E-commerce is rapidly changing the rules for the way we all do business. The concept of ‘e-years’, lasting approximately two months, reflects the timescales this market is actually working to. The new investment cycles can be measured in months rather than years. How we all respond to the implications of this new time frame will determine whether we exist in the new economy. There are at least three challenges to confront:
- economic survival in the face of new competitive rules
- customers taking control of and redefining the market
- facilities being threatened with obsolescence or change
The fundamental question to ask is: ‘Does putting an “e” in front of old ideas turn them into meaningless jargon or transform them into practical new concepts?’ Distinguishing between e-business (using new tools to run businesses more efficiently) and e-commerce (actually trading on the internet) is central to grasping how the industry is evolving.
e-conomics
The financial press paints a gloomy picture for traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ brands. Until March 2000 it seemed that all that was needed to make your share price soar was a dotcom name and an internet presence. A few firms have become casualties, such as Boo.com, but unlike other bubbles that have burst, this business is not a passing fad. Shares may soar or dive but the new economy will continue to change the rules of competitive engagement.
Business is now truly global in its outlook. On the one hand, technological entrepreneurship anywhere on the planet can become a threat to established businesses – calling for unfettered freedom and rapid innovation. Top online bookseller Amazon.com is a global brand that didn’t exist a few years ago. On the other hand, established businesses are banding together into technological ‘cartels’ with the critical mass and market muscle to seize massive potential savings, an example being the US motor industry’s Automotive Network Exchange.
But the real impact of the new economy will not be in the share price index or in cost efficiencies – it will be in the creation of wholly new offerings. The growth of the industrial economy and of the service economy was based on developing new products. Goods and services that didn’t exist before, and couldn’t have existed before the internet, will be tomorrow’s new stars.
e-customers
Distinguishing between e-business and e-commerce is central to grasping how the industry is evolving.
It is now possible for the customer to be better informed about price competition than the businesses they are buying from. They expect products to be customised to suit their own personal needs. The customer has choices now, hence: ‘The customer is never in the wrong place or the wrong time zone or using the wrong technology.’ They want a seamless experience that doesn’t require endlessly repeating introductory protocols, and they want service before, during and after their purchase. They may value the service more than the product.
This trend is already being reflected in the service sector. Sir Colin Marshall of British Airways talked of the need to ‘go beyond the function and compete on the basis of providing an experience’. Designing an experience that doesn’t over-service the customer and brings them back for more is replacing the simple exchange of goods and services.
e-facilities
Perhaps the most inelegant term coined in this new field is ‘disintermediated’. It refers to the demise of the middle man. E-commerce redefines, or removes, the roles of the deal makers and information brokers who separate the customer from their experience. Dotcom companies require solutions to their facilities problems – today. They want a single point of sale purchase for everything – and one that responds to their needs and not the historical needs of the property industry. In the call centre market the perception of big super sheds persists in spite of clear trends towards smaller, more diverse facility responses – responses based on targeted comprehensive service rather than bricks and mortar. Call centres face far reaching challenges, including:
- global reach and regional response
- time reach and 24-hour, 365-day-a-year operations
- sales roles versus service roles
- voice being only a part of multi media channels
The death of call centres has been greatly exaggerated. It is not a question of call centres or the internet, but the creation of a much more diverse customer driven mix that exploits all media at the same time.
Source
The Facilities Business