How to earn less than nothing
Some companies, often created with Internet, have tried
to assemble different users around precise themes : arts,
cuisine, banks, cars ... by offering them free services
(studies, bulletin boards, discussion forums, distribution
lists) with the aim of selling them products or services.
Halfway between distribution services and publishing content,
between the free origins of Internet and the commercial
ethic that businesses are trying to impose, these communities
are a compromise that attract a large number of users
who not only connect to these sites en masse but are beginning
to buy these services.
The economic efficiency of these different types of commercial
presence vary from the simple to a hundredfold. The Winsome
Website, mentioned earlier, could perfectly well have
been a dead loss had it not managed to integrate a relevant
global approach. And there's the rub : finding a relevant
strategy.
The commonest mistakes when starting thinking about it
The test syndrome
It's understandable that the majority of businesses begin
life on Internet with a shop-window type site, which involves
minimal investment and can evolve later towards more advanced
economic forms as it learns the usage and customs of Internet.
On the other hand, it is questionable what lessons the
creators of these sites hope to learn. This first site
is seen as a test to evaluate the commercial potential
of the Web for this company. This is paradoxical, since
a site's success depends on the budget invested, but above
all on the commercial concepts put into practice and a
good working knowledge of electronic commerce. So, clearly,
if a company creates a shop window site, it must be aware
that this only allows it to exist on Internet, and will
be more a pretext for thinking long-term commercially
than a real means of measuring, evaluating or planning.
Considering Internet as a technological gamble
Internet is important for a company because it will help
to reorganise its information systems. And it's natural
to associate Internet with the idea of software, protocol,
security, hypertext navigation, multimedia functions and
connection to Internet access providers. Basically, non-Internet
users think of it like this, and company directors far
too often fall into this category. The lack of analysis
of this phenomenon means that Internet projects are left
entirely to the computer department, who naturally seek
to keep control of the tool which arousing such a total
craze. Controlling the Internet is seen by the computer
department not only as its legitimate right, but also
desirable in the company's interest, bearing in mind that
the most intensive computer users are found in the computer
department. This also suits the other departments, who
use Internet little, because of the apparent complexity
of this new medium, and don't see themselves capable of
even partially managing the project.
However, I hope by now that my readers are convinced
that it is not a simple gamble on the part of the computer
experts.
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