Addressing External Issues in a Basic Strategic Internet CommunicationsPlan
Addressing External Issues in a Basic Strategic Internet Communications Plan
Another area for assessment and strategizing as part of a basic Internet communication plan involves external parties and organizations that may add value, gain information, or help support your Internet communications efforts. While the previous lab discussed internal parties and issues, this lab addresses parties outside an organization. These could include participants from several groups: existing relationships, partnerships, and channel participants.
These external parties can also be included in audience targeting activities, discussed earlier. They are included here again because they should be included in a strategic planning process. Building Internet communications with these parties may involve building an extranet, an information system using the Internet built for external parties but not for the general Internet audience.
Existing relationships could include external employees, contractors, vendors, suppliers, and other parties that help your organization conduct its operations. In each of these situations direct benefits can be received by all organizations involved. Providing information and transactions using the Internet facilitates communication to these external parties that would be required in another medium. For example, companies or organizations that use the same print vendor or office supplier can build an Internet communication system to facilitate regular transactions.
Partnerships with other organizations could include trade associations, business partnerships, referral activities, or any situation that provides a more indirect benefit. These types of external parties may be seen as an example of "We'll help you and you'll help us." Perhaps two companies that provide different services to the same customer will work together to support each other's activities. A flower shop, caterer, and photographer in the wedding business are examples. Mutually positive contributions can be supplied through Internet communication for each external party involved.
Channel participants are individual external companies that supply, buy, or sell you your products or services. In these situations, mutual benefits can be provided for both parties through Internet communication. Though these are also existing relationships, they may be grouped separately in a strategic plan as they may require different communication systems. They are mentioned here because they are external parties. Channel participants are usually customers and may also be addressed in the audience targeting section of a strategic plan.
For each of these external parties a brief strategic discussion should involve several topics. An identification of the outside party and the nature of the relationship that exists should come first, followed by a look at the external parties' information needs and what information could be supplied to meet these needs, and a look at possible transactions that can be conducted over the Internet.
For a flower shop external parties could include the following:
- Flower suppliers are an existing direct relationship. Information exchanges could include product and account information. Transactions could include buying wholesale flowers daily.
- Funeral homes are a regular channel, reselling flowers on the shop's behalf. They could be considered a customer as well. Information includes available flower products and special requests from families. Transactions could include purchasing flowers as needed for services.
- Wedding planners are separate parties that act as partners. Information includes special packages, sample work, and schedules. Transactions could be referrals of contact information. Reselling floral services would make the planner a channel participant.
A fourth type of external party should also be introduced in a strategic Internet communications plan. E-commerce vendors and strategies for their involvement need to be addressed. These types of vendors may be needed if your organization is interested in completing transactions over the Internet and if those transactions require fulfillment of products using traditional methods.
These types of vendors can serve three significant roles and have experience doing so from other types of direct marketing activities, including catalogs and other mail and phone order efforts.
The first part of an e-commerce transaction that may require an outside vendor is the capture and processing of information from the end user. In the amazon.com example, this information includes product selection, customer contact, shipping, and payment information. This information is captured and stored in a database operated by amazon.com. If your organization is interested in capturing orders, a database-enabled Web site should be utilized. An outside vendor can be utilized to supply and operate a database-enabled Web site on your organization's behalf if your organization does not do so.
The second aspect of e-commerce transactions that may require an outside vendor involves processing the financial side. Many direct consumer transactions involve credit cards. Accepting and processing credit card orders requires the involvement of a vendor in the form of a bank or credit card processing company to facilitate the transactions. When you utilize a credit card to make a purchase in a retail setting, the clerk usually forwards your credit card information electronically using the cash register or other electronic device. The company at the other end of that communication, which immediately approves or denies your transaction, is some type of credit card processing vendor. The same is needed for Internet-based transactions. If you already conduct credit card transactions, then you may be able to utilize the same vendor in your Internet communications.
If your organization is interested in other types of financial arrangements, then a customized financial system may be built. For example, many companies and government organizations complete transactions using requests for quotations (RFQs), requests for proposals (RFPs), purchase orders, and invoices. These systems usually involve existing relationships and could involve development of customized communication applications using the Internet to complete these transactions.
A third e-commerce element that could involve an outside vendor is fulfillment or distribution of products. If an order for a specific item is completed over the Internet, then that item is usually shipped directly to the customer. This process can be handled by an internal shipping department, or an outside distribution vendor could be utilized. This vendor stores your inventory on your behalf and ships it to your customers based on contact information and shipping details you supply.
