WITH the Millennium on the horizon, Peter McAlister of MSoft Software, a company specialising in e-commerce, looks to the future of business in the 21st century.

THE so-called 'Millennium Bug' looms, allegedly threatening to bring anything that has the slightest reliance on computers crashing to its knees.

But let's assume for the moment that we actually survive past midnight on December 31, 1999, and the new century dawns. What then? How will the market leaders maintain their advantage and how can smaller companies grow to be market leaders? Simple, those that best harness new technology will gain by keeping abreast, if not ahead, of global business practices. This is where the use of e-commerce will provide the edge and businesses that fail to plan and develop an e-commerce strategy will be left behind in the 'new industrial revolution'.

So what is e-commerce? Put simply, it covers any business transaction that is accomplished using any Information Technology Interface (usually a computer) whether it be business-to-business or business-to-customer. The 'new industrial revolution' refers to the essential part of any e-commerce strategy - The Internet.

Going online will be a critical factor for any company, large or small, and those already online will need to continually monitor their situation to keep abreast. A recent survey shows that the growth of the Internet in the UK is higher than that in France and Germany, and is equal to growth shown in the USA three years ago. Fifteen per cent of the UK population (over 7,000,000 people) are now online and 3.3 million UK residents have shopped online in the last six months, up by more than a third on the previous year. You only need to look at Easyjet, now 'the web's favourite airline', to clearly see the results of going online. Fifty-four per cent of medium-sized and 33 per cent of small UK companies are already online, with thousands more joining every day.

The single most important part of any e-commerce strategy will be the need for an internet website. They fall into two main categories, static and dynamic.

A static website is a relatively simple affair where interested parties from around the globe can browse and learn about a company or organisation, and its products or services, 24 hours per day, seven days per week and place orders using e-mail, fax or telephone.

A dynamic website is far more sophisticated and gives customers the ability to interact with the company online by allowing them to browse a 'virtual shop/store' and place items of merchandise into a 'virtual shopping basket'. If they want to find a specific product, and do not want to spend time looking for it, they can engage a 'search' facility that will look through the online shop on their behalf until it finds the required product. The customer can pay for goods or services by credit card at the 'virtual checkout', or charge it to their personal account, which they previously opened online.

In addition, a dynamic site will recognise individual customers and welcome them by name as they logon and, through the use of 'focused marketing', will offer selected individuals discounted prices, alternative product suggestions or special offers while at the same time giving them historic information on their previous transactions.

For larger capital items such as houses, cars, caravans etc., a 'virtual showroom' can be constructed where a customer can carry out an 'intelligent search' by giving a list of their chosen criteria.

Some organisations have chosen to give further added value to their clientele, providing online product information, safety instructions, news updates, new product launches, post-sale support, finance charge or mortgage calculators, thereby enhancing the reputation and appeal of their business and keeping ahead of their competitors.

Websites can be simple, sporting just company logos, or they can be colourful and complex, involving imaginative graphics. The choice is extensive but too many sideshows may distract customers away from the primary function, particularly on dynamic business-to-business shop/store sites.

Within this new level playing field a corner shop can compete with a multi-national retailer on equal terms or a niche market business can reach customers around the world.

Those companies already online have not only reduced their costs by an average of 22 per cent and thereby improved their profits, but have also experienced a much greater degree of client loyalty as a result of providing 'added value' functions on dynamics websites.

E-Commerce in the UK is set to receive a significant boost from the government with its Electronic Commerce Bill, which will encourage greater use of, and confidence in, doing business electronically.

The public can now choose from many free Internet providers (Virgin, Tesco, Dixons etc.) and Oftel in now putting pressure on BT and Cable & Wireless to reduce or eliminate call charges to Internet providers.

So now is the time to harness the Internet for your benefit, regardless of the size of your enterprise, and reap the benefits before your competitors do!

If MSoft Software can be of help to you, call them on 342-7037 or visit their website at www.msoftsw.com

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.