E-business opportunities

E-business has introduced new opportunities for small and large organizations to compete in the global marketplace. Many commentators have noted that one of the biggest changes introduced by electronic communications is how approaches to transmitting and transforming information can be used for competitive advantage. A significant commentary on the disruptive, transformational nature of electronic communications is provided in Box 1.2.

The Internet also provides significant opportunities for many businesses to build closer rela­tionships with their existing customers and suppliers online to help achieve customer retention. Encouraging use of online, e-business services by customers and suppliers can sig­nificantly reduce costs while providing a new, convenient channel for purchase and customer service. Through providing high-quality online services, organizations can build lasting relationships with their stakeholders. While it is sometimes said that ‘online, your cus­tomers are only a mouse click away from your competitors’, this is a simplification, and encouraging use of online services can help achieve ‘soft lock-in’. This means that a cus­tomer or supplier continues to use a service since they find the service valuable and they have also invested a lot of time in learning the service or integrating it with their systems and there are some costs in switching. Think of different online services you use for different purposes. How often do you switch between them? Of course, the ideal is that the service meets the needs of its users so well and delivers value such that they are satisfied and do not consider switching.

Source: Dave Chaffey (2010), E-Business and E-Commerce Management: Strategy, Implementation and Practice, Prentice Hall (4th Edition).