IT & eCommerce

An overview of IT and eCommerce

IT and eCommerce is a part of almost every business' day-to-day life. It enables businesses to work more effectively or take advantage of new opportunities that wouldn't exist if it were not for the development of new systems and services.

However, whatever level of IT and eCommerce solutions you use, it's important to get them right. This means that you need to understand the ways in which technology can make your business more effective and how to go about selecting the right system to meet your business needs. You also need to select systems that are capable of growing as your business grows.

Whatever your level of usage and the sophistication of your IT requirements, this guide will show you where to find useful advice and information.

Create your first IT system

If you're starting a new business or you feel that you can benefit from using IT and eCommerce in your business, make sure that the solutions you choose suit your needs now and can be adapted and extended where necessary in the future.

First-time system builders

If you haven't built an IT system before, assess your business needs before starting. For advice on how you can ensure that you get real benefits from the introduction of IT.

The components of an IT system

Your hardware will be more effective if you have the right software for your needs. Decide whether you want an off-the-shelf software solution or a system designed specifically for your needs. For help finding the software packages that are most likely to boost your efficiency.

As your use of computer systems grows, you could take advantage of networking to share the cost of peripherals such as printers and provide access to shared data. To find out more about the different networking options.

Introducing computers to your business

If you haven't used IT systems in your business before, you will probably be moving from paper-based systems to electronic processes.

Computerised accountancy systems are very common applications for new or developing businesses. To find practical advice on choosing the right package and making the switch.

You need to ensure that your staff are paid accurately and on time. Payroll software systems are common applications that can help speed up the process of producing on-time, accurate pay calculations and payments. For guidance on choosing the right payroll package.

Manage your IT systems on a day-to-day basis

To get the most out of your investment in IT, you will have to manage the day-to-day operations of your systems. If you haven't got technological expertise, there are simple procedures and best-practice policies you can follow.

To maintain your own systems, you'll need maintenance routines, back-ups and a plan for disaster recovery.

You could outsource the maintenance of your IT-system. For help finding the right supplier and managing them effectively.

Your systems should be able to communicate with others, both inside and outside your business. To find out about sharing information between individual computers and systems.

If you have a website or run an eCommerce site, ensure that the content of the site is accurate and updated regularly. This will help in promoting a positive image for your business, and attracting and retaining visitors to the site. To find out more about the maintenance issues associated with websites.

It's important to make sure that your systems are secure. A small investment in a firewall or anti-virus software could save you significant amounts of money compared with the costs of your systems being disrupted - or even crippled - by viruses or hackers.

Security is also important when running an eCommerce site. Any disruption of service caused by hackers or denial-of-service attacks can have serious implications for the success of your site. To find out more about how to protect yourself against online threats.

Communicate more effectively using IT

Effective communication is central to most IT and eCommerce systems. Most of these technologies are developed to make communication between buyers and sellers faster and more reliable.

Improving your Internet access

Broadband connections make electronic information-transfer between your business, and customers and suppliers faster and more reliable. The facility is always available, unlike standard dial-up connections that require you to connect when you want access.

Mobile networking technologies

You may have staff working remotely from your office, for example sales staff out on the road or engineers working on customer sites. It is important that they can access your IT systems from wherever they are in a secure and effective manner.

Cost-effective marketing

To get your sales message out to customers and potential customers, marketing by email offers speed and cost benefits over traditional mail marketing. You can target specific groups or interests more easily - although you must make sure that the messages are focused directly at the recipients.

Collaborating online

Setting up an extranet can allow customers and suppliers access to relevant areas of your IT system, so they can update key information or directly obtain relevant files. An extranet can save time and minimise transport costs for data that your business needs to share.

Supply chain software can help you to collaborate with business partners online, which can reduce your costs and speed up your processes.

Make sure your systems and data are secure

Having the correct information available to your staff at the right time can make the difference between profit and loss, and success and failure for your business. However, the threats posed by hackers and viruses mean that you must protect this information.

Start by identifying the threats posed to your IT systems. Risks that are IT-related have become much more important as technology use increases. Risk management is a process that you can use to understand and control risk.

Having identified the risks to your business, you can implement effective information security measures. These help your business to continue to operate effectively and profitably. The BS 7799 standard has been written to gather together good practice on information security in a form that is useful for businesses of all sizes.

Your IT security policy should take account of the common risks to the information that your business relies upon. This policy might include secure login identification for using IT systems and logical access controls that limit access to information.

Many businesses use wireless local area networks as they are convenient, cheap and easy to install. However, they can also be very insecure unless you take appropriate precautions.

The growth of the Internet has brought new opportunities for con artists and fraudsters. Typical scams involve you or your staff giving away important identity information that can allow the fraudsters to use your businesses credit for their own purposes. However, with simple precautions and an informed workforce you can avoid most of these problems.

Help your staff to make the most out of IT

With the right IT systems, you can provide staff with access to the right information quickly and easily. You can also provide them with the right levels of support and training to ensure that they use the systems in the most effective manner.

Speedy connections

If your staff use the Internet or email regularly, a broadband connection can help your business' processes to be more efficient. Broadband connections are fast and are always on so transferring large files to customers or suppliers can be quick and reliable.

Support and training

Your IT system will probably represent one of the most significant investments for your business. If staff are trained to use IT properly then your business will be more productive and the systems will run smoothly.

As your business becomes more reliant on IT, you will need employees with IT skills and experience. The most widely used IT skills qualification in the UK of this type is the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL).

Internet policies

You should have a firm set of rules on what is and isn't an acceptable use of your systems by staff, and ask that they sign these to confirm that they've read and understood them.

