Printer Friendly Version                                    Back to Capsules    Going Online Going online offers many opportunities so it's important at the outset to determine exactly what you hope to gain from an online or digital venture. Is it to offer another outlet for sales? Is it to gain efficiencies in delivery, the supply chain, billing, or buying? Do you hope to use it for recruiting staff or providing training materials and courses to existing staff? Is it for accounting, or R&D, or manufacturing? Do you see it as the lynchpin for enhanced marketing or customer service? The Internet has two separate elements: The World Wide Web and e-mail. Although the Web draws the attention, e-mail can also be a powerful tool for your business, in building relationships with customers and prospects through what has become know as Permission Marketing or Internet Marketing. Push vs. Pull The Web depends on "pull": Customers and prospects must come to it. E-mail is a "push" mechanism, in which you can initiate the communication when you send out messages. The two can be used separately, but you must be clear on which of those two functions – push or pull -- you need. It can be dangerous to build a Web page, for example, and expect that people will flock to it – and even after they visit, that they will return regularly. As a pull mechanism, it requires some draw – a reason for people to come back regularly. If that isn't inherent in the site you are building – you don't have updated information that customers and prospects want to return to or they don't need to come back to the site routinely when they do business with you – you may want to consider some push marketing, through e-mail or offline media, to entice them. E-business can make the size of a company irrelevant, giving you the same access to customers as larger enterprises, overcoming barriers of size and distance. It can level the playing field, if used properly. Serve Niches with Global Appeal Generally the operations that work best in that situation serve definable niches where the company's product or service is special and if known and accessible would be of interest to that target group throughout the country, continent or even the world. Some sites that have been very successful, for example, selling Dungeons and Dragons figurines, cat or dog toys, or everything you need for a wedding. But going online can still be valuable for simply dealing in your own geographic area or just enhancing service to existing customers. But it's important you know what you are setting out to accomplish. You will also need to consider the issue of cost, obviously, and security. Cost will vary according to the level of operations you want. Security has been a barrier to online transactions but it is now possible to ensure the security of transactions on your site. If you would like more information or assistance with going online for your organization, please contact us.