Connaxis
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Internet Consultancy for small to medium sized enterprises
In general, small to medium sized companies lack the knowledge to make full use of internet technology and its many possibilities. A company should look towards its trusted web development company for advice. Connaxis wants to provide small to medium enterprises with a simple and effective framework for a step by step plan to start maximizing value creation while minimizing costs through the use of internet.
The basic assumption of Connaxis is the following:-
The internet has brought along some profound new possibilities. We should analyze and understand these new possibilities. We then look at the basic building block of any business, which is described by the Value Chain of Michael Porter, and analyze what, where and in which order this can be applied.’Its ultimate goal is to maximize value creation while minimizing costs. How can the use of internet create improvements in the value system?
By now, most companies have an online brochure. Internet has facilitated easier access to information. A company can put its company brochure online and anyone with internet access is able to see it any time of the day. Companies clearly found it worthwhile to provide easy access to information for potential interest groups like clients, suppliers, as well as current and potential employees. This was a relatively low risk and a simple step to take. The benefit can be easily explained and defined within any company. This step is commonly referred to as Web 1.0
Now the question is how to move forward. There is still so much to gain from internet technology. However, there is more at steak when costs are considered: the risk of failure is higher and any next step is not so easy to explain. Fortunately the murky waters of new possibilities offered by internet are clearing up with every new and successful internet venture.
We want to start providing companies with a simple framework so that they can analyze their business and their potential to maximize value creation while minimizing costs through the internet. Through an online brochure printing and distribution costs are reduced providing easier access to information and increasing the potential of finding new clients. Therefore value creation is also increased.
We live in a world where there is low hanging fruit and fruit that is harder to reach. There are people with low risk profiles and people with high risk profiles. The internet has proven to be essential. We have all seen big successes and enormous failures. Most of us are fascinated by this new technology which can be named together with the invention of the printing press, the steam engine and the rail roads. It is a revolution that will probably take a few more decades to completely unroll to reach its full potential. You will have to get onboard to survive. This is the first article in a series of articles where Connaxis deciphers paradigm changes that come with this new technology. We will discuss one in every article and give some examples how it can be used in the Value Chain. Subjects we will cover include the introduction of Content Management Systems, an introduction to interactivity. Then we will discuss important new possibilities like transparency, segmenting, communication, search, use of free software, participation of users; externalizing transaction costs etc...
How the Web helps to lower your marketing & sales costs while increasing its potential
After companies had put up their company brochure on the web they found that it was cumbersome to change the contents or update the website because this was generally done in static HTML. They needed to contact their web development company for any change they wanted to make. Companies found this complicated and expensive. The solution was to add a so called Content Management System allowing the company to change the content on the site or to add new content. There are enterprise level content management systems, CMS’s for small to medium enterprises and free open source CMS systems. Every system has its cost. The biggest change brought about by Content Management Systems is that it effectively converted a company into a publisher. Through CMS systems companies are able to publish any information on a daily basis. This lowered their transaction costs in various ways. They did no longer need their costly web development company to do this. Furthermore, employees and other interest groups could be redirected to the website for information with less distribution and printing costs. Naturally more savings were possible through the spreading of additional information that should be known by the various interest groups of the company. Through accessible updated information the communication with clients, employees and suppliers got better. Companies started to publish their inventory, job vacancies or research papers, for example.
Lately it has become indispensable to become an expert in your respective field using a blog as medium. The tremendously popular blogs are nothing more then stand-alone Content Management Systems working from a common platform. As more and more people are searching information online you need to be out there and show why your company should do business with them. You can use your website, a blog or a simple newsletter to do so. You maximize value creation when people consider you the expert in your field. They get to know you online, they can read about what you do and why you do so, and so consider other alternatives. And when they finally contact you they have already made the choice to do business with you.
Let me give you some other examples where you can use Web in your value chain to enhance the competitiveness of your company:-
Marketing & Sales
You can choose to publish your complete current inventory and have people reserve or buy it online. A client of ours, Italy Unique (http://www.italy-unique.com), is a middle man for short term rentals in
Another client, Gerda Kemp Makelaardij (www.gerdakempmakelaardij.nl) also publishes her current inventory of homes for rent or sale on her website. She is able to add, delete, and change the status of any property at any time. She leverages her inventory by allowing spiders of aggregator websites to scan and re-publish her offering on central marketplaces. She has also asked us to develop some XML feeds into a few important aggregators ensuring that her offer is published properly on these websites. Furthermore, we enhance her marketing effort by means of a newsletter which is monthly sent to her contacts. Gerda Kemp publicly announces that she is the specialist in her area. She is making full use of the possibilities the internet can offer. Active as a single woman she has the publishing power of a multinational.
Human Resource Management
By now everyone uses the website to publish current job vacancies. There are a lot of free aggregator websites which will republish your vacancies for free or for a small fee. Finding a job online has become a dominant method in the last years. It saves a lot of money in hiring & selection and you can go global. We developed a micro-site for one of our clients: ´5C
All our clients are generally equipped with a free open source Content Management system which enables them to update and change the site.
Then next article will discuss another value creating aspect of the Internet. The combination of the Internet related ‘Value Drivers’ will help us to build applications and services around the unique features of the Internet. (Eric Schmidt; Chairman and CEO of Google Inc.)
About Connaxis
Connaxis is an Outsourcing Consulting and Service Delivery Company with offices in
For more information about Connaxis: http://www.connaxis.com
US: +16468108783; ARG: +541152465987; NL: +31208080017
Peter van Grinsven; peter.van.grinsven@connaxis.com; Managing Director