutely unique and eBusiness projects can help to both reveal and reinforce this fact. It’s highly unlikely that any business could transfer an exact rigid solution onto its framework, without some modification. So make sure that your unique business gets the right solution. There are a number of different issues that need to be addressed:  Which
function to computerise?In order to address this, you need to examine your existing systems and processes and see where automating those processes could improve your business. If, for example, you sell 10,000 pairs of shoes per week to a large number of shops, automating order entry and invoicing should serve you well, but if you only sell 10 larger machines per week, you may not need to automate your sales function. However, as each machine is likely to be made up of a very large number of parts, a machinery manufacturer could, consider computerising parts ordering. Available Resources Take into account the cash, time and skills available to you. If you are working with a small budget and to a tight deadline, an elaborate top-of-the-range solution is not for you. Degree of Integration Another decision relates to the degree of integration. When a company has a fully integrated IT system, any piece of information, such as a new order or a change in a customer’s address, only has to be keyed in once. It can be keyed in by any staff member, from any department. Thereafter, any other staff member will automatically see the updated version of the information next time they look up that particular piece of data. Thus, if a customer tells the Sales Department that their address has changed, this information would automatically be available to Accounts receivable who would thus send the next invoice to the new address. There are different levels of integration with the front-end systems. For example Drogheda based Porterhouse has no direct link between its website and its back office IT system. When the website receives an order it sends an email to Porterhouse’s sales department. Basta Parsons also has an externally hosted website. Data is transferred between this and their IT system in periodic batches. Lake Communications, a supplier to the telecommunications industry have an entirely integrated system. Full integration may cost more than it is worth. The right level of integration for any particular company will depend on factors such as their existing IT systems and the volume and type of information they process. Reliability No system is 100% reliable. More powerful systems, possibly including redundant (essentially spare) hardware, will reduce the level of breakdowns, but at a cost. This has to be balanced against the costs associated with IT failures e.g. technical support, time wasted by user staff, operational problems such as missed delivery schedules and communication breakdowns with clients. Once again, this trade-off ultimately requires a business decision. Do bear in mind, however, that as companies engage in an increasing level of electronic interaction with clients, IT failures have the potential to damage credibility and goodwill. Hence many of the case study companies found it necessary to invest significantly in improving the reliability of their internal systems. Degree of Customisation Almost all smaller companies buy standard software packages. While considerable efforts should be spent to find the package that most closely meets their needs, there will invariably be some aspects of the company’s business process which differs from that for which the package was designed. This leaves companies with two broad choices: modify/ configure the new system to their way of working or change the way they work (although don’t compromise your business processes to match the software). Generally, companies adopt a mixture of the two, but once again the exact approach will be unique to that company. |
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