Management Information Systems
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Introduction
The Internet explosion in the late 1990s saw many businesses creating their websites with intent to create traffic and generate revenue and profits. With the advancement of internet technologies, various internet business models developed to facilitate businesses. Various strategies became available that help businesses focus on how the business website can benefit the business. Some websites purpose is to support sales while some focus on improving customer satisfaction (Parsons, 2007).
This article looks at a company that does not have a website. An internet based business plan is created for the business to help create a website, identify hardware and software requirements and create a social media strategy that in turn impacts the revenue and profits.
Background to the business and business goals
‘Shining Cars’ is a local company that provides door to door car services mostly washing, dry-cleaning, polishing, and Interior Servicing. It is very popular in the local neighborhood and provides an excellent service. Most of the work of this company is done through word of mouth through their customers or advertisements in local magazines and newspapers. The owner of ‘Shining Cars’ thought of creating a website for the company that would showcase the company’s work and also bring in more customers from surrounding cities and neighborhoods. In past few years, the company opened up many outlets in the neighborhood and adjacent cities. It has also acquired many servicing vans that provide the door to door car service.
A website is a business tool and an excellent marketing tool as well. Any business whether small or big can exploit the internet power to improve the organization efficiency and ramp up the revenue. The ideal goals for building a website are
- Enlarge the client base
- Move ahead of competitors
- Extend the reach
- Enhance revenue
Identifying the right Business Model
E-business technology adoption has changed the way firms do business. Firms using internet technologies have significant improvement in their competitive level and have also enhanced efficiency. Although larger firms are highly likely to create internet models for faster returns, however, that is not a rule of thumb (Bordonaba-Juste, Lucia-Palacios, & Polo-Redondo, 2012). The Internet has made it possible for traditional industries like DVD rentals to adopt change. The emergence of the Internet has forced companies to rethink their strategies and business models (Teece, 2010).
Some of the internet-based business models are
- Portfolio Website: A website that offers information.
- Commerce Model
- Content Model Website Based on advertising
- Community Sites
The type of model in this case will be a Portfolio Website. That provides all the information about the company and allows users to post their queries and feedback. The website will sustain sales by creating leads and making users buying decision smooth.
Website Benefits to ‘Shining Cars’
The car service company has been doing a commendable job in the local neighborhood. A new website would allow the company owners to showcase their work. It will also allow them to bring their customers on a platform to provide them feedback, report bad service or appreciate. All of this would in turn help the company in enhancing its services.
Benefits of the Internet
The internet has now become an inevitable choice for any business. Internet plays a tremendous role in the success of any business. The company can use advertising on social media for creating its brand and generating leads. It can research over the web to learn about its competition and improve services. The internet offers a lot of benefits.
Functional Specification for Web and Internet Usage
- Create a website domain name by using Whois.com (http://whois.com)
- Host the website using a hosting provider like GoDaddy (http://godaddy.com)
- Hosting the website will require creating website’s web pages and uploading images. For this purpose either use services of professional website creators or do it by self.
- Provide some customer feedback mechanism in the website for users to put feedback.
- Once the website is created and hosted publish the website url onto social media account.
- Create social media accounts like Facebook.com, Twitter.com, Instagram
- Use of analytics tools like Google Analytics for understanding website traffic and usage.
Technological Specifications
For creating a website, not much of the hardware is required. The below hardware and Software must be purchased and maintained by company for admin purpose
- A PC or a Laptop with Windows 8 Operating System
- Telephone lines
- A LAN setup for company intranet network
- Web browsers like IE10, Firefox, Chrome or Opera
- GIMP or Photoshop for editing and creating high quality images
- Dreamweaver for website pages editing
- FTP for transferring files
- Backup storage through an external hard drive or purchasing a cloud drive
References
Bordonaba-Juste, V., Lucia-Palacios, L., & Polo-Redondo, Y. (2012). The influence of
organizational factors on e-business use: analysis of firm size. Marketing Intelligence &
Planning, 30(2), 212-229.
Parsons, S. (2007). Website Business Models. Bplans: Business Plan Resources.
Retrieved 27 November 2014, from http://articles.bplans.com/website-business-models/
Teece, D. J. (2010). Business models, business strategy and innovation. Long range planning,
43(2), 172-194.