Operator safety

You need to ensure that your staff can work comfortably and safely when operating computer systems. This can involve good workplace design and sensible working practices.

Plan your IT systems for the future

Planning your IT system with room for change can help you bolt on additional functions when you need them. There's little point in investing in a new IT system only to find that, six months later when you want to add more staff or software, it isn't capable of expansion.

Help with planning

In order to plan effectively for both your current and future IT needs, you must specify your requirements correctly and acquire the appropriate technology.

Going online

Before you put your business online, consider all the options and make sure that it's as simple as possible to make the move when you decide to. For example, you may at some stage want to create and manage a website to promote your business or have a fully transactional online shop.

Mobile working

If you've got staff out on the road or working from home, you may want to consider mobile solutions and the ability to connect to your systems remotely. For example, sales people on the road can instantly check stock levels or people who work from home can access internal documents, making communication more effective.

Get started with eCommerce

There are several issues that you should consider before selling your goods and services via the Internet. This site provides a number of specific guides that will help you through the entire process.

First steps

From the outset, it is important to plan for the development of your eCommerce system. You need to be aware of opportunities and how to exploit them.

Investigate your options for getting online. Make sure you choose the right website and email addresses so your customers and suppliers can find your online presence quickly and easily.

Consider the different ways to connect your business to the Internet, ranging from dial-up through to ADSL, cable and satellite.

Pay attention to the design of your site. The overall look and feel will play an important role in its usability. There are also legal issues to consider in the design of the website. You must comply with the Disability Discrimination Act.

Sales and marketing online

If you want to sell directly through your website, you'll need to have the infrastructure in place to showcase your products and services and process orders electronically.

To complete your eCommerce solution, you'll need to set up the facility to accept payment through your website.

Once your shop is online, consider how to monitor its effectiveness, make it more powerful and ultimately sell more through it.

Maintain and develop your eCommerce services

Your work doesn't end with setting up your initial eCommerce system. You need to maintain the site, constantly review how well it is operating and consider new opportunities and ways of working that it may present to you.

Maintaining your eCommerce site

As the website owner, you must ensure that the content of the site is accurate and updated regularly. This will help in promoting a positive image for the business, and attracting and retaining visitors to the site.

As your eCommerce presence grows, so you must protect yourself against the threats posed by hackers, viruses and fraudsters. Identify the risks that they pose and implement appropriate security controls to counter them.

Identifying new opportunities

Mobile commerce (m-commerce) is a type of eCommerce conducted through mobile devices such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants and other devices with a wireless connection. M-commerce brings new opportunities to small businesses both to sell new services and to operate existing businesses more efficiently.

Extranets can enable your business to communicate and collaborate more effectively with selected business partners, suppliers and customers. They can play an important role in enhancing business relationships and improving supply chain management.

An e-marketplace allows you to use a variety of online services such as electronic catalogues, business directory listings and online auctions to sell your goods and services more effectively to other businesses.

Common mistakes

Remember that not all eCommerce developments are a success. You can learn a lot from the experiences of other eCommerce providers and, hopefully, ensure that you don't make the same mistakes.

Understand IT regulations and policies

There are a number of different regulations that you need to be aware of, particularly if you store customer or supplier information, or if you sell goods or services online. In addition there are internal policies that you are recommended to implement if your staff make use of the Internet or email.

Data protection

If you store details about customers, suppliers or potential suppliers on your systems, you must comply with the Data Protection Act 1998.

eCommerce regulations

When trading over the Internet, the same rules apply as with the formation of other types of contract. The eCommerce Regulations 2002 are intended to ensure that electronic contracts are binding and enforceable throughout Europe.

Be aware that legislation is also in place to regulate the ways in which you can use electronic marketing to promote your eCommerce services.

Website notices

To comply with both regulations and good business practice you should include a variety of notices on your website. Typical examples include the terms & conditions under which your site operates, a privacy policy, any disclaimers that are appropriate, and a copyright and trademark notice.

Internal policies

If your staff have access to the Internet and make use of email, then you should be aware that there some associated concerns. These can range from spending excessive amounts of time on personal matters through to potentially opening your business up to the risk of prosecution. Consider introducing policies that clearly state what is acceptable and what is unacceptable in terms of Internet and email usage.

Make the most of your IT and eCommerce

To make the most of your IT and eCommerce investment, there are several points you need to observe:

Focus on the business benefits, not the technology - you may want to make your finance team more productive by eliminating repetitive processes. All you need to know about the hardware and software is that it will achieve this - its technical specification isn't important.
Only approve projects when you're confident that they support your business objectives - if you're looking to get products to market faster it's worth investing in supply-chain management software. But if your customers prefer longer lead times, there's little benefit to making the investment.
Plan to achieve measurable improvements - eg if you start an online shop, it's a good idea to set sales targets and monitor their effectiveness.
Don't leave the planning to your suppliers or consultants - only you know what your business really needs from IT. Suppliers and consultants may have their own interests in mind - they may suggest you spend more than you need to achieve your goals.
Recognise that there is also a requirement to provide ongoing support to your staff to ensure that problems are quickly resolved and system performance issues addressed.
Get your budgeting right - including future expenditure or maintenance, replacement and upgrading. If you've made provision for your IT systems, you won't be looking around for cash when you need to boost your system or take advantage of new technologies.
Review projects regularly to ensure that the planned benefits are being realised - eg if your finance team are still carrying out repetitive tasks your IT upgrade should have eliminated, you'll be paying twice, once for the IT and again for the staff costs it was supposed to have replaced.

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