|
SLIDE 1
Thanks to the organisers for inviting me to try to give you an insight into how an SME like ourselves entered the world of e.commerce. When preparing for this presentation I was a little perplexed as to what aspects should be emphasised for an audience like this. This conference addresses a whole range of opportunities but at the same time is intent on giving people information as to how to get it right, first time. It would seem that, for us, as a two year old Internet start up, the organisers felt that we are already long in the tooth. That is, compared to the average SME. I don't know how much advice we can give - I can only see what we have and are doing and have not had the time or even the inclination to think how general e.commerce technology and its implementation will help other firms. Our focus to date has been solely and I am afraid selfishly on our potential customers and ourselves. But I am very grateful to the organisers for forcing me, in the preparation of this session, to take some time out to think through what we have been doing and to obtain a more general picture of e.commerce and how it has affected other businesses, not just our own. Fortunately there are many companies, most of them our customers, who have embraced e.commerce and who are delightfully open and helpful and have provided me with much help in thinking through the issues. Whatever approach to business is embarked on, I am very much a believer in making an organisation unique in its style, offering and implementation. There seems to be no difference when approaching e.commerce. That is, identifying and adapting the benefits of e.commerce to help a business offer the perception and hopefully the actual differentiation to competition. That was and is our focus.
|
