There is currently a shortage of intelligent e-business solutions that provide
organizations with a return on their investment. A startling number of the
companies engaging in e-business have done little to no tactical web research.
As a result many Senior Executives are finding themselves asking the question,
“Where is the return on my investment?”
Companies that do not properly extend their business to the web are losing market
share, vanishing from cyberspace and damaging their reputation with their customers.
These businesses are falling victim to a rush to market strategy that leads to poor
planning, lack of organizational readiness and no strategic plan of attack for
conducting e-business. Thus their revenue, profitability, ROI and the ability to
provide quality customer support are suffering.
Digital Strategy is the difference between a company that will build a
successful Internet presence and one that will not. “A digital strategy is
at its core a dynamic plan, one that requires not just regular but constant
rethinking.” (P62) Netbytes partners with organizations to develop a digital
strategy that allows them to successfully expand their business onto the
Internet.
The old method of strategic planning involved companies following the five
forces model, developed by Michael Porter in 1980 as a way of establishing
a competitive advantage through strategy. The model consists of evaluating a
company’s buyers, suppliers, competition, substitutes, potential entrants in
the industry and the company itself and how it competes in the marketplace.
However this model does not take into account all the effects that technology
has had on the marketplace. It is missing key factors that Larry Downes and
Chunka Mui, co-authors of Killer App, have added to the five forces model to make
it fit for today’s marketplace. The three new forces are digitization,
globalization and deregulation.
Using these new forces, Netbytes has developed a methodology of helping
clients avoid wasting time and money on e-business solutions that will be out
of cyberspace before a profit is ever seen. In the past the trend was that
everyone needed a website which meant a few pages were slapped together
quickly so that companies could be online. There was no evaluation of their
business plan, their branding strategy and their cyberspace and traditional
competitors. Fortunately that trend is dying as the Internet becomes more and
more established.
The future is creating a business plan that includes a digital strategy that will
lead companies to greater returns and satisfied consumers. There are no longer
the traditional structures in the marketplace that accurately determine who your
competitors are and in what market they are competing. Companies now have to take
into consideration that they are not only competing with their traditional
competitors but also with companies around the world with a successful web presence.
Regarding the five forces model it was has been said, “Competitive advantage
is whatever strategy a company has to maintain such leverage.” (P64) Today
this still holds true but finding that winning strategy has become a little
more complex. Through digital strategy, Netbytes has taken strategic
planning to the next level so that their clients will be industry leaders
in their marketplace and will no longer be asking themselves the crushing
question, “Where is the return on my investment?” They will now be saying,
“Thank you for the customers.”
For further information about Netbytes and digital strategy, please
contact Jonathan Haveles at ChrisF@netbytes.com
Where is the return on my investment?
by Netbytes