strategic planning for web technology david strom [email protected] port washington, ny, usa +1 516...

Strategic Planning for Web Technology

David Strom

[email protected]

Port Washington, NY, USA

+1 516 944 3407

Caracas 4/98 (c) 1998 David Strom, Inc.

2

Agenda

• Intranets and extranets

• Guide to push technologies

• Managing your web site

• Introduction to eCommerce


3

Topic 1: Intranets and extranets

• Intranets everywhere

• Distinguishing characteristics

• Factors that make a successful extranet

• Tax News Network case study


4

Intranets

• Intranets everywhere

• Role of Lotus Notes

• How to pick the right products

• Other technologies required

• Decision points on your first Intranet

• How to manage the transition


5

Intranets everywhere

• Mentioned hundreds of times in trade pubs

• Now a "section" in most trade mags

• Weekly conferences

• Fedex example getting tiresome


6

Some definitions

• Internet tools among family

• Internet in a bottle

• Non-public website for one corporation

• Joy, concern, and sheer terror


7

How Intranets benefit corporations

• Quick to deploy and assemble

• Easy to mix and match components

• Promote many-to-one communications

• Enhance work flows

• Fit in on both back end (data store) and front end (query)


8

Differences between Intranet and the Internet

• Internal access prime reason

• Uses same technologies but for different reasons

• Manage work flow and discussions, not just billboards

• Group and project focus, rather than on the individual


9

Differences between Intranets and extranets

• I: control desktop and plug-ins

• E: communicate with customers

• I: got lots of bandwidth to burn

• E: better reach and influence

• I: mailing lists and newsletter metaphor

• E: TV channels


10

Is Notes an Intranet spoiler or promoter?

• (+) Domino a good way to give inbound web access

• (+) A way to organize your web presence

• (-) Its own universe still

• (-) SMTP mail gateways only lately decent quality


11

How to pick the right products

• First, pick your OS platform

• Then, determine how you will create content

• Finally, where is your data and how will you get to it?


12

Picking the right Intranet platform

• Ease of setup/configuration

• Functionality of OS

• Integration into existing file/print services

• Scalability


13

Availability of third-party tools

• Content creation tools stink

• 16 bit vs 32 bit

• Play catch up w/ new HTML tags: even Netscape Gold!

• WSYIWIG isn't always desirable

• Graphic editors required highly skilled operators


14

Where is your data?

• Front end: what are your users comfortable with? (Windows!)

• Back end: where does the data live and thrive?

• Infrastructure: what connects them?


15

Information delivery tools mediocre

• Not everyone is networked

• Remote access still tough

• Mail replication issues

• Dealing with dial-up parameters

• IP not on every desktop

• Gateways are still a bad word


16

Choices for deploying enterprise IP

• Every desktop, router, server

• Only on NetWare servers (IP gateways)

• Migrate to NT servers

• What about SNA?


17

"IP everywhere" issues

• Deploy DHCP

• Standardize on applications (mail, web, news)

• Or buy a suite


18

SNA IP issues

• TN3270

• Or inside web browsers (Simware, Attachmate)

• Moving information out of the host

• via HTML

• via SQL


19

Other Intranet technologies

• Web servers, of course

• Graphics editor

• Link checkers

• Tracking visitors

• Search tools

• Animation tools


20

Recommendations

• NT: WebSite, IIS web servers

• Unix: Netscape web server

• WebTrends for tracking visits

• Verity's Topic for searching

• Hold off on animation for as long as you can


21

Decision points on your first Intranet

• What is your purpose?

• Who is responsible for content?

• How will servers be administered?

• How do they scale?


22

How to manage the transition

• IP deployment

• Open systems expertise

• Role of IS management


23

What is your open systems expertise?

• How much Unix?

• Does your email run SMTP?

• Where is your data stored?

• How much HTML?


24

Who takes the lead?

