“With the continuing explosive growth of e-commerce, small- and medium-sized businesses that are able to reap actionable information from a rich online platform are uniquely positioned to compete in the online marketplace,” says Michael Emaus, President and CEO of eEnterprise (www.eEnterprise.com), a global integrator of NetSuite, the world’s leading on-demand, Web-based business management software. “Today, e-commerce demands sophistication, in terms of the online shopping experience, which products are presented to customers, and how sales are tracked.”
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, e-commerce sales rose to $25.2 billion during the first quarter of 2006, an increase of more than 25 percent over sales during the first quarter of 2005. Adjusted for seasonal variations, the first quarter 2006 growth of e-commerce over fourth quarter 2005 was more than double that of retail sales overall.
“Although online sales currently represent only about three percent of all retail sales, that number is sure to climb,” says Emaus. “It’s crucial that online retailers position themselves to take advantage of this trend. NetSuite business management software integrates a flexible e-commerce platform with the critical, real-time information e-tailers need to make sound decisions.”
With NetSuite, online retailers can easily increase sales by automating up-sell and cross-sell recommendations on the shopping cart page, as well as by allowing customers to purchase and use gift certificates and coupons online. “Because accounting is integrated into NetSuite’s e-commerce solution, a customer can shop with a gift certificate any number of times, until the balance is used,” says Emaus. “An e-tailer can even offer downloads for purchase, using NetSuite’s ability for password protection and license codes.”
Behind the scenes, NetSuite gives a business owner or marketing team real-time, actionable information that they can leverage to increase their exposure to potential customers. “Instead of simply seeing which paid keyword campaigns are driving traffic to the site, an online retailer can see which campaigns are generating the most sales revenue, and make adjustments as necessary,” says Emaus.
The same holds true for inventory management, since NetSuite allows just-in-time restocking by dynamically calculating reorders based on seasonal demand or historical sales data. “Successful e-tailers don’t have inventory sitting around, nor are they caught with an item out of stock,” says Emaus.
He continues, “NetSuite removes the limits imposed by a traditional Web architecture and provides the online retailer with a marketing powerhouse. Small- and medium-sized businesses simply don’t have the resources to support the in-house staff necessary to design and maintain the e-commerce solution that NetSuite provides. Best of all, NetSuite is a Web-based application that can ‘turn on’ fully supported global resources in about five minutes.”
With the growth of online sales clearly outpacing traditional retail sales, NetSuite helps small- and medium-sized businesses level the playing field.
Posts Tagged ‘eCommerce’
Eenterprise: Netsuite Business Management Software Offers E-commerce Solutions
Posted in Software Piracy 
Tags: Business, eCommerce, Eenterprise, Management, Netsuite, Offers, Software, Solutions 
Comments OffE-Commerce Operational Risk Management Plan
E-Commerce Operational Risk Management Plan
OPERATIONAL RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN
Your Company recognizes that it faces a number of risks as it progresses through the various stages of its growth and implementation phases – in North America and other countries. These risks have been identified, quantified and anticipated.
6.1 Acquire Copyrights & Trademarks:
Copyrights and trademarks have to be filed with appropriate North American and Canadian authorities. The company’s principals will apply for copyrights and trademarks — trademark and copyright protection may already exist for various OEM products and services. This is coupled with proprietary codes that will be in place for all programs designed by your Company under license, to ensure authenticity, minimize trademark infringements and piracy.
The information technology and content management services, along with the proposed e-commerce solutions have quality control challenges. This is relative to the quality control of the proposed services, solutions and their integration in corresponding countries. Past experience of management, diversified range of consultants, strength of OEMs and corresponding technology team will support the success of maintaining the appropriate trademark and copyright protection.
6.2 Managed Growth:
Your Company’s senior management has a well established track record in effectively managing sales and production facilities to budget. Your Company may achieve its targets using a quarterly budget review process. This budget revision process may be used to address growth issues, when sales outperform plan. During the revision process, the latest ratio of sales order intake to content production capacity, will be compared to the previous quarter’s.
Despite the forecasted demand in your Company’s electronic catalogue products and e-commerce services, the company should continue to be managed to conservative performance goals, to ensure that growth does not exceed the company’s fiscal and human resources.
