[8] 2002 e-business-strategies-for-virtual-organizations
[8] 2002 e-business-strategies-for-virtual-organizations
[8] 2002 e-business-strategies-for-virtual-organizations
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
e-Business Strategies <strong>for</strong> Virtual Organizations<br />
212<br />
target market <strong>for</strong> your initiatives – to make it easy <strong>for</strong> the right<br />
customers to do <strong>business</strong> with you.<br />
10.4.3 Owning the customer’s total<br />
experience<br />
How much control do you have over your end user’s total<br />
experience. The customer’s experience starts with learning<br />
about your products, then choosing an item, making a purchase,<br />
taking delivery, setup, installation, after-care, purchasing follow-on<br />
products, taking delivery, receiving accurate bills, and<br />
perhaps filing a complaint or resolving a dispute. If you deal<br />
through channels, you are ultimately responsible <strong>for</strong> the<br />
customer’s entire experience with that channel partner. If you<br />
outsource delivery, service, or other operations, you still care<br />
about the quality of the experience the customer is having.<br />
10.4.4 Streamlining <strong>business</strong> processes<br />
that affect the customer<br />
Federal Express and United Parcel Service (UPS) are good<br />
examples of companies that have automated and streamlined<br />
the entire end-to-end <strong>business</strong> process that affects the customer.<br />
Each company needs to streamline the end-to-end <strong>business</strong><br />
processes that affect customers in any way. Everything is a<br />
candidate <strong>for</strong> this process, from product design and manufacturing,<br />
shipment and delivery, pre-sales and post-sales service,<br />
billing, and credit-checking. Most large companies have reengineered<br />
internal operations to reduce cycle time or cut costs, but<br />
only a few companies have done this by focusing on the<br />
processes that impact customers the most. To be successful in<br />
e-<strong>business</strong>, you will need to streamline your <strong>business</strong> processes<br />
from the outside in – from your customers’ perspective – rather<br />
than from the inside out.<br />
10.4.5 Providing an all-round view of the<br />
customer relationship<br />
Efficient call centre and customer management are built on the<br />
same seamless infrastructure that gives customers (and customer<br />
service reps) direct access to all accounts and functions across<br />
computer systems, <strong>business</strong> units, and departments. This means<br />
that account reps and customers helping themselves have<br />
immediate access to every service the customer has asked <strong>for</strong>, the<br />
service history <strong>for</strong> each, and his or her current account status.