• IS

• Non-IS

• Technical vs political decisions


25

For more information

• My own Intranet Information Page: www.strom.com/pubwork/intranet.html


26

Factors that make a successful extranet

• Audience

• Purpose

• Design

• Community

• Architecture choices


27

Know your audience

• Executives, middle management, staff?

• How well do you know these people?

• Intended for your customers? New prospects?


28

Understand your purpose

• Increase sales

• Increase visibility

• Communicate with clients

• Enhance client relationships


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Consider these design points• Keep the user in mind at all times!• Ease of access• Minimum of clutter, gratuitous graphics, menus• Site maps readily available• Browser version, plug-in support• Wide or narrow, deep or shallow content• Membership or public access


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Members-only access

• Restrict to customers, staff, management

• Keep competitors from downloading your customer file

• Maintain customer privacy


31

Create layers of information

• Different people need to know different things

• Makes finding things simple

• Match user with appropriate content


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Create a sense of community

• Send email to group periodically

• Inform users of new content on site

• Take the right tone of voice in communications and content

• Maintain discussion forums to engage user participation


33

Examine your web site from the end-user perspective

• Can I really find the answers to my questions?

• Do I get lost in web space?• Can I easily search the site?• Is the level of detail interesting and

informative?• Will I come back to the site tomorrow?


34

Integrate any back end systems

• Do you already have databases to publish?

• Where do you maintain your customer lists?

• Where do you maintain your content?


35

Choose the right path

• Buy a turnkey system

• Build in-house from scratch

• Leverage existing IT infrastructure


36

Turnkey products

• Document management systems – PC DOCS www.pcdocs.com

• Notes-based add-ons – Domino www.lotus.com

• Intranet software – Livelink www.opentext.com

– Intranetics www.intranetics.com


37

Turnkey product issues

• Expensive (US$50,000+)

• Not easy to customize

• Don’t always work for your application

• Not always easy to use and setup• Read my own reviews at

www.strom.com/pubwork/cworld.html


38

Example of extranet done right

• Coopers and Lybrand Tax News Network

• www.taxnews.com• article:

www.datamation.com/PlugIn/issues/1997/november/11extra.html


39

Tax News Network

• Audience: corporate tax professionals

• Membership and staff sections

• Public access to small portion of site


40

TNN fee structure

• Public site is always free

• Members get first month for free

• Different tax association members get discounts


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TNN content structure

• Leverages existing Notes and Informix databases

• Replication and authentication taken from existing IT applications

• Staff authors documents as they did before the extranet

• Builds upon earlier DOS-based BBS systems


42

Questions?


43

Topic 2: A guide to push technologies

• Who’s left

• Understanding the publishing process

• Notable products

• Microsoft, Netscape

• Email is the answer, now what is the question?


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My present experiences with push technologies

• Used several push technologies since day 1 (11/96) to publish my own newsletter

• Have uninstalled most of them

• Write and edit for a living

• Push CEO test: all opted for email


45

Who’s out

• Ifusion

• Intermind

• Travelling Software

• Individual, Inc.

• Any off-line browser -- remember them?


46

Impact of push on your network

• Bandwidth

• Budget

• Biology


47

Bandwidth

• Need vendors’ proxy servers to really deploy push widely– PointCast Caching Manager, BackWeb server,

etc.

• Otherwise 20-30% of your bandwidth goes away!


48

Budget: push is pricey

• Most products start at US$10k, and up for publishers

• Microsoft, Netscape are “free” for clients– but then you have to configure and setup all

your browsers

• “User VAT” -- the more popular, the more they cost

• Maintenance/support can cost +15% extra


49

Biology: the process of push

• Mechanics of publishing your channel

• Platforms supported


50

Understanding the publishing process

• What is your business model?

• How much gear is required?

• What clients and servers supported?

• What desktop software required?

• What control do you have over update delivery?

• What reports are available?


51

Is this anyway to run a publication:

• Can’t track subscribers• Hard to peg costs for production, distribution,

sales• Circulation estimates are way off• Incompatible mailboxes thwart content

delivery • No established advertising base, rate card,

etc.


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What is the business model?

