Business Review & Scoping Study

The business opportunities made available by the emergence of the Internet can be subtle and are often misunderstood by organisations. To view them simply from a Marketing or technical point of view is both commonplace and liable to lead to poor decision making.

The GBdirect Business Review and Scoping Study is intended to ensure that organisations make decisions based on a full understanding of the facts and a proper strategic view of the opportunities and risks.

Background

The Internet has rapidly become an important source of information for a wide range of people drawn from many walks of life. Most are in the upper range of income, education and social status. It is now commonplace for professionals, journalists and students to use the Internet as their first point of call when undertaking research into products or companies. For many of them, the cost of access is effectively either free (provided by employers or institutions) or no more than the cost of a local phone call. As a ridiculous but nonetheless true example, it now costs less to find a phone number using the Internet than by using Directory Enquiries.

The unimaginative approach originally taken by early business users - one of simply trying to promote goods and services - is now being replaced by a more mature understanding of what the medium has to offer. The Internet can be used in many ways. Typical business uses are to publish:

The Internet-aware community now routinely expects to find material of this kind available from the people that they plan to do business with. Not to make it available is clearly an option, but the consequences should be fully understood and the decision should be a conscious one.

The Issues

It is difficult for many organisations to form a coherent policy towards corporate use of the Internet. If it were the responsibility of a single department (perhaps I.T. or Marketing) that would be less of an issue - but the understanding needed to make an informed decision needs to cross organisational boundaries. At the very least, staff with responsibilities in

will need to have a firm grasp the opportunities and risks. Any decisions taken should be on the basis of a good understanding of the issues, ideally based on practical experience of the use of the medium in your own and other markets.

It is rarely realistic to ask busy members of staff in these key areas to take the time to perform exhaustive research and to bring themselves up to speed before taking decisions. This is a classic situation calling for a certain amount of training and briefing, followed-up by the use of external expertise.

The Package

GBdirect recognises the problems faced by modern businesses working in a competitive environment. Our staff have many years experience of management, analysis, training and providing advisory services. Based on our business experience plus our core expertise in the use of Internet technologies for business purposes, we offer a two-part advisory package to enable organisations to make effective decisions on whether or how to use the Internet.

Part One:

A half-day strategic briefing session for staff drawn from the key business areas, followed-up by interviews (2-4 hours each) and an analysis and report-writing stage. The result will be a report suitable for presentation to the Board or senior management containing conclusions, recommendations and, where appropriate, cost estimates. This phase involves five days' work by a senior consultant.

Part Two:

Dependant on the outcome of part one (which might recommend doing nothing), part two comprises a competitive review of similar organisations, research and review of market communications already undertaken by your business and the design of sample Internet materials for review and approval. The sample material will be suitable for immediate use as the basis of an Internet presence; an entirely workable basis that will project an appropriate image for your organisation. This phase involves five days' work by a senior consultant and ten days of design input.

Costs

Part one is available for a fixed price of £3950 ex V.A.T. Part two, if appropriate, costs a further £5450 ex V.A.T. For further information, please call GBdirect on 0870 200 7273.