The company may continue to grow on certain areas being maintained adequately, namely:
• Your Company’ customized content management production and order processing system should be used and needs to be capable of processing multiple orders at any given time
• Production capacity has to be flexible enough to accommodate a significant increase in volume — using multiple distribution channels
• Expansion can be handled via licensing agreements and strategic partnerships
• Existing and proposed production facilities can be upgraded to accommodate part of the volume increase
• Multiple distribution channels can be set-up and running in a 6 month – 1 year time frame
• Local markets will constantly be monitored to assess potential volume fluctuations
6.3 Achieving Sales Targets:
Achieving certain minimum monthly sales goals is critical to the profitability and viability of the global operations. Your Company has to therefore, build a profitable business plan around a goal of defined sales within twelve months, while at the same time having a global organizational structure capable of supporting incremental volume in sales with ease. The Vice President, Sales traditionally monitors tracking of sales results. Plans should be in place to establish and upgrade your automated system to track sales and expenditures, to ensure they are within budget. Budget tracking system will also have to be developed.
Following the initial set-up and subsequent production phase, project revenue may be used to support the company’s growth. Lack of revenue may not allow operations to expand. Management may have to ensure that account executives have a compensation program in place. This will encourage all existing clients to be up sold on all of your Company’s core services. Budget failure therefore, could result if proper sales and marketing strategies are not implemented.
In the event of budget failure, your Company’s senior management traditionally should immediately get involved to drive the sales development. Budget losses may be carried forward and expenditures revised accordingly. Performance reports should be monitored regularly by sales management, and at least weekly by the principals. Sales tracking should be instantaneous — using your Company’s sales force automation’s software. Risk of sales target failure is minimized as a result of on-going sales training of the IT specialists, project consultants and account executives.
Your Company’s critical momentum may incorporate aggressive sales and marketing within core markets. Sales and marketing techniques will constantly have to be evaluated to ensure your Company is strategically positioned, relative to individual market needs and the competitive forces:
• Structure has to be versatile having multiple applications
• You have the flexibility to apply your information technology services and e-commerce solutions to different markets or industries
• Indirect sales channels, via licensing agreements will ensure the product sales cycle is extended, to rollout into different markets within select countries
• If a specific market fails to meet set expectations, your Company’s production capacity has to be flexible enough to allow your seals and marketing departments to pursue alternate client volume expectations
• Market exposure may be realized, as a result of the international exposure afforded by your Company’s strategic partners and the regional operation’s corporate customer base – i.e. industrial plants, manufacturers, etc.
6.4 Maintaining Competitive Advantage:
Your Company’s technology enhancement of proprietary licensed software and network solutions will ensure your proprietary information technology services, and e-commerce solutions maintain their competitive edge, throughout the products’ life cycle. In fact, the products’ life cycle may be extended using enhancements in technology.
Furthermore, licensing agreements will allow for prices to be reduced — maintaining relative gross margins — after a condensed amortization period. Revenue from the applications can be used to support those market sectors where competition is greater.
6.5 Maintaining Project Schedules:
As noted in subsections 6.2 and 6.3, management, employee and consultant compensation as well as bonuses may be tied directly to project schedules and completions. Performance criteria will have to be detailed within each employee and/or consulting contract. All service agreements will also have to be time sensitive and include penalties for failure to complete assigned tasks, within designated time frames.
A mechanism will also have to be in place to identify any project tasks and content production that are falling behind schedule. Management will have the ability to intervene and re-assign the project tasks and responsibilities, to other key personnel, to ensure delays are kept to a minimum.
6.6 Cost Control Measures:
In order to manage your global operations effectively, your Company will operate to a controlled budget prepared annually and revised quarterly. Cash flow should be managed monthly against previously authorized expenses. Main expenditures may be incurred only when funds are made available (e.g. from the holding company). The principals of the company naturally have a well-established track record in effectively managing major operations to budget. The will also ensure overall costs are controlled.
6.7 Customer Disputes:
Your Company should provide extensive on-line support to its clients. Customers should be able to have access to all customer service programs, via the Internet. The customer service department – traditionally consisting of customer service representatives well versed in various source languages – may be situated in your head offices. They should also be available to provide telephone assistance to existing clients. Specific customer service policies will have to be in place to ensure maximum customer satisfaction and in-house staff productivity. This will be coupled with clearly defined customer service policies, which will state specific warranties, terms and conditions – applicable by law within target countries.
Proper procedures will also have to be in place — as a corporate client and subsequently the end-user approves their information technology and e-commerce requirements prior to installation — thus minimizing production risks. Customer service procedures should constantly monitor strategic partner and individual client expectations, to ensure they are always satisfied and met. Your Company’s professional IT specialists, project consultants and account management team must be able to communicate any quality, or performance expectations not being fulfilled for the customer. Client as well as end-user feedback is meant to ensure that quality improvement and performance is constantly maintained.