• Pervasive tuners

• Extranets, high-end publishing

• Intranets, custom publishing

• Electronic software distribution

• Remote desktop maintenance

• Selling screensaver advertising


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But push vendors need to choose

• Vendors need to decide fast what business they want to be in

• Otherwise MS and NSCP will be the only ones left


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Common push elements

• Channel

• Desktop replacement for screen saver

• Push server


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What clients are supported?

• Win95, NT pretty much everyone

• Win 3.1: BackWeb, Pointcast

• Mac: Marimba, Pointcast, BackWeb

• Solaris: Marimba

• Java clients: Diffusion


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What servers are needed?

• Usually NT, sometimes Solaris

• Sometimes more than one machine (BackWeb, Diffusion)


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What desktop software is needed?

• Plug-in or add-or to browser (Intermind)

• Stand-alone player that runs in background


58

What control do you have over update delivery?

• Intermind lets publisher do it

• Most give this control to the desktop

• Pointcast doesn’t have any controls for public channels!


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What kind of reports do you get?

• Range from crude to unusable

• Some just tell you subscribes to your channel

• Mostly log files that aren’t human readable


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My short list of notable products

• Backweb

• Marimba

• Wayfarer/Incisa


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Backweb

• Two businesses: distributing a broad tuner for subscribing to public channels, and developing a customizable Intranet product.


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The many Backweb pieces• the server executable itself (faceless)

• the console software (config, add channels)

• the public BW client software.

• the automation SDK (for web publishing)

• the web publishing tool (creates Infopaks)

• the forms creation tool

• the authoring tool (scripting)

• the proxy server (reduces bandwidth)


63

Marimba

• Software distribution, first and foremost

• Very complex series of software too

• Self-installing, which is nice


64

Incisa

• Combine external news headlines with authoring your own content

• Target your audience better than the others

• Just two servers, feed (external) and dealer

• Reports still aren’t terrific


65

Microsoft

• Channel Definition Format, part of v4 IE client

• Used by PointCast Connections, uses XML

• Easy to setup channels

• No server tools to speak off, still

• Example syntax at www.strom.com/pcn.html


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CDF Example<CHANNEL

Title = "DavidStrom"

LongName = "David Strom's Web Informant"

Abstract = "An almost-weekly series of essays “

InfoURI = "http://www.strom.com/bio.html"

SELF = "http://www.strom.com/pcn.cdf"

ContentID = "10565"

Frequency = "24"

Authenticate = "No"

Ratings = "(PICS-1.1)" >

<ITEM Title = "David Strom's Web Informant"

HREF = "http://www.strom.com/awards/previous.html"

Type = "HTML"

Show = "Channel,SmartScreen"

Precache = "Yes"

Authenticate = "No" > </ITEM>


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Netscape

• Netcaster, part of v4 Communicator client

• Used by Marimba, based on Java

• Needs some other software on client such as Bongo libraries, Shockwave

• Example syntax at www.strom.com/netcaster.html


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Conclusions• Need MS/NSCP convergence before push

will be popular

• Authoring tools, publishing tools are still very crude

• Push really needs a good directory

• Microsoft is too busy with Win 98, NT v5

• Netscape is too busy fighting Microsoft

• Push will fade and email will conquer!


69

Whither email?

• Diffusion, Revnet taking the right approach to extend email functionality

• Really all push is just better email management

• CDF might take off, if the tools mature

• Otherwise, HTML email is most promising thing to come from push


70

For the complete list

• Push players, past and present

• See strom.com/imc/t4a.html


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Questions?


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Topic 3: Managing your web site

• Picking the right ISP

• Tracking your visitors

• Search engine strategies

• Managing and developing web content


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Picking the right ISP

• US or non-US based

• Should I have a .com?

