Johannesburg, 20 Sep 2002
After more than two years of discontent and disillusionment regarding e-business, it is slowly regaining credibility. The market may have rejected it after a period of unwarranted hype, but the reality is that e-business is alive and kicking, and gradually permeating every aspect of corporate life, and a number of leading e-businesses have shown the way by first breaking even and then turning a profit.
They have shown that the way forward is based on two fundamental principles, says Victoria Vaksman, managing director of software group Tilos:
* The integration and optimisation of existing business processes, be they internally focused, customer-centric or partner-facing.
* The conscious reduction and containment of costs.
This foundation lays the basis for rapid expansion into new market opportunities.
"e-Business`s initial failure was caused in part by the inability of companies to integrate their e-initiatives into their existing processes, and the runaway costs and expenditure that were viewed as part and parcel of the whole e-world," says Vaksman. "History has shown what people should have known all along: that e-initiatives that stand outside the business as a whole will at best be fragmented and at worst be destructive.
"Secondly, e-business, while it should be a lower-cost business drive, has been shown to be a spectacularly expensive endeavour. While an idea might seem great on paper, in reality it can take forever to deliver value. In the meantime, it is soaking cash and accordingly companies entering this space need to be conservative, driving off existing infrastructure and limiting expenses." Both objectives are supported by a building-block approach to e-business, says Vaksman.
This building block requires three basic components that fulfil the base requirements of any organisation wishing to e-enable its existing processes and make them externally focused. They are the corporate portal, integrated workflow, and document management. "Together, these three components provide a solid foundation for e-business, allowing companies of any size to e-enable their processes and gain the clear benefits of the new paradigm whilst using existing infrastructure." A fourth component can also be added by means of an extended and interactive MIS capability; this provides not just standard data from data warehouses, but real analytical management information, ensuring a competitive advantage by means of the availability of superior business information.
The corporate portal is the initial building block for e-business. "The corporate portal has been one of the most important technology/business developments over the last decade," observes Vaksman. "It allows a single, universal, entry point from anywhere in the world, any time. Employees, customers, suppliers can be anywhere, any time, creating the ultimate in decentralisation. As more companies outsource their IT and other operations, giving rise to the application service provision model, so users will access their applications through the portal, leading to a dramatic drop in the total cost of computing."
The portal needs to be customisable so as to reflect the individual user`s way of working whatever mix of applications is pertinent.
Once the user has accessed corporate systems, he needs to be able to enter and fulfil all business processes, which implies supporting the portal with workflow.
"This ensures all business processes can be fulfilled through the portal," says Vaksman. "The majority of business processes need supporting documentation. Document management supports and enriches workflow and brings structure and logical form to a vital business aspect. Every employee generates and deals with vast volumes of business-related and customer-related documents each day, but as they are unstructured, their management tends to fall outside the scope of typical data management systems. Integrating them into and making them accessible via the portal bestows significant corporate benefits.
"These three components are the foundation for the future enhancement of business processes, opening previously internally focused business processes to the external world, along with a shared knowledge base, and all other applications are built on top of them. But," she cautions, "their implementation must be accompanied by a holistic review of the business and change in core processes, or you`re simply putting lipstick on the pig."
Vaksman says corporate customers have received this approach with open arms as it drives rapid return on investment as it does not require the replacement of existing core systems successfully supporting internal operations. "You don`t have to discard existing investment; rather you integrate other components into it. This ensures costs are kept as low as possible, while strategic intent is fulfilled."
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