Business Webs

Business Webs ["B-Webs"] -- Today's eBusiness technologies enable organisations to establish "Business Webs" [B-Webs] to achieve greater business leverage. B-Webs are Internet-based 'people-oriented' infrastructures that connect together the various participants in a specific business activity (e.g., your business). It includes customers, marketers, management, operations personnel, business partners, product developers, etc. B-Webs can be thought of as Intranets extended to reach beyond corporate walls that deliver significant ROI gains.

B-Webs are People-Oriented -- B-Webs stand in stark contrast with traditional websites, which are typically just simple information delivery vehicles to anonymous visitors. B-Webs are oriented to the individual business participant, providing each of them with a separate webpage 'portal' that personalises their interaction in the B-Web. It presents only information that they indicate is directly relevant or is of high interest to them, and additionally, empowers them with just the functionality that they need to carry out their various roles in the B-Web. They enjoy simple ["just-enough"] uncluttered interfaces with convenient ["just-in-time"] access to everything they need and only what they need ["just-right"].

For example, through their own personal B-Web 'portal', customers can access information on the types of products that they are interested in, and can access the functionality to purchase products and services, and receive support. Similarly, marketers see information relevant to their marketing roles, and are provided with powerful tools to carry out marketing activities. All other stakeholders are similarly empowered and enjoy personalised interfaces that directly match their expectations.

B-Webs are Value-Oriented & Change-Oriented -- B-Webs are conceived to manage the value that your organisation produces and sells. B-Webs are designed for a fast-moving business climate enabling organisations manage change in two important ways, 1) to adapt their products and services quickly, and 2) to restructure themselves not only to maintain their on-going viability, but also to enjoy growing prosperity.

"The System is the Business" -- Today, organisations are becoming increasingly dependent on the system infrastructure that supports their business processes. In large part, it determines their competitative ability. It supports the innovation of their products and services in step with their markets and it defines their ability to restructure themselves to meet new challenges and take advantage of new opportunities.

Building-Block Environment -- To provide the needed flexiblity to support continuous change, B-Webs establish a 'building-block' environment of reusable 'templates' in order to enable customised ["just-right] business solutions to be 'assembled' as they are needed ["just-in-time"]. This enables business solutions to be simpler ["just-enough"] and to be throw away. For example, marketing campaigns can be rapidly put together, then deployed to achieve their intended goal, and later disbanded after the campaign. Projects can be spawned, personnel teams assembled from internal and external sources by connecting each team member into the B-Web, deployed through the B-Web, and later disbanded. This model [the 'movie-making model'] will become increasingly popular in order to empower organisations with the flexibility to function efficiently in a fast moving business climate.

Incremental Development -- Because B-Webs are designed to support the evolution of the business processes of an organisation, they can by their very nature be incrementally developed. Most of systems supporting today's business organisations can be grown step-by-step into a fully functioning B-Web.

The Magic!

It's All About Relationships -- The power of B-Webs comes from its support of the relationships between all the participants in a business activity. The personal portal that it provides to each participant represents the embodiment of the relationships between that participant and other participants. It records and manages the state of each of the relationships and facilitates the process of change as each relationship evolves. The portal essentially becomes a channel for dialogue. Never before in history has business had such a powerful device existed to leverage the processes of business.

Stronger Customer Relationships -- Through the magic of eBusiness, a separate highly-personalised channel is opened up to each customer. This channel enables an efficient two-way communication flow of customer's needs and product information. New products can be devised from feedback and marketed back into customer channels that are known to be highly receptive, resulting in significantly higher sales. The relationship blossoms. Businesses end up 'knowing' their customers and customers end up with the products they need.

Match with Business Trends -- Because the Internet is empowering the consumer, the primary battleground in business is increasingly becoming the customer interface. B-Webs meet the needs arising from this trend by supporting the dynamics of relationships of all types of business participants in order to better service the consumer. For example, B-Webs provide the potential for a highly personalised post-sales experience that will result in stronger customer loyalty.