• Outsource the entire web, storefront, or just access

• Place your equipment in-house or at the ISP


74

Trying to figure out the fees

• Inbound, outbound charges

• Per page or per megabyte

• Monthly fees

• Other charges: maintenance, upgrades, scripts


75

Look carefully at usage (variable) charges

• KB/month/disk space

• KB/Month transferred

• eCommerce transactions

• Hits surcharges

• Other things: hidden charges


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Hidden charges

• Changing links from absolute to relative

• File name changes

• Adding user accounts

• File transfer charges

• Other administrative charges


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What to look for in an ISP

• Dedicated server

• Backbone connection to US

• Root access, CGIs

• Number of webs they support

• Staff experience

• References


78

Find an ISP

• More ISPs are offering eCommerce solutions

• Have to use their software standards and payment schemes

• Could be pricey

• Just catching on in USA


79

Some US-based examples

• www.psi.net/web/ecommerce.shtml• www.Best.com/bizcomm.html• www.Brainlink.com/html/saleslink.htm• www.Earthlink.net/company/webservices.html

• IBM: mypage.ihost.com• www.Netcom.com• business.Mindspring.com/prod-svc/smbiz/• www.Mindrush.com/• www.outer.net/ONCommerce (OuterNet)


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Price Comparison for ISP hostingProvider Setup fee (US$) Monthly fee

(US$)Plan name,paymentoptions

IBM 260 55 Bronze, creditcards

Earthlink 624 194 Premium Plus

Netcom 450 300 Commerce Site,credit cards

Mindspring 175 324 CommercialAdvantage,credit cards,Cybercash


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Price Comparison assumptions

• 10 Mb disk storage

• Single email account

• InterNIC US$100 fee included for “.com” domain name


82

Understanding your connection

• Do traceroute to microsoft.com


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Why switch from ISP to on-site hosting?

• More direct control

• Management needs vs. server access

• Need for multiple servers

• Combining Internet and intranets

• No longer cost-effective


84

My recommendation: split your needs

• Access to the Internet

• Host your content

• Maintain your corporate identity


85

Tracking your visitors

• Different types of logs

• Log formats

• Tools to use


86

Different types of logs

• Access: contain IP address, date, time, page elements viewed

• Error: server errors usually

• Referral: who links to your site and downloads pages


87

Different types of log formats

• Common log format

• Extended log format

• IIS log format


88

Things you can learn from your logs

• Hits per day

• Domain origins

• Path people (search engines) take to your web

• Problem areas, broken links


89

What you can’t learn from your logs

• Who are these people, anyway?

• How long did they actually view a page?

• Were they really from IBM?


90

Issues with logs

• No real user names, unless you require logins

• Could be a program, not a person

• Just because they are from ibm.net doesn’t mean they work there


91

Tools available

• Built-in, bundled analyzers

• Sites that capture registrations

• Build your own from perl


92

Recommended tools

• www.WebTrends.com

• www.MarketWave.com

• Microsoft Site Server Express w/ IIS


93

Search engine strategies

• What are they

• Different tools available

• How they work and don’t work


94

What is a search engine?

• Program, indexing tool

• Intelligent agent

• Not always accurate


95

Different kinds of tools

• External tools wander through many sites for the public

• Internal tools for your own purposes


96

Dealing with search engine behavior

• Some use <META>, some use <TITLE>

• Keep descriptions at top of your home page short and sweet

• Web Review article: webreview.com/97/10/17/webmaster


97

Keep the bots out of your site

• Exclude cgi-bin, test directories

• Create a robots.txt file that starts with – User-agent: *– disallow: /cgi-bin/


98

Managing and developing web content

• Find a managing editor

• Pick your plan for updates

• Stage a test web

• Consider other technologies


99

Find a good managing editor

• Understands English syntax, grammar

• Detail-oriented

• Knows enough HTML to be dangerous

• Understands the differences between print and electronic publishing


100

Standardize on the right content

• Navigation tools, icons

• Images, colors, sizes

• Type, backgrounds, white space usage

• Contact info and placement of links


101

Contact information is critical!

• Same format

• Every page

• So people can find you in the real world

• Should include phone, fax, email, postal address


102

Pick the right content management plan

• Divide and conquer: different departments author different pages

• Control freak: one person responsible for group of pages

• How do you implement change controls?

