Planning and Implementing E-commerce Initiatives

1. Chapter 12 Business Plans for Implementing Electronic Commerce Electronic Commerce

2. Objectives • Setting objectives for the benefits and costs of electronic commerce initiatives • Deciding which electronic commerce project elements to outsource • Selecting Web hosting services • Use project management techniques to plan and control e-commerce initiatives • Staffing e-commerce activities

3. Planning the ElectronicCommerce Project • A successful business plan for an e-commerce initiative includes • Identifying the initiative’s objectives • Managing the implementation of those objectives • Overseeing the continuing operations of the initiative once it is launched

4. Setting Objectives • Should include expected benefits and expected costs • Measuring both benefits and costs is becoming increasingly important • Companies often create a pilot Web site to test an idea

5. Setting Objectives • Benefit objectives • Online surveys are used to gather data from visitors to the Web site • Statistical software is used to measure length of visit, return visits, etc. • Companies try to convert benefits of its Web site into dollar amounts, which often yield only rough approximations

6. Setting Objectives • Cost Objectives • Web development often uses new hardware and software, which makes it difficult to project the exact costs • Hiring, training, and paying the personnel involved with the Web site accounts for over 75% of the site’s total budget • Annual cost to maintain a site is often between 50% and 100% of its initial cost

7. Comparing Benefits to CostsFigure 12-1

8. Internal Developmentvs. Outsourcing • First step in any e-commerce project is to create an internal team who will be responsible for the project. Members should be • Knowledgeable about the Internet and its technologies • Creative thinkers • Successful individuals, respected by their peers

9. Internal Developmentvs. Outsourcing • Early outsourcing • Company’s information systems professionals work closely with the outsourcing team and learn the new technology before becoming responsible for the project • Late outsourcing • Company’s information systems professionals design, implement, and operate the system, then outsource once it is established

10. Internal Developmentvs. Outsourcing • Partial outsourcing • Company identifies specific portions of the projects that can be completely designed, developed, implemented, and operated by another firm that specializes in that function • Selecting a hosting service • Factors to consider include reliability, bandwidth, security, and cost

11. Managing Electronic CommerceImplementations • Project Management • A collection of formal techniques for planning and controlling the activities undertaken to achieve a specific goal • Software products, such as Microsoft Project and Primavera Project Planner give managers an array of built-in tools • Project Management Institute is devoted to the promotion of professional project management practices

12. Project Management Institute Home Page Figure 12-2

13. Staffing the Operation • Most important areas of staffing and e-commerce initiative include • Business management • Application specialists • Customer service • Systems administration • Network operations • Database administration

14. Post-Implementation Audits • A formal review of a project after it is up and running • Gives managers a chance to examine the specifics for the project outlined in the planning stage and compare them to what actually happened • Raises questions about the project’s objectives and provides feedback on strategies