E-Commerce Entry Points

Getting Started

Overview: Hire an e-commerce hosting company and build a site using its provided tools and services. Viaweb's Viaweb Store 3.0 and CompuServe's BusinessWeb are good starting points. COST: $5,000 to $10,000 per year for the service, plus internal resources to maintain the site. PROS: Easiest to set up and maintain, lowest-risk investment. CONS: Offers no integration with a business's existing IT infrastructure, lacks scalability, is hard to customize.

First Steps

Overview: A prebuilt e-commerce package has everything needed to set up a site. Good choices in this category are Lotus' Domino.Merchant and iCat's Electronic Commerce Suite. COST: $10,000 to $15,000 for the software, hardware and Internet connection, plus internal staff resources to maintain the site. PROS: Easy to maintain, keeps customer data in-house, does not require professional IT staff for ongoing operation. CONS: Limited customization, poor integration with existing customer databases, commerce features designed for individuals instead of companies.

Extending Your Reach

Overview: Although solidly positioned in the business-to-consumer market space, products such as IBM's Net.Commerce Pro, Oracle's Internet Commerce Server and Microsoft's Site Server Enterprise Edition are quite customizable and can be effectively repurposed for business-to-business use. COST: $25,000 to $100,000 for software and hardware, plus a few weeks to a few months of custom development to build a fully executed site. PROS: Highly programmable and customizable, robust database connectivity. CONS: Difficult to integrate with data sources other than databases (such as ERP, MRP or transaction monitors), requires in-house development and IT support.

Spanning The Enterprise

Overview: Aimed squarely at the business-to-business market, products in this space contain specific support for established business-to-business communication standards, such as electronic data interchange and electronic funds transfer, and offer integration with more specialized business systems such as SAP's R/3 or Baan. Products in this space include Netscape's CommerceXpert line, Open Market's LiveCommerce and Transact, and CommerceOne's C1 BuySite and C1 SupplySite. COST: $100,000 to $500,000 and up, plus several months of implementation time. PROS: Rich business-to-business functionality, can integrate with most common business data sources, includes on-site training and implementation assistance. CONS: Requires wholehearted commitment to implement and specialized expertise to maintain, long deployment cycles.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

eCommerce

Elect. Business Strat.
eC Fast Track
Infrastructure
Insurance
Virtual Private Network