• What happens when you have multiple webs and locations?


103

Are HTML editors useful tools?

• Not really (tags, long file names, etc.)

• Do you want to learn another word processor?

• I use a combination of Word and WordPad

• You still end up adjusting the code manually

• WYS is not always WYG!


104

Staging a test web

• Check and validate your links, spelling

• See your site from different browsers

• Make sure navigation makes sense

• Mirror your web locally for backup


105

Maybe consider dynamic content technologies

• Cold Fusion

• Active Server Pages

• Other database-driven webs


106

Questions?


107

Topic 4: Introduction to eCommerce

• Advantages and disadvantages of Internet marketing

• What becomes eCommerce success

• Five principles of good eCommerce sites

• Evaluating various eCommerce suites


108

Internet Marketing

• Look good to the public,– be on the cutting edge

• Supplement traditional channels,– be real-time

• Focus on global niches,– be high-content

• Avoid the trailing edge,– the competition is already doing it


109

Advantages

• Direct, one-to-one marketing opportunity

• Allows you to learn useful information and build customer relationships

• Relatively inexpensive medium compared to advertising, direct mail or telemarketing

• Capacity to be a major distribution channel

• Results are measurable, sometimes


110

Challenges

• Most say that eCommerce is taking off, just differ on the rate!

• How do we convince the general public that they will really like eCommerce?

• Focus initially has been on business-to-business uses


111

Obstacles to Wide Deployment

• Easy forms of payment

• Trust in the system

• Perceived benefits outweigh the risk (What’s in it for me?)

• Technology and infrastructure still primitive


112

Adoption Curves

• Credit cards, ATMs: 10 years

• Cell phones: 15 years

• TV: 25 years

• VCRs: 30 years

• Internet usage: <10 years!!


113

Different Types of Internet Marketing

• Demand creation

• Consumer pull

• Provider push


114

Demand Creation

• Product selection is costly, so we want to:– reduce the time to find the product; and/or,– increase the customization of the product

• A successful Internet presence:– creates demand for more sales; and,– these sales are incremental


115

“Consumer Pull” Marketing

• Web sites are the Internet version of infomercials:– synchronous interaction, consumer initiated

• Great fun watching:– sites trying to attract and retain viewers; and,– folks trying to interpret click-throughs, hits, etc.

• Interactive and transactional ads become more popular


116

“Provider Push” Marketing

• Some web sites do “upsells”, i.e.,– interact with the consumer at checkout time to

buy more stuff

• The focus is on the current purchase,– and “blue light” specials

• But, the next step requires an asynchronous interaction...


117

More “Provider Push” Marketing

• E-mail provides the ability to do “outcalls”,– interact with the consumer on a regular basis

• The focus is on purchase history

• The best consumer relationships are one-on-one, hence the value of direct marketing


118

Some Conclusions

• Consumer control of privacy is essential– most folks simply want the choice of opting out

• The granularity of control must be fine, e.g.,– over number and frequency;– over categories of interests; and/or– over (indirect) dissemination to third-parties

• Regardless, there are likely legal issues,– when maintaining/using a consumer database


119

What Becomes eCommerce Success?

• Overview of eCommerce market

• Review physical storefront success factors

• Propose some definitions

• Define success for the web

• Draw up five eCommerce principles


120

Overview of eCommerce Market

• Predictions

• Success factors

• Five principles


121

eCommerce Revenue Predictions are Wide-Ranging

Source 1996 (B$US) 2000 est. (B$ US)

IDC $2.2 94

Forrester 1.4 117

Jupiter .7 15.6

Dataquest 6.4 56


122

And Not Very Believable

• IDC says the web will become a mass market in the US by 12/98!

• With 100 million users!

• Let’s not confuse web users with eCommerce BUYERS!


123

Let’s Keep Our Perspective

• Size of US movie industry -- $6B!

• Size of adult video rentals - $6B!

