eBusiness Services

Aris Corporation Cambridge Technology Partners Ciber Inc

MAINSPRING, INC. Nurun Inc. Perficient, Inc.

Valtech

Guide to eBusiness Services

Making eBusiness a vital spoke in your business wheel
By John R. Hall

eBusiness consultants know how to choose your web strategies. Your business model is too important to trust to anyone less than a qualified eBusiness specialist. To understand the need for eBusiness consulting services, it's vital to know the role of an eBusiness consultant.

Before choosing an eBusiness "expert" ask yourself if your website is easy for visitors to navigate through your pages with ease. Are you happy with the user-friendliness of your website? Can you track customer information using your website's tracking software? If you answered no to either question, you need the services of an eBusiness consulting firm.

There is a proliferation of eBusiness services available to small, medium and large business owners. The choices can be overwhelming and somewhat confusing. Thanks to professional eBusiness service providers, the choices are easier to make and quicker to implement.

Your prospective eBusiness consultant must have the following credentials and "strengths":

1. Adapt quickly to changes in the web climate, forecasting and then implementing eBusiness strategies "on the fly"--sometimes within minutes.

2. Identify customer trends using tracking data and use this data to forecast your future marketing and advertising programs. eBusiness specialists also identify niche markets using tracking data results.

3. Combine the graphical elements of website design to maximize your business message.

Action Steps

The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Find eBusiness consultants with many solid references Savvy eBusiness service providers can often 'talk the talk' but can they 'walk the walk?' Investigate prospective eBusiness consultants and ask a lot of questions of his or her customers. Make sure you ask for a list of customers.

I recommend:  Ebusiness Consultants specializes in helping a long list of smaller businesses with their eBusiness strategies. Goal setting is another key element, too, and must be an important consideration when choosing the eBusiness services from companies such as Spicore eBusiness Solutions.

Analyze, analyze, analyze the data What do you do with customer information you track? You could put it on a shelf or store it in a folder on your flash drive. Or you could do the smart thing and find eBusiness specialists who will decipher your data and analyze what it means to your business.

I recommend:  For an expert opinion on eBusiness strategies, consider Rob Abdul, an eBusiness specialist. His work includes a case study titled "Implementation Strategy for your new eCommerce Web Site." If you prefer to do it yourself, demo a software program at 2020software that you can download and run yourself.

Become your own 'specialist' and take control of your eBusiness strategies If you have the adventuresome spirit and desire to act as your own eBusiness specialist, explore the possibilities of plug-and-play website design software. This allows you to control your own website content, track visitors--and set up revenue-generating advertisements.

I recommend:  Start small with website design services from Contractor's Online-Access. One of the more common names in website design--Yahoo!--is another example of plug-and-play software with its SiteBuilder program.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• Choose an experienced eBusiness consultant with the good business references.
• If you can't find eBusiness consulting services you like, select a good software program(s) to set-up, operate, track and analyze your eBusiness strategies.