The Integration Imperative
Web Commerce Today, Issue 14, September 15, 1998
Dell Computer’s website reports over $6 million per day in sales. Yet as recently as a few months ago, Dell was re-keying Web orders to get them into their back-end business system. Dell was just like smaller Web merchants: disconnected from the manufacturing, accounting, and inventory systems which run their business. The lack of real-time data means it can take days to notify a customer if an item is temporarily unavailable. And it is difficult to leverage sales data for better inventory and financial management.
The Dell example only points out the integration imperative facing all Web merchants today. It’s exactly because you aren’t going to drive the same kind of dollar volume as Dell that you can’t afford:
- the expense of re-keying or inputting orders;
- the errors inherent to a manual interface process; or,
- the ire of a customer whose request is back-ordered, but neither you nor he knows it.
Sure, your transaction volumes might be low now, but they will build. So you can’t afford an error-prone manual process that risks your most important asset: customer relations.
In examining Web commerce integration, it’s helpful to consider five stages of the Web Commerce Value Chain. We developed this model to help our customers think about the many ways in which a Web commerce initiative must be integrated with the business enterprise. The five stages are:
- Integrate
- Stimulate
- Interrelate
- Appropriate
- Correlate
1. Integrate your Web commerce and business strategies
The first step in any e-commerce initiative is to integrate your plans with the overall strategy of the business. Then take integration to the next step. Ensure that your Web sales process can coexist efficiently and effectively with your existing financial, manufacturing, and/or inventory systems.
Evaluate the e-commerce offerings from your enterprise system vendor as well as from independent software vendors (ISVs). Often your enterprise vendor won’t have an e-commerce module at all, at least not a Web store solution. And if they do, it will be the most integrated but also the most functionally limited solution from the e-commerce perspective. ISVs, on the other hand, too often offer a functionally rich solution completely unintegrated with any enterprise package or a toolkit with which you can build and integrate your own solution. At Reliant Software we are trying to fill the gap with highly functional, well-integrated solutions. Our flagship product, Commerce Pipeline, is designed for integration with the Oracle Applications package (http://www.reliantsoftware.com). We invite readers to visit and vote on the next enterprise package they'd like us to support.
2. Stimulate traffic to your website
Most enterprise applications are oblivious to marketing issues, so there is no substantial integration issue for this stage. However, some ISV packages, notably Site Server from Microsoft, allow you to generate "buy now" banner ads that can be placed on other websites. These ads are more than just hyperlinks to your Web store, but actually accept an order from a website other than your own.
3. Interrelate with your prospects online
Your online catalog and interactive website should present your products in a coherent manner and support a one-to-one marketing paradigm by presenting personalized content based on your customers' stated preferences, past buying habits, purchasing agreements, and pricing rules.
Most enterprise applications have the right data structures to support detailed product catalogs and pricing rules. Unfortunately, most ISV solutions don’t integrate with them. They maintain their own independent product catalogs, leaving you with an import/export or dual maintenance hassle. So look for a solution that integrates with your existing inventory system, or be prepared to build your own interface.
4. Appropriate the goods in exchange for the payment
Once your online catalog has done its job, you’re ready for the sale. The system must capture the order information -- products, quantities, and options -- and then compute the costs of shipping, handling, and taxes. Credit card payments must be approved or other payment terms authorized. Finally, the fulfillment process must ensure that the product is picked, packed, and delivered to the buyer.
In this stage, integration is critical. Most enterprise applications have the functions you need for order processing and fulfillment. Make sure your Web store mates up with them. For instance, if your Internet commerce solution doesn’t work with your order entry system, you face the prospect of re-keying or manually importing Web orders. Also, look for solutions that work seamlessly with the most popular third party shipping, tax, and payment approval software from TanData, Vertex, CyberCash and others.
A component architecture is also critical to this stage. No single software vendor has all the pieces that you will need, so a best-of-breed solution will go down easier on a modular architecture like COM or CORBA.
5. Correlate customer expectations with the value you deliver
No business can succeed without careful attention to customer service. This is even more critical on the Web where human interaction with customers is less frequent than through traditional channels. The only thing worse than an unhappy customer is an unhappy customer that you don’t know about. They can become guerilla fighters for your competition. So don’t neglect functions like receipting, order tracking, customer communication and feedback.
Many enterprise systems have good solutions for order tracking, but are weaker in the general customer service category. You will want features like customer service surveys, FAQs, and bulletin boards that can be read and posted to by your customers. Some of these features can be found in packaged solutions, but expect to spend time and money on custom-developed content for this stage. Don’t treat this as a sunk cost; treat it as an opportunity for competitive advantage.
Understanding the integration issues associated with the five stages of the Web Commerce Value Chain should help you develop an efficient strategy for Web selling.
Wayne Cummings is the President of Reliant Software LLC (http://www.reliantsoftware.com/), a leading vendor of Web-based commerce solutions for the ERP packages. He can be reached at wcummings@reliantsoftware.com.
© 1998 Reliant Software, LLC. Used by permission.