• Total US music sales -- $6B!


124

Ticketmaster

• US$5 million/month via the web in sales

• Started 11/96

• Generating lots of new buyers, who wouldn’t ordinarily use their service


125

Then there is Disney.com

• Web site Daily Blast signing up 15k members/month

• Sales via web are equal to 3x-5x of physical Disney store!


126

And of Course, There is the Porn Industry

• “However, extensive interviews with adult site owners yield a picture of a highly charged market of approximately 10,000 sites generating about $1 billion in revenue per year, most through electronic credit card transactions.”

• From Interactive Week


127

Sad State of Today’s eCommerce Marketplace

• Poor quality tools

• Hard-to-find stores

• Limited payment methods

• Credit card snooping perceptions

• Older browser versions can’t view latest sites


128

Case in Point: Buying a Bike Rack

• Item not carried: outdated catalog

• Telesales not familiar with web

• No cross-sell or substitutions online

• Needed three phone calls to complete purchase


129

Let’s Learn From the “Real World”

• Compare what works for physical stores

• Try to extend to the web


130

Critical Success Factors for Physical Storefronts

• Location

• Branding

• Good service

• Good product selection

• Proper pricing and margins

• Traffic


131

First Problem:

• None of these translate on the ‘net!


132

Now Try to Agree on Definitions for Web Stores

• What determines a good location?– Position on a search page – Nearness to popular destination– Ad on a popular server

• What determines branding?– Memorable domain name– Popular search category destination


133

An Example of bad location: Montana Meats

• www.imt.net/~lingerie/buffalo/buffalo.html

• Can’t they afford their own domain name?

• www.company.com/~anything is BAD NEWS!


134

Another Case: Buying Toner and Batteries

• www.cartridgesusa.com, www.batterybarn.com

• Catalog shows pictures of parts

• Easy to find relevant item

• But payment acknowledgement incomplete


135

Determining Traffic

• Hard to do -- is it hits, page views, registered users?

• [HITS = How Idiots Track Success]

• Hard to measure -- do you count gifs? Use log files?

• No general agreement on any metrics!


136

Traditional Advertising Doesn’t Apply Anymore

• Can’t measure anything

• Every site has its own banner sizes

• The Web is not TV


137

One Working Definition of Success:

• SURVIVAL!

• If a site is still running after 12 months, and getting more traffic, it is a success.


138

Does a site actually have to sell something?

• Many actual eCommerce sites don’t do the complete transaction (Cisco)

• Require faxes or telephone calls!

• Some merely have catalogs • A good example: Singapore Power Authority www.spower.com.sg/readmeter.cgi?cmd=form


139

Good eCommerce Examples

• Easy to find merchandize

• Good service

• Individual customization is key

• Simple navigation

• Business-to-business focus


140

AMP Connect

• Have customers in 100 countries

• Speak many languages

• Produce 400 catalogs covering 135,000 items

• Mailings cost US$7MM/yr

• Fax back cost US$800,000/yr

• But you can’t buy anything directly!


141

Solution: “Step Searching”• Saqqara.com software to enhance Oracle database• Provide user feedback as they type query• Show how many matches in the database• Different mechanisms for searching:

– by part number– by alphabetical names– by part family– by picture even


142

AMP connect.ampincorporated.com


143

AMP Connect (con’t)

• And can set to list parts that are available in specific countries!

• Updated daily with over 200 item changes

• Detailed drawings saves time for customers to pick the right item

• Saved AMP over US$5MM in production costs


144

Save in Translation Costs

• AMP catalog in several languages

• Translation cost was US$100,000

• Versus US$1.5MM to produce separate translations of print editions


145

Silicon Investor www.techstocks.com

• Difficult to find anything

• Incomplete database of companies

• Companies are arranged poorly


146

First Principle of eCommerce:

• It is easy to find what you are selling!


147

Amazon.com• Services frequent readers with a variety of programs

– Editorial comments

– If you liked this book, you’ll like...

