Real-world e-commerce: Real-world e-commerce Tony Phillips Project architect


Objective: Objective To understand the impact of e-commerce and what’s driving it To know what the key technologies and technology trends are


Agenda: Agenda Who are Quidnunc? Why do we know about e-commerce? What is e-commerce and why is it important? What are people doing about it? What are the key technologies for e-commerce? What are the key trends in e-commerce?


Quidnunc who?: Quidnunc who? e-commerce is what we do global e-commerce software house £10m+ turnover 200+ people, average age 26 vanguard technology mix of ‘blue chip’ and dot-com clients


What ise-commerce?: What is e-commerce?


e-commerce is...: e-commerce is... “...the digital exchange of value.”


e-commerce is...: e-commerce is... “...the digital exchange of value... …which involves a transaction closed over the internet.”


The whole process: The whole process


Why ise-commerce important?: Why is e-commerce important?


Changing products: Changing products


New possibilities: New possibilities Self service New product bundles Dynamic pricing Post-order production Mass customisation Electronic delivery Subscription pricing Auction based pricing On-line bidding Real-time eCare Product unbundling Profile based recommendations Integrated supply chain New direct channel Brand extension


The ROI gold mine: The ROI gold mine Processing—of orders, calls, etc —is 5 to 10 times cheaper Customers up-sell or cross-sell themselves, so revenue per customer can be 50% higher ‘Viral marketing’ can lead to explosive growth


e-commerce forecasts: e-commerce forecasts e-commerce as a percentage of worldwide sales Source: Forrester Research Inc.


Market speed: Market speed intermediaries help consumers search and compare prices purchase decisions are made quickly more ‘transparency’ less customer loyalty


The value ‘web’: The value ‘web’


To prosper in the new environment, an organization’s principal virtue needs to be agility.: To prosper in the new environment, an organization’s principal virtue needs to be agility.


What are businesses doing about it? : What are businesses doing about it?


Vision: Vision Before strategy comes vision: “let’s create the same feel online as we offer now in the physical world” Need to get a lot more creative combine: brand, business objectives, unique qualities of each industry, technology possibilities


Digital strategy: Digital strategy What to do to achieve the vision: there are already plenty of patterns to use these patterns can be applied to different businesses in creative ways this plus practical thoughts form the basis of a digital strategy


Cannibalize your own business: Cannibalize your own business Barnes and Noble catalog with online ordering reader reviews of of titles steals business from traditional stores, but also steals business back from amazon.com How can you compete with your new web competitors on the web?


Go pure cyberspace: Go pure cyberspace Egghead software closed retail outlets - became internet only deliver services and product digitally auctions on surplus stock What if we made the digital world our first priority and the physical second?


Outsource to your customers: Outsource to your customers FedEx Where is my order? What do you do for your customers that they would rather do for themselves (and could probably do better)? What size of mortgage can I afford? Do I really need a repairman?


Change the pricing model: Change the pricing model Priceline buying service for airline tickets and new cars reverse auction—customer names their price, and Priceline finds a major airline willing to release seats better prices for buyers, new market for sellers Would your customers benefit from a different way of pricing—eg, micropayments or auctions?


Make first contact: Make first contact Microsoft Carpoint online car sales—search inventory of hundreds of car dealers own the relationship with the customer aims to be the first place a car buyer visits What is the first step your customers take in the chain of events that lead them to buy from you? How can you make contact with them then?


What are the key technologies for e-commerce?: What are the key technologies for e-commerce?


‘Simple’ web publishing: ‘Simple’ web publishing


Slide27: Architecture foundation


Slide28: What are enterprise services? desk is supported by building services: heating and ventilation, telecoms e-commerce applications rely on digital services: credit checking, customer profiling new apps become smaller and cheaper to build Enterprise services


Slide29: Enterprise services and applications


Slide30: Application components What is a component? piece of software that provides a well-defined function via a well-defined interface Component technologies Microsoft COM+ / MTS JavaBeans / EJB CORBA


3-tier web architecture: 3-tier web architecture FIREWALL FIREWALL E-COMMERCE APPLICATION SERVER


Slide32: e-commerce Tools Strategy Tool Product ATG Dynamo, MS Site Server


Many commerce channels: Many commerce channels stores e-commerce direct mail affiliates


Legacy integration: Legacy integration Legacy systems support existing business operations eg ordering, fulfillment, marketing, financials key technology is XML (eXtensible Markup Language) ‘glue’ that ties together disparate systems


Fitting it all together: Fitting it all together FIREWALL APPLICATION SERVER


What are the technology trends in e-commerce?: What are the technology trends in e-commerce?


Broadband: Broadband Convergence of computing and consumer electronics streaming media to enrich consumer experience web access through TV & cable web as delivery channel for digital media (voice, music, video etc) Beware the hype!


New delivery mechanisms: New delivery mechanisms WAP is the current buzzword Phones, PDAs, watches all web-enabled UI and bandwidth limitations Usability challenges


Behind the scenes web: Behind the scenes web Pervasive, unobtrusive connectedness local wireless networks (eg Sun Jini) web-enabled appliances that are self-diagnosing and self-maintaining software agents take people out of the loop


Slide40: Talk to me Take a card and e-mail me www.quidnunc.com Interested in Quidnunc?