Exercises
Assess the Strategies of External Parties
Answer the following questions based on your current organization. If you are self-employed or a student, use an organization you are familiar with.
| a) | Describe existing external relationships for your organization. |
| b) | What are their needs? |
| c) | What information can be supplied via the Internet? |
| d) | What transactions or e-commerce can be conducted? |
| e) | Describe current or possible partnerships. |
| f) | What are their needs? |
| g) | What information can be supplied via the Internet? |
| h) | What transactions or e-commerce can be conducted? |
| i) | Assess channel participants. |
| j) | What are their needs? |
| k) | What information can be supplied via the Internet? |
| l) | What transactions or e-commerce can be conducted? |
Involve E-Commerce Vendors
Answer the following questions based on your current organization. If you are self-employed or a student, use an organization you are familiar with.
| a) | How will your Internet communication effort capture orders and other information to conduct e-commerce? |
| b) | Will a vendor be required to process the transactions? |
| c) | Will a fulfillment center be required, or is this done internally? |
Exercise Answers
Answers
Answer the following questions based on your current organization. If you are self-employed or a student, use an organization you are familiar with.
| a) | Describe existing external relationships for your organization. |
| Answer: | Your answers will vary widely depending on your individual situations. Relationships could involve external employees, regular vendors, and any number of other parties that would benefit from Internet communication to facilitate your interactions. My Webmaster Certification Program at Merrimack College is entirely dependent on external relationships for its operation. The instructors in the program work outside the college in the Internet communications field. These people are contracted to teach the courses in the program and need access to the information presentations created for the program. |
| b) | What are their needs? |
| Answer: | Your answers will vary widely depending on your individual situations. Regardless of the actual relationship, some need for information access and exchange will probably exist. My instructors' needs include class composition lists, class times, and class locations. They also need the ability update this information as changes occur and to submit grades for completed courses. |
| c) | What information can be supplied via the Internet? |
| Answer: | Your answers will again vary widely depending on your individual situations. But almost any information can be communicated using the Internet. All of the information my instructors may need could be published, updated, and captured using Web-enabled database technology in an extranet environment. |
| d) | What transactions or e-commerce can be conducted? |
| Answer: | Your answers will vary widely depending on your individual situations. In my situation instructors must sign contracts for payment of their services. This process could be conducted using a Web-based system using individual identification and confirmation processes. |
| e) | Describe current or possible partnerships. |
| Answer: | Your answers will vary. My program operates in partnership with the World Organization of Webmasters (WOW), the trade association that has coordinated the Webmaster training program of which this publication is part. |
| f) | What are their needs? |
| Answer: | Your answers are dependent on your situation. The WOW partnership requires the use of the Merrimack College Webmaster training program as an example of a successfully operating training program for other schools and training organizations to review. This partnership also provides opportunities for cross-marketing between the two organizations and requires the capture and forwarding of prospect contacts data. In addition, it provides a regular information exchange between the two organizations and their respective members regarding education, experience, and professional opportunities. |
| g) | What information can be supplied via the Internet? |
| Answer: | Your situation is individual. Almost any partnership would involve mutually beneficial information exchanges. In my situation program information can be linked between the two organizations and communication can be facilitated between organization members. Appropriate captured data from end users seeking more information or communication could also be forwarded to either party. In addition, communities of educators, students, and professionals can be built around Web-based publishing, interactive discussions, and even Web-based training delivery systems. |
| h) | What transactions or e-commerce can be conducted? |
| Answer: | Again, your situation is independent of mine. However, you may see opportunities to complete business transactions with partners using Internet communication. Though it may not be needed, it would be possible, using the Internet, for both my organization and WOW to complete transactions for each other. WOW could conduct on-line registrations for my program's courses and Merrimack College could capture on-line WOW memberships. This would require strong relationships and communication regarding financial information. For this reason, completing transactions for partners may not be feasible or practical. It would probably be better for each organization to participate in a joint Web presentation but operate separately behind the scenes. Separate transaction screens could be operated on our respective Web sites linked from the joint site. Other partnerships may be able to integrate operations on the same site. |
| i) | Assess channel participants. |
| Answer: | Your answers will depend on the nature and product distribution of your business or organizational model. Channel distribution models include multiple parties buying and selling products from each other in a linear fashion. For example, many products are made by manufacturers. These manufacturers sell the products to distributors. Distributors then sell the products to wholesalers. Wholesalers sell the product to retailers. Retailers sell to consumers of the products. The Merrimack College Webmaster Program does not participate in a traditional channel environment, but we have acquired course registrations in a similar manner. Some private training companies have forwarded registrations into the program. In this case, students pay their registration costs to the training company. That company then pays the college the appropriate registration fee for the course, which is usually discounted in a distribution arrangement. In this case, the training company is acting as a channel participant with the college by reselling a course offered by the college. |
| j) | What are their needs? |