Management should strive to solidify content management and product warranty terms, to extend the life of their customer relationship, on a case-by-case basis. Your Company’ software programmers and IT Specialists should also be responsible to oversee quality.
6.8 Using Leading-Edge & Interchangeable Technology:
Management has to be able to always ensure that the technology you are using is interchangeable. This will minimize the risk of any software, application, platform or component becoming obsolete. This would minimize affects.
Void of any licensing infringements, your Company’s policy should permit the use of multiple vendors simultaneously, and thus prevent your Company from becoming vendor dependent. Wherever possible, your Company’s hardware, software and electronic catalogues should also be designed with interchangeable components and technology! The technology may be interchangeable with the company’s hardware, software and content management specifications. Hardware, software and network architecture should also require that all technology components are interchangeable. The ability to substitute components will always be tested for suitability, and as a fail-safe measure.
6.9 Financial and Legal:
Your Company will maintain an insurance policy both as the holding company as well as the country-based operations, and subsequent regional-based subsidiaries. The objective is to protect the entire organization from lawsuits arising from its work in the electronic catalogue, content management, network solutions, software, hardware, computer component sales s well as its software development.
Quality assurance minimizes the risk of litigation, for your Company’s product lines. [...]
Idea’s of making good ECommerce Website
Naturally, there are more eCommerce components that get into recreation when you’re addressing with non industrial and then maintaining a bulk traffic travel to your enterprise website. Head amongst these considerations is effort the wish of possibleness purchasers or clients when it comes to your how they scope your website. I’ll supply you with an overview of tactics and strategies that you can dispense when it comes to feat the rely of possibility customers or clients for your eCommerce website.
Among the most determinative steps that you’ll necessary to demand in tell to win the combine of possibleness purchasers or clients is to verify that your eCommerce website is catchy. Consumers of bed are writer fain to put their trustingness in an eCommerce website that’s professed in its visual panorama. Activity is mislaid each and every day in cyberspace imputable the inexpert attendance of many eCommerce websites.
Other method that you are healthy to employ to bestow confidence and to get the syndicate of possibleness customers or clients is the involvement of testimonials from satisfied purchasers or clients at your eCommerce website. Departed action often is the best communication of ulterior performance. Consequently, including testimonials from slaked clients or customers at your eCommerce website, you’ll be winning an essential and purposeful rank in feat the certainty of subsequent customers or clients. Encourage clients to leave feedback and acquire a unique way or set for them to do so on your performing website.
If you are piece of any relationship or start, you should permit those affiliations at your parcel. For happening, if your byplay is portion of a Bedchamber of Dealings or many merciful of licenced Internet organization or connection, you would be shaft served by organisation this aggregation at your eCommerce website.
All over more eCommerce website you can see links to a “communicating us” at the situation. Notwithstanding, it’s amazing how often these “communicate us” devices, links or pages don’t activity correctly. You requisite to puddle reliable that any performance that you are using to accept for striking between a potential client or client and your eCommerce website really entireness. You need to micturate sure that the “conjunction us” performance is human neighborly – that a consumer doesn’t create to start finished hoops to unite with you. Eventually, you impoverishment to excrete serve to promote a signified of trustfulness between a potentiality client or computer and your website.
eCommerce SaaS Platforms, 10 Provider Questions
This article provides a checklist for retailers who are evaluating SaaS based eCommerce solutions as part of their re-platforming project. These are the characteristics of a true software-as-a-service (SaaS) eCommerce provider.
The platform decision is arguably the most important, complex, and costly part of a retailers 3-5 year investment cycle. It is a decision that is often put off or easily put on hold due to other priorities or the risks involved. And it is a decision that very few online retailers are qualified to make on their own since it has such broad implications across technology, marketing, operations, and sales.
What is SaaS?A logical place to start. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is a delivery model alternative for software companies to license their software “on-demand”, typically delivered over the Internet using standard web protocols. In most cases, the SaaS provider has software running their own servers in a data center they manage, along with all aspects of the application. This is opposed to licensing software “off-the-shelf”.
eCommerce SaaS Providers are companies that deliver their eCommerce software platform on their proprietary infrastructure. True SaaS eCommerce providers can offer a much higher level of service overall to retailers over in-house or third party hosted models.
The “Service” in SaaSBeyond the software delivery side of SaaS, and more important for retailers to understand, is the provider’s ability to actually provide an ongoing service. The SaaS provider is not coming in, building out a website, charging licensing fees and leaving. A SaaS provider makes their money over a 3-5 year period and is accountable for keeping the website online and fast every second of every minute. A tall order for just plain old software companies and is the fundamental difference with SaaS providers over custom eCommerce solutions or third party hosted systems.
