Full-Scale Internet Business Solutions for the E-commerce Market.

The Internet age seems to have emerged in the blink of an eye, with a few e-commerce-savvy businesses propelling themselves at rocket speed while most companies are left in their wake. Competition is fierce, and traditional brick-and-mortar businesses must, reluctantly or not, embrace doing business on the Internet to stay profitable. Forrester Research predicts that business-to-consumer commerce on the Internet will reach an estimated $93 billion in 2002, up from $13 billion in 1998. Even more phenomenal is the expected increase in business-to-business Internet commerce, rising to a staggering $1.3 trillion in 2003 from $43 billion in 1998.

These estimates are shocking to most corporate executives today. Many are struggling to find answers to how their businesses can compete in this fast-paced e-commerce environment. Many will become "click and mortar" businesses, combining Internet business capabilities with traditional methods of doing business. But they need help in doing this. Clearly, an organization's future will depend on how effectively it can build, deploy and manage a full-scale, mission-critical Website.

Many company executives are engaging out-side business partners with the expertise to help them manage their e-commerce needs. Industry analysts predict the outsourcing of e-commerce information technology and networking services businesses will grow to more than $20 billion by 2003. An ideal outsourcing business partner would provide the functionality and efficiency to create an entire Internet business package that would encompass an end-to-end solution. This need has created a whole new market not only for companies that offer parts of the solution, but also for the few companies that offer one-stop shopping for a complete end-to-end solution.

Fitting into, an End-to-End Solution

Building, deploying and managing a full-scale, mission-critical Web site requires a number of different components of a total e-business solution, such as online purchasing, auctioning, bidding, etc. If these components come from various-vendors, fitting them together into a single solution will likely be difficult and will add an extra time-consuming factor in a process whose success is measured largely by how fast the company's Web site can be set up. Those vendors who offer complete end-to-end solutions normally offer these components as modular applications designed to work separately or to fit seamlessly into the vendor's overall system.

Overall solutions are also likely to be turnkey solutions, customized and integrated into the client company's existing business systems, including its legacy networks. Another advantage in a single vendor doing all parts of the system is having the system deployed and managed by the same people who built it.

The Internet, of course, enables companies to expand their wares and services worldwide. Having e-business solutions designed to scale globally and run on fast, high-performance systems is essential today. To assure the success of their Web sites, companies should-choose vendors with a proven record of success in developing full-scale e-business solutions. Companies should look for vendors with the requisite technical skill, who pay keen attention to detail, and who can respond professionally to customer expectations.

Choosing a Three-Tier Strategy

The trend is growing to provide businesses with complete Internet access such as Web sites, data storage and network management all in one house. This strategy enables clients to obtain these three services in one place, a sort of one-stop shopping tailored to their specific needs.

The first tier in this strategy is building the Web site. A technologically capable framework could serve as a platform for building the site. Customized business applications would then be applied to the framework. These could include an ordering application for selling products and services online, an auction application for Internet auction capability, a project application for online project collaboration to share information with project partners, and a bidding application for online bidding to obtain the best supplier prices.

Once the site is built, deploying it over the Internet is the next step. Some vendors provide a data center that serves as a central hub for the client company's network management services. The vendor would monitor and control all site functionality, and provide additional capabilities such as mass storage and backup capacity, 24/7 on-site and remote customer monitoring, the proper levels of security, etc.

The third tier, ongoing management, is critical to the success of any Internet business. More than just outsourcing the client's Internet business needs, ongoing management executes all aspects of the online solution, including if possible, one point of access and control for the client. Network management services would include system event management, asset management, network administrative services, as well as workstation, help desk and electronic software distribution.

Few companies offer a complete end-to-end e-business solution, and fewer still offer a comprehensive three-tier approach. Torrance-based WebVision is one of the few whose end-to-end e-business solutions incorporate building the site, deploying it online and supervising ongoing site management. The company has proven its Internet expertise with customers such as Toshiba, Best Buy, Visa, Seagate Technology, First American Financial and International Rectifier.

Zeb Bhatti is the CEO of WebVision, a Torrance based comprehensive provider of full-scale Internet business solutions for companies building next-generation businesses on the Internet.