EXECUTIVE TECHNOLOGY BRIEFING
January, 2001

HOT NEWS IN THIS REPORT:

1. Trend: Outsourcing e-Business Applications
2. Cool Tool Update: Octopus.com
3. Cool Tool: ViewletBuilder Enhances Web site Usability
4. Strategy: Use "Agent" Software to Track Key Information
5. Book review: E-service by Ron Zemke and Tom Connellan

Executive Technology Briefing (ETB)
Editor/Publisher: Jordan Ayan
Contributing Editor: Chuck Frey

Please feel free to forward this issue to others who may be interested in learning about these new technology developments. Questions? Feedback? Suggestions for future topics? Please contact us at: http://www.create-it.com/contact.cfm

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TREND: OUTSOURCING E-BUSINESS APPLICATIONS

http://www.aspindustry.com
http://www.aspconnection.com
http://www.aspnews.com
http://www.findapps.com

Problem: As the digital economy continues to gain momentum, organizations must move their mission critical business processes over to the Web to remain competitive - and do so faster and more effectively than their competitors. But strategic e-business initiatives usually require a new set of technology and networking competencies that may be beyond the capabilities of your corporate MIS or IT department.

Solution: Outsource the development and hosting of your e-business implementations to an Application Service Provider (ASP), a new breed of technology vendor. ASPs are focused on developing, managing and delivering electronic business applications to multiple locations across a wide area network (such as the Internet). They can provide companies with comprehensive, packaged solutions that can include data hosting, EDI transactions, payment and order processing, collaboration tools and support for cutting-edge e-commerce technologies like XML.

Some of the e-business applications available from Application Service Providers include:
-- supply chain management
-- customer relationship management (CRM)
-- online training courses
-- procurement
-- trading partner relationship management
-- electronic parts catalogs
-- EDI based product support (product registration and warranty administration, for example)

Small to medium-sized companies, which tend to have small MIS departments and limited budgets, stand to reap the biggest benefits from moving to ASP-hosted business applications. But even companies with larger MIS departments and more resources are being driven in this direction because of the rapidly growing resource requirements of deploying e-commerce software.

ASPs & THIN CLIENT COMPUTERS

One technology that fits hand-in-glove with the ASP business model is the "thin-client PC." These are stripped-down desktop computers that consist of a keyboard, monitor and microprocessor, but no local storage. The savings can be substantial: Not only are thin-client computers less expensive to purchase than full-fledged PCs, but they also require a much lower level of support.

Because ASP applications are served remotely from a central server, thin-client PCs are an ideal tool to deliver these applications to the user's desktop. In addition, thin client computers are designed to allow for remote maintenance, which means that software applications can be controlled and monitored from a central location. Finally, the MIS department no longer has to worry about installing or upgrading software on hundreds or thousands of employee desktop PCs, because the entire software application is contained on a central server.

STRATEGIC BENEFITS OF THE ASP BUSINESS MODEL

Most importantly, ASPs allow you to implement business applications much faster than if your MIS department was to build them from scratch - and speed is a form of competitive advantage in the Digital Economy. Usually, ASPs have developed a core set of software code that contain the basic capabilities of the application; they can then add to it and customize it as needed to meet your company's specific needs. The result is a faster, more scalable and reliable application. In addition, ASPs can bring best IT practices and superior performance to key areas like availability, security, backup, disaster recovery and help desk services.

Outsourcing also allows you and your MIS department to stay focused on other core business issues, and can provide companies with more predictable development and ownership costs. In addition, vendors can often keep projects moving more effectively than internal teams, because they don't have to contend with their client's departmental politics, shifting priorities and manpower constraints.

Another key benefit of using an ASP is cost savings. According to the ASP Industry Consortium, Application Service Providers can potentially reduce information technology costs by 30 to 60 percent. In addition, because these hosted applications are leased or rented from ASPs, they provide companies with more predictable IT costs.

DISADVANTAGES OF THE ASP MODEL

Outsourcing e-commerce initiatives does have several disadvantages, however. For example, corporate MIS departments tend to be deeply distrustful of any business applications that they did not develop or control. In some companies, MIS managers may withhold their support or may practice passive resistance, delaying key decisions and implementation steps.

Our experience from consulting with many organizations is that MIS departments tend to be tactically focused -- on keeping the "information pipes" flowing smoothly and reliably within the company. But more and more e-business applications involve wide area networking -- connecting a company's internal business systems with external suppliers, distributors and business partners -- which requires aligning IT systems and business processes BETWEEN organizations. We believe that savvy ASPs are likely to have a better handle on inter-company business processes and networking challenges than the average corporate MIS department. Finally, ASP-hosted applications are not as "portable" as those you develop in-house. I know of one multi-national company that was using an ASP vendor to host a major e-commerce initiative. When the vendor went out of business, the organization couldn't get their hands on the software code; even if they did, it would have been very difficult to find someone to run it for them.