1. Redundant Server InfrastructureTrue eCommerce SaaS providers have redundant server farms with no single points of failure. The SaaS platform will offer load balancing, clustering, and automatic fail over for all server tiers. In all likelihood the SaaS platform will house more than one website and Client (called a multi-tenant architecture) – this is not a problem providing they can guarantee performance, security, and availability in a Service Level Agreement.
Beware: We often hear of eCommerce Systems Integrators proposing one or two servers as “ongoing hosting” instead of proposing robust, high-availability architectures.
2. New Features and Upgrades IncludedWe are not talking about “18% per year maintenance”. True eCommerce SaaS providers will deliver several releases per year of new platform features requested by their Clients. These features will be rolled into the software code base and seamlessly released to all Clients avoiding costly “customization fees”.
Beware: Software License Maintenance is often used as a placeholder during the sales process for new features, support, service, or other.
3. Service Level Agreement (SLA) IncludedTrue eCommerce SaaS providers have a “service culture”. They are used to earning their money over a 3-5 year period of time vs. one-time upfront fees. As a result, they will guarantee Uptime, Performance, Transaction Integrity, and the Support Process in an SLA with the retailer. These SLAs should provide clear monthly reports on the status and a penalty structure for not meeting the targets.
Beware: Companies may try to use the 3rd party hosting company’s SLA in place of an agreement with the solution provider.
4. PCI SecurityPayment Card Industry compliance is something that all online retailers must understand and be able to demonstrate. True eCommerce SaaS providers will maintain PCI-DSS compliance and provide controls within their platforms to make compliance easier for the merchant.
Beware: Providers should guarantee they will maintain PCI compliance in their Master Services Agreement.
5. eCommerce Account ManagementOutside of 24×7 support, true eCommerce SaaS providers will offer a dedicated account management resource to their Clients. This person is named on their account and is available as a single point of contact and is accountable for customer satisfaction at no extra cost.
Beware: It is important the person assigned to your account is not motivated by selling more services.
6. Platform ConfigurationTrue eCommerce SaaS platforms offer rich features that can be turned on or off (configurable) as part of the implementation and by the merchant on-demand. This includes the ability for complex merchandising, search, promotions, shipping, checkout, payment, and other tools to be available to the Client as needed at no extra charge.
Beware: Many eCommerce providers will build a custom platform and website that offers limited configurable parameters after it’s delivered.
7. Rapid DeploymentSince a true eCommerce SaaS provider already has existing infrastructure and software running live, this drastically reduces project times and allows the retailer (and the provider) to focus on the most strategic parts of a project (User Experience and Integration).
Beware: To reduce project risk, retailers must provide more time for testing (technology, procedures, etc.) for in-house or third party hosted solutions than with SaaS solutions.
8. NOC Monitoring and PerformanceTrue eCommerce SaaS platforms have a software and hardware architecture that is scalable, allowing for quick provisioning of additional capacity to handle peak demands. To stay on top of capacity, SaaS providers are continuously monitoring eCommerce websites using global availability and performance monitoring tools (Gomez, Keynote, Uptrends) and have a Network Operations Center (NOC) that can proactively stay ahead of load issues.
Beware: Many IT departments are just not staffed to handle 24×7×365 monitoring or have the resources to properly architect a scalable solution.
9. Rental License vs. One-Time Lump SumSince SaaS providers license their eCommerce platforms “on-demand” vs. lump sum licensing, most provide a monthly based fee to “rent” the license. SaaS licensing models vary, some which are based on transactions, commissions, users, products, bandwidth or flat monthly fees. In almost every case, the ongoing monthly fees with a SaaS provider will be higher but the one-time fees will be significantly lower (than a licensed / hosted or custom build hosted). Typically the monthly fee is a blend of License and Delivery of the service.
Beware: The monthly fee for SaaS providers is not “hosting”, it is a mix of licensing and service delivery (as defined in the plan and SLA). Go back to checklist #1, the managed hosting fees alone for a redundant setup will make the SaaS fees very reasonable.
10. Disaster Recovery – Business ContinuityAs a provider of business critical services to online retailers, true eCommerce SaaS providers will maintain a full disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity plan (BCP). This will protect the merchant by reducing possible downtime and data loss caused by a disaster in the data center.
Beware: Backups can be part of a DR strategy, but are not the plan alone. It is critical that the platform provider has a replicated environment to recover service if needed.