October 2000

BY GAIL GREENER, CNT

The frenzy to enter the e-commerce world has, unfortunately, caused some established companies to lose sight of why they want to be -- and how they can be -- major players in the electronic marketplace. We have all visited Web sites of favorite brick-and-mortar retailers and quickly realized that, although their sites have a healthy dose of "cool," little thought has been paid to customers' needs. The same organization that provides fast, efficient service in person or over the phone may not have transferred that strength to the Internet. Often, we come away from such interactions feeling that the myth must be true: traditional companies just don't have what it takes to be successful e-businesses.

What are these organizations doing wrong? In their haste to implement a Web solution and keep up with native e-tailers, some established companies are overlooking the one asset that could put them light-years ahead of any newborn Internet vendor: existing customer relationships. The information obtained from these relationships over years -- or even decades -- is a key competitive differentiator in the crowded Internet marketplace. Making effective use of customer information is often the difference between an established company at the forefront of the e-commerce race and an established company that can only watch from the sidelines.

Relationships = Information
Although customer relationship management is becoming more and more scientific, CRM still involves a fundamental goal: building a detailed view of a customer so that you, as a vendor, can provide personalized interaction. This detailed view requires a wealth of information about customers and their buying patterns -- just the type of information established companies possess because of their history with their customers. This type of information is not limited to retailers; companies that sell services also have a great deal of information about their customers. A bank has information about a customer's account balance, check writing and ATM use. An insurance company has detailed knowledge of customer demographic information. Utility companies are aware of customer usage patterns.
e-CRM is not dramatically different from CRM. The goal is the same -- to build a detailed customer view that enables a company to provide better service and sell more products or services. For companies just making the move to e-business, however, it's easy to become convinced that the Web is a unique world that requires abandoning existing business skills and assets. It isn't, and it doesn't. The Internet simply adds one more channel via which customers can interact with a company. In these new, Web-based interactions, customers expect fast, efficient service. They expect a company to have all of the necessary information available, regardless of how the customer chooses to contact them: in person during the middle of the day or via the Web in the middle of the night. Web customers also expect that they will have access to the same data the company does, so they can print product data sheets, track order status and change account information for themselves, at any time.

Not Just Another Pretty Interface
So if that wealth of customer information provides the e-business edge, why aren't more established companies leading the way on the Web? In a nutshell, the problem is the lack of access to all relevant enterprise information wherever it resides, in real-time and on the Web. In most established companies, most of the data reside in legacy systems, including mainframes, AS/ 400s and UNIX systems. Needless to say, these systems were not architected with the Web in mind.

Even if they create the slickest Web site in the business, established businesses still need a way to link the application to existing data and business systems. Successfully integrating all of these data from all of these systems typically requires the use of enterprise application integration (EAI) software that allows companies to integrate existing information systems with new Web applications. Hurwitz Group estimates that 90 percent of e-business initiatives involve EAI. This is not a surprise: figures indicate that at least 70 percent of corporate data still reside in legacy systems.

When integrating the old enterprise with the new, choosing an EAI package can be one of the most critical decisions a company can make when transitioning to e-business. Listed below are the most important characteristics to evaluate:

• Rapid deployment. One of the primary reasons organizations fail to leverage their existing data and business systems when they move to the Web is they feel it will take too much time. A good EAI product can quickly provide the integration these companies need without disrupting business as usual.

• Scalability for the Web. Just as traditional retailers have always needed to adjust staff to accommodate shopping patterns, e-businesses must be able to adjust to Web usage patterns. The difference is that Web activity peaks unexpectedly and doesn't allow for the luxury of predicting those peaks. For example, a news item about one of your products can send users flocking to your Web site in minutes. Choose an EAI product that can handle thousands of concurrent users and can take all traffic patterns in stride.

• Immediate access to information in legacy systems. Customers running on Internet time expect e-businesses to run at least that fast. Users have little patience for spinning hourglasses and "please wait" messages, particularly when they are accustomed to speedy service at other sites. Look for an EAI package that provides real-time support for back-end systems.

• Non-invasive. The whole point of integrating legacy applications with new technologies is to avoid rewriting legacy code. Why? These applications are often extremely fragile, and you may not have developers on staff with expertise with the code. In fact, your company may not even have access to or control of the source code. Most organizations have limited development resources and want to focus those resources on creating applications that use new technology rather than trying to make changes to outdated code. The ideal EAI solution allows you to essentially plug in to your legacy systems and extract the data you need without requiring changes to the legacy application.

Bringing Tradition To The Web
The reality of Internet time is that companies must get e-business sites up and running quickly. An EAI product as your integration tool can help. Even if you have already launched a Web site without connecting to your existing information systems, it's not too late to introduce an EAI package and start capitalizing on your information assets.

There are organizations today that are leveraging existing information assets to create what is required for a traditional business to be a successful e-business. Some of these companies are traditional brick-and-mortar companies that have been conducting traditional business successfully for many decades. Bringing their success to the Web is partially determined by the technology they employ and the implementation of marketing methods that suit the online experience.

There's nothing unusual with an established company designing a cutting-edge Web interface. But to be a successful e-business, the company needs to build that interface on top of the customer information and business processes that have proven so valuable in the past. In the business-to-consumer, "dot com" world, tradition can play an important part -- even if it is hidden behind the hippest, coolest interface around.

Gail Greener is director of product marketing for CNT's Enterprise Integration Solutions subsidiary and is responsible for strategic product direction and marketing for CNT's Enterprise/Access product. 

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