– Notification of new books by author, topic

– Simplified “1 Click” ordering

• Uses simple pages and email

• Associates program for commission kickbacks

• Gift certificates via email

• And ... lots of books to choose from


148

Amazon


149

Update your directories!

• This one is almost a year old

• www.asiapage.com/alist.html#jewellery


150

Non-secure servers

• Many SG sites collect credit cards on them

• www.asiapage.com/goodwood


151

Second Principle of eCommerce:

• Deliver solid service!


152

Dell

• Most notable site for computer buyers

• Customize the features you want via a web form

• Simplifies and personalizes the shopping experience

• WYSIWYB (buy)

• >US$1MM/day in sales!


153

Dell


154

Canadiantire.com

• eFlyer uses email notification along with web forms

• Customize exactly what coupons and deals are sent to you


155

Third Principle of eCommerce:

• Individual customization is key


156

BMW Motors

• Example of what not to do

• Use gratuitous graphics

• Cheesy low-res videos

• Toys, not tools


157

BMW


158

Compare with Subaru

• Find specific information about each car

• Can price options to your particular needs


159

How NOT to Design a Payment Screen

• www.netmar.com/new/norderform.shtml


160

How NOT to take advantage of bandwidth

• www.clickdiz.com

• Two different pages, one for SG ONE, one for all others

• But SG ONE page has just heavy graphics -- why?


161

A better example: fishing licenses

• Simple, quick, and does the job with a minimum of clutter

• www.permit.com


162

Fourth Principle of eCommerce:

• Make navigation simple!

• Use small graphics, site maps, indexes

• Avoid clutter, frames


163

Int’l Commerce Exchange System

• Matches overstocked sellers with buyers

• B2B exclusively

• Uses faxes to notify potential customers


164

ICES www.icesinc.com


165

Fifth Principle of eCommerce:

• Business-to-business focus


166

Popular eCommerce SuitesVendor, Product Version Price Platform

ICatElec Comm Suite

3.0 $9000 NT, 95

IBMNet.Commerce

3.0 $5000 NT, AIX

MicrosoftSiteServer Commerce

3.0 $5000 NT


167

Popular eCommerce Suites (con’t)

Vendor, Product Version Price Platform

OM TransactOpen Market

2.3 $250,000 Unix

Intershop OnlineIntershop

3.0 $5000 NTUnix

WebSite ProO'Reilly

2.0 $800 NT, 95


168

The Cold Hard Reality of Suites

• Suites are nothing more than collection of products

• Lack integration among various elements

• Difficult to setup, customize, and use

• Require you to live “inside” their structure

• Limited payment options

• Sounds like early MS Office


169

Payment Systems Included in Each Suite

• Microsoft: Verifone, Buy Now

• IBM: Verifone, SET, eTill

• iCat: None (but many third parties)

• OpenMarket: Verifone

• WebSite Pro: InternetSecure, CyberCash

• Intershop: CyberCash, ICVerify, others


170

Sample Stores Included in Each Suite

• Microsoft: 4 stores

• IBM: eMall, simple and advanced sample stores

• iCat: 1 hardware store

• OpenMarket: none

• WebSite Pro: 1 bookstore

• Intershop:3 stores


171

Databases Supported in Each Suite

• Microsoft: SQL Server

• IBM: DB2

• iCat: 4D, Sybase SQL Anywhere

• WebSite: Access

• Intershop: Sybase SQL 11


172

Putting Together Your Own Solution

• Mercantec shopping cart

• SQL Server database

• ICVerify payment system

• WebCatalog

• IIS web server

• Total price: <US$10,000


173

Don’t Forget the Process and People

• Put together policies and procedures book that describe what you did

• Gather forms for your business partners to sign up for ISPs if needed

• Document how to make changes to your product catalog via the web

• Approach your trading partners with solutions, not problems!


174

Thanks!

• Review

• Q&A

• David Strom

• +1 516 944 3407

• [email protected]

strategic planning for web technology david strom [email protected] port washington, ny, usa +1 516...

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