In Bed with a Mosquito

My wife placed an Anita Roddick quote under a magnet on our fridge. It reads "If you think yourself too small to be effective, you've never been in bed with a mosquito". It got me thinking again about the many small businesses we have consulted with and for whom we have been able to discover and create new value in eBusiness processes and technologies. Many of them felt at the outset they were "too small" for eBusiness.

I don't buy that - I have yet to find a business that couldn't benefit in some way by the use of a web-based technology. Size matters, of course, but let's consider the difference between a large business's and a small business's implementation of technology (and conversely, what stays the same). The major differences I have noted in my consulting practice is that the small business takes an investment much more seriously since even with an appropriately scaled-down investment, the money is more "personal" and has to compete with many other opportunities, each of which offers a benefit. Larger businesses tend to be less subjective about investments and will try to mitigate risk through a formal Return on Investment analysis. What is very similar, regardless of size, are the purposes and business processes wherein eBusiness can benefit by technology.

Purpose - eBusiness investments generally can contribute in one of three general areas: Generating New Revenue - for example, by developing new sales channels; Saving Costs - for example, using an online marketplace to locate cheaper materials and supplies; and Improving Productivity and Customer Satisfaction - for example using e-commerce or online banking to reduce in-person transactions and meet the customer on their own timeline.

Processes - all businesses to some degree engage in the five stages of Michael Porter's Value Chain: Incoming Logistics - how you get materials, supplies, talent, etc into your business; Operations - the periodic activities you do to turn incoming assets into value producing goods or services; Outgoing Logistics - how you get your goods or services to the market; Sales and Marketing - the activities that inform your customers and support the transaction of value; and After-sales Service and ancillary activities - such as customer follow-up, guarantees and maintenance. There are numerous opportunities to use business technology to generate income, save money, and increase productivity and customer satisfaction throughout the value chain. 

If you'd like to hear how your business can benefit from eBusiness, please contact Stephen at InnovaIT Web Services where we believe in the power of eBusiness for Every Business!