Stormy Weather

E-commerce companies turn to Internet strategy assessments

In an uneasy climate of gloomy economic forecasts, an Internet strategy may be critical to your company's success. But will your strategy weather the storm? A July Gartner Inc. survey of e-business investment trends concluded that many companies are investing in Web sites and technology for interacting with customers, but are doing so without a clear strategy to maximize the benefits of their efforts.

Creative Software Solutions Inc. is among the firms offering Internet assessments to appraise, and improve, how companies use the Internet to do business. The company recently launched its Internet Excellence Assessment Service, which evaluates Internet use in internal and external business and technical processes and gives companies Internet Excellence Quotient (IEQ) ratings. By assessing business processes as well as Web strategies, Creative Software differentiates its offerings from those of other e-commerce assessment firms, such as Vividence Corp.'s Web site usability testing and BMC Software Inc.'s SiteAngel program for continuously monitoring online customer satisfaction.

Dom Virgilio, Creative Software founder and president, typically uses what he calls the "five is" - intrinsic style, interesting content, informational navigation and accessibility, interaction with customers and clients, and integration with the business model - to determine the IEQ. Creative Software rates each category and the overall grade is the company's IEQ.

Besides evaluating a Web site's usability, Creative Software examines e-commerce options, vendor and supplier relationships, CRM, and so forth. The service also provides a technology adoption proposal and a set of recommended e-business initiatives based on the client's needs.

Out of all the categories, "the integration with the business model is turning out to be the most scary for people," said Virgilio. "They have to be the most vulnerable and embrace someone to come in and poke a finger right in the belly of the beast."

Chuleenan Svetvilas (chuleenan@hotmail.com) is a business and technology writer based in Northern California.

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