TO ASP OR NOT TO ASP?

Should your company develop these types of Web business applications internally or outsource them to an ASP? The answer depends on a number of factors, including the capabilities and competence of your MIS department, the scale and scope of the business applications you envision, and how quickly you need to bring them online.

If you do decide to outsource, we recommend developing a detailed planning document that clearly outlines your objectives and spells out the desired functional capabilities of the new application - before you even talk to potential vendors. This extra step can help you do a better job of selecting the right vendor, and can also help you to guard against "feature creep" - the tendency to add "just one more feature" during the development process.

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COOL TOOL UPDATE: OCTOPUS.COM

http://www.octopus.com/tools.htm

In the March 2000 issue of ETB, we told you about Octopus.com, a powerful, customizable news portal site that allows you to incorporate information from dozens of sources into one powerful, updateable view. This cool tool recently added a powerful new featured called the Octopus Backpack - which allows you to "clip" part or all of another web page and display it within your personalized Octopus views. This new feature more than doubles the power of Octopus as a news gathering tool, because you can now extend your views to include almost any content on the Web.

Here's one example of how this enhanced tool can work for you: One association executive we know has been using Octopus.com to track news and trends in the e-commerce, technology and construction industries. He also monitors many other sites for news updates. He recently used the Octopus Backpack to "clip" the news pages from three industry trade magazine Web sites and add them to his view - a simple, easy-to-follow process that only took a few minutes. He is now able to view news headlines from these external sources within his personalized Octopus view, instead of visiting each site - a real time saver.

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COOL TOOL: ViewletBuilder ENHANCES WEB SITE USABILITY

http://www.qarbon.com/viewlet/index.html

Are you assuming that new visitors to your company's website will intuitively know how to use all of its advanced features? You could be wrong. ViewletBuilder, a simple multimedia authoring program from a company called Qarbon, allows you to quickly and easily create multimedia presentations that can help visitors get the most out of your Web site's tools and services.

This innovative program automates the process of gathering "screen captures" (views of what's on your computer screen) as a series of slides, and then lets you add notes, text callouts, cursor animation and audio clips to each screen view. You can then publish your "viewlet" as a compact Java file that downloads quickly and doesn't require any special browser plug-ins to view. To view a simple viewlet we created on the Create-it! Web site, please visit this URL:

http://www.create-it.com/viewlets/etbDemo2_viewlet.html

An advertising-supported version of ViewletBuilder 2 is available for free; the company also offers a corporate version (with no ad banners) for a license fee of $999 per user.

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STRATEGY: USE "AGENT" SOFTWARE TO TRACK KEY INFORMATION

http://www.spyonit.com
http://track.intelliseek.com
http://www.netmind.com/html/free_mind-it_service.html

Do you need to track competitive activities, government regulations, economic trends or other time-sensitive information that frequently changes? If so, chances are you spend a lot of time visiting certain Web pages on a daily basis, to see if the information you need has been updated.

A new class of software "agents" can help you to streamline these tracking and monitoring functions. Spyonit.com, Intelliseek Web Tracker and NetMind's Mind-it are three powerful, free, tools that you can set up to monitor specific pages or topics on the Web, and inform you when new information becomes available. You can specify what conditions must be met (what part of a Web page has changed, for example) and how you want to be notified of these changes. All three services provide you with e-mail notification, but Spyonit.com and Intelliseek Web tracker also let you to receive these messages via cell phone or pager, which means these critical "heads-up" messages can find you just about anywhere - a real plus in some situations!

You can use these Web-based tools to track a variety of valuable information, including: -- Competitive Web sites,
-- Government policies, regulations and issues,
-- Stock quotes and price monitoring,
-- News on specific business and economic trends,
-- Technological and scientific developments, and
-- What people on newsgroups are saying about your company and its products.

We believe the rise of this type of software "agent" will have some powerful strategic implications. The next logical step would be for you to program an intelligent agent to not only monitor certain sites or topics for changes, but also to take certain actions or complete a transaction when the conditions you specify are met. These tools are likely to change the very nature of information exchange and e-business.

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BOOK REVIEW: E-SERVICE

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0814406068/createitinc/

E-Service : 24 Ways to Keep Your Customers-When the Competition Is Just a Click Away, by Ron Zemke and Tom Connellan is a terrific read if you are concerned about customer satisfaction in the age of "E". This book outlines 24 ways to use good service to differentiate your Web site from the competition.

Zemke and Connellan are well known customer service guru's and their observations and strategies in this new book are right on target. Great customer service is an integral, component to any business that wants to generate revenue from new and existing customers -- and the on-line world ups the ante. This book shares key ideas for enhancing the service end of your business using the web to keep customers coming back for more.

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That's all for now. We welcome your comments and feedback on the Executive Technology Briefing.

Jordan Ayan
President
Create-It! Inc.