You survived Y2K, but will you survive the invasion of e? There’s no escaping it. When and how e-commerce invades your business is the big question. As e-commerce turns traditional business on its ear, the only way to survive the invasion is to beat e-commerce at its own game.

Get ready for e — the ‘letter of the decade.’ Electronic commerce is upon us. Like the .com companies of today, tomorrow will bring the e-coms and e-tailers. Right now, e-commerce and e-business services are booming. Forrester Research Inc. predicts that the U.S. market for e-commerce will hit $18 billion this year; Shop.org and the Boston Consulting Group estimate the number to be closer to $36 billion. And, the United States government anticipates that by 2002, e-commerce will exceed $500 billion. This is truly just the tip of the iceberg — especially as more companies wrap-up their Y2K issues and begin investing big money in e-commerce initiatives.

If your organization hasn’t caught the e-wave, don’t wait until it is too late! Successful organizations will be those that have established themselves online; use technology to make purchases and ordering simple, secure, and enjoyable; have leveraged their Internet presence to further their relationships with their members; and use a simple e-commerce approach to differentiate themselves from competing organizations and free online communities.

You have heard it before — do more with less. As members expect more, faster, at a time when personnel is scarce and expensive, associations that use Internet technology can begin to deliver on these new demands. And, the electronic demands on your organization will only skyrocket as younger generations whole-heartedly embrace online communications, online trading, and online purchasing.

The concept of information at your fingertips is here to stay. Your members will soon expect transactions such as membership applications, product purchasing, and meeting registration to be just a few clicks away. People are no longer willing to hold on phone calls as they are routed between membership, registration, and account receivable departments.

WHAT IS ELECTRONIC COMMERCE?
Electronic commerce is the process of taking some form of order or request online through the Internet. The transaction typically provides an electronic link to a bank (financial institute), your customer/member database, your inventory/fulfillment system, and your business processing rules. Orders are taken online and instantly paid in full by credit card, and product requests (books, subscriptions, membership renewals, and meeting registrations) are processed and immediately fulfilled.

If you’re just starting out, plan, plan, plan. Though a very important piece of the puzzle, your Web site design is not the only consideration of a successful e-commerce implementation. Strategic planning is truly your key to success. Though a bad Web site is the curse of death for online transactions, implementing e-business without a plan is equally devastating.

Many organizations implement new technologies and new systems only to see minimal benefits or measurable disappointment. When considering a strategy for the Internet, it is important to consider the impact e-commerce will have on business. Your traditional business processing model and the way you interact with your customers and members will be changed by e-commerce. It is not a question of whether e-commerce will affect your business, but how and when it will change the way you do it. Technology strategic plans need to become an essential component of any organization that expects to survive. Implementing a successful e-commerce system begins with some basic guidelines:

MAKING IT WORK
Keep your site design simple, efficient, and maintainable. The searching, ordering, and purchasing process should be fast and simple with few clicks. Use your current Web site to inform visitors of your organization’s e-commerce benefits and to present membership discounts, affinity programs, and specials on meeting registration. Provide your customers fast, efficient ways to search for the information they request. Once orders are taken, provide e-mail order confirmation. This small step will instill confidence that transactions have been safely received and are being processed.

Take advantage of successful sites that have already been developed. Talk to other associations. Look at Amazon.com or your personal favorites. Note what you like and dislike about them. Chances are, if something looks and feels good to you, it will look and feel good to others.

Keep your e-commerce approach simple. A complex maze of forms, scrolling screens, and extensive log-ins will certainly confuse visitors and potential customers, causing them to prematurely leave your site. Do not turn people off before they have a chance to see what you offer. A disorganized and hard-to-navigate site is as aggravating as long checkout lines and ineffective sales associates at shopping centers.

GETTING THE WORK OUT
Another key to a successful e-commerce site is promoting its use. Advertise your site inside and outside of the Web. Put your Internet address, e-commerce offerings, and benefits on every piece of literature, mailing, and newsletter you send out. Promote to your membership at annual meetings and events. Promote special offers that are only available over the Internet. Register your site on major search engines. There are a variety of services that will register your site on most major search engines for a nominal fee. Also link your site to related sites — sister organizations or business partners, convention bureaus, and hotels.

Let folks know you are open for e-business!

KEEPING IT SAFE
Security, accessibility, and speed are also concerns in establishing and maintaining your e-commerce site. Web security and transaction encryption strategies are critical to your e-commerce strategy. Do not take security for granted. Credit card use on your e-commerce site offers your organization and members the greatest benefit. With proper security, credit cards can be verified instantly and transactions approved before they enter your system with minimal staff intervention.

Develop or partner with e-business providers who offer secured sites where ordering information is encrypted against hackers and thieves. Notify visitors that your site is secure and provide assurance you are taking the appropriate measure to protect their transactions. Using encryption and secured transactions, credit card and other order information is only passed and readable to the appropriate vendors, not other systems on the Internet.

If you are using an e-commerce provider, carefully analyze its approach to security and the products they use to protect your transactions. If you develop security yourself, use reputable products and consider using an e-business consultant for assistance.

Still concerned about credit card purchases on the Internet? Consider when you give your credit card to a waiter at a restaurant, or worse — when you place an order over the phone, giving a complete stranger your card information. Rest assured, the federal government, large organizations, credit card companies, and the world’s banks are all working to successfully improve the security of online transactions against theft and fraud. Due to technology, consumer education, and very low incidence of Internet credit card fraud, consumers are eager to shop conveniently from their workstations, day or night. Use this trend to your organization’s benefit.

ACCESSIBILITY COUNTS
Web site availability and stability are other key factors to a successful e-commerce site. Whenever practical, your site should be accessible 24 hours each day. Pick your Internet provider carefully. Use one that has redundant connections to the Web, has a good reputation for service, and is one with which you are comfortable. Also consider bandwidth (how fast information can be passed from your site to your Internet provider) and what the additional e-commerce traffic will do to the performance of your current site — especially prior to annual conferences or membership drives. Slow cumbersome sites that are unpredictable drive consumers to conventional methods of ordering or to competing associations, special interest Web sites, and virtual communities.

A properly implemented, secured e-commerce site will increase member benefits, improve your relationship with your members, allow for faster, more efficient services, minimize staff time spent on administrative functions, and increase time on programmatic ones. Consider how many more educational books, registrants for an annual meeting, or membership forms for a membership drive you can process if you are open 24 hours, seven days a week.

Internet and e-commerce use should become essential elements of your organization’s long-term strategic plan. Not only should you personally be prepared for the invasion of e, but your organization should as well!

Author Link: Steven M. Worth is senior partner for Plexus Consulting Group, LLC. He can be reached at (202) 785-8940.