| Answer: | Your needs will vary significantly depending on your channel activity. This runs the gamut from product information and pricing to order status, inventory availability, and financial transactions and reporting. When private systems are built for channel participants, the systems are considered to be extranet, or information systems using the Internet built for external parties but not for the general Internet audience. In the Merrimack College example, the channel participant would need public information, including course offerings, times, and locations. Channel participants would also require customized pricing information and real-time space availability data. |
| k) | What information can be supplied via the Internet? |
| Answer: | Again, your answers will vary. Any information that would normally be distributed and communicated between channel participants could be done so over the Internet. As channel participants are already in a business relationship, it is relatively simplistic to determine what information is regularly exchanged and then to develop Internet communication systems to conduct this communication. Keep in mind that the flexibility of Internet communication could mean that channel participants could have an individual presentation of information based on their needs and pricing structures. Merrimack College could provide course details and availability information through a customized interface, secured for use only by the channel participant. This could be considered an extranet application. |
| l) | What transactions or e-commerce can be conducted? |
| Answer: | Your answers will vary. If you are currently involved in regular transactions with any number of channel participants, then Internet communication can be conducted at the transaction level to facilitate and economize these activities. Payment or purchase order information can be communicated as part of the process, but the variety of different financial systems will have to be considered in the development process. The Merrimack College example could involve the channel participant capturing registrations and forwarding them directly into the Merrimack College registration system via e-mail. Or a customized interface into the same system could be deployed using the Web. |
Answers
Answer the following questions based on your current organization. If you are self-employed or a student, use an organization you are familiar with.
| a) | How will your Internet communication effort capture orders and other information to conduct e-commerce? |
| Answer: | Your answer will vary based on your situation. If you are planning on conducting some type of transaction using the Internet, then you will need to capture information, process it, and return information to the end user. If Merrimack College implements an on-line registrations system, then registrations can be captured via the Web site in a secure environment. Students can create accounts initially and then register later using an account and password system similar to amazon.com. This system can be built on the Merrimack College Web site, which is hosted by a third-party Web hosting company that can support database-enabled Web sites. |
| b) | Will a vendor be required to process the transactions? |
| Answer: | Again, your answers will vary widely. But if you plan on conducting e-commerce directly with end users, then you will probably need to accept and process credit card transactions. Other types of transactions, including purchase orders or extension of payment with invoices, would require customized transaction applications tied into your existing systems. If you do elect to accept credit card transactions, then you will need to involve some type of vendor to process these transactions on your behalf. This vendor may be a bank or a specialized credit card processor or another financial institution that confirms the availability of funds and debits the appropriate account on your behalf. If your company or organization currently accepts these types of transactions, then you might already have a vendor for these services. If not, you may need to set up a merchant account or other relationship with this type of company. This vendor will need to be included in the tactical development of your Web communication efforts because information on transactions will need to be forwarded to that vendor securely as it is captured over the Internet. Merrimack College has a relationship with a bank, which handles our credit card transactions now. In the e-commerce system, our vendor can supply a preexisting application that will be run on the Web server. After capture on the Web, credit card information is encoded and forwarded to the bank using a dedicated data communication method. These transactions are approved or denied and returned to the Web database application, instantly, to continue the transaction. |
| c) | Will a fulfillment center be required, or is this done internally? |
| Answer: | Your answers will depend on your situation. If you are conducting e-commerce and providing products of some kind to a customer, then you need to fulfill orders. Depending on volume, many companies utilize internal fulfillment operations. Other companies and organizations outsource this function to distribution centers or fulfillment houses. In this model your company or organization would purchase the products from your suppliers and forward them to the distribution center. Products are coded for sophisticated inventory control systems. Orders would be forwarded electronically after capture and processing by your company. Fulfillment and shipping would be handled by the distribution center, which charges a fee and shipping expenses back to your company. Many distribution centers are vary large operations that fulfill orders for many companies and are located in centralized locations near transportation hubs. Since the Webmaster Certification Program delivers training on our campus, we don't require these services. But if you ordered this book or any other product from an on-line merchant, it was probably sent to you in a similar manner. |
Self-Review Questions
In order to test your progress, you should be able to answer the following questions:
| 1) | Examples of external parties don't include:
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| 2) | Channel participants may also be considered as customers.
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| 3) | Before creating a strategy to use Internet communication with an external party, we should
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| 4) | External parties may have both information and transaction needs that can be automated through Internet communication.
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| 5) | Merrimack College has examples of which of the following?
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| 6) | Possible external e-commerce vendors include:
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EAN: 2147483647
Pages: 87