Class 9, 10 and 11

Strategies for web development,
7 Cs framework
Friday, 26 February 2016 1

Components of the Strategy

The Charter (Who)
• Focus: Governance and Authority
– What group/person is the primary “champion”?
– Who are the stakeholders?
– What group is responsible for each phase?
– Who will define success?

The Web Action Plan (When)
• Focus: Timeframe and Schedule
– What time period will this strategy cover?
– What are the development and consultation steps?
– When will development of the next version begin?

Guidance (Why)
• Focus: Vision and Principles
– Why will this work be undertaken? For whom?
– What are the principles that guide the work?
– How are these principles prioritized?

Direction (What)
• Focus: Goals and Strategies
– What are the goals that will achieve the vision?
– What strategies will lead to these goals?

Management (How)
• Focus: Projects and Resources
– How will the strategies be accomplished?
– What staff will be required for each?
– What funding is needed?

User Experience (Where)
• Focus: Interfaces and Interactions
– Who are our Web users?
– Where are they using the Web (home, work, wireless)?
– What are their needs?
– Are their needs being met by our Web experience?

Essential Web Design Strategies
• Responsive Design
• Use Software Prototyping
• The Team
• Versatility
• Customization
• Aware of the Marketplace
• Look for Inspiration
• Step Back
• Design from a Different Perspective
• Test and Validate

Implementing Strategic Design
• Establish your goals
• Identify your audience
• Determine your brand image
• Goal-driven design direction
• Measure results
• Kaizen

Measure results

Seven C’s of Website Design
• Context
• Content
• Community
• Communication
• Connection
• Commerce
• Customization

7c’s of Website Design

Context (look and feel): the “How” of the site
• 2 main dimensions: Function and Aesthetics
• Function - site layout and functionality
– Section breakdown - the way the site is organized into sub-categories
• make them clear, and customer focused
– Linking structures - navigation
• where am I?
• how do I get back to where I came from? (breadcrumbs)
– Navigation tools - search functionality and methods, browse capability, site
index/map
• Use terminology the customer can understand
• Make sure your search tool works - configure it
• Aesthetics - visual characteristics such as colours, graphics, fonts etc

Content: the “What” of the site
• Text, pictures, sound and video
• both the type of content, and the media with which it is delivered
• The offering mix: products, information, services etc
• The appeal mix: promotional and communications messages
• The media mix: the multimedia elements included on the site
– Be careful with adding too many multimedia elements that require plug-ins unless you
have good market research that shows that your users expect it.
• Content type: time sensitive information versus “evergreen” information
– Freshness keeps bringing customers back
– Archives provide a useful service to users
– Watch out for “What’s New” sections

Community
• Community: the way sites build relationships between users. Strong
community encourages people to return to the website again and again
– Community can create attractive content (for free!)
– Web communities can make the user feel that they are valued by the firm
– Community can satisfy needs not otherwise able to be satisfied individually (eg.
finding people)
• Common tools are message boards, customer reviews, chat with
special guests, corporate blogs, members areas
• Other examples: Lands’ End “Shop with a Friend”,

Customization
• Customization is the site’s ability to self-tailor to different users
– The way customization can be achieved is divided roughly into 2 types (although
many sites use both)
• Personalization - preferences actively selected by the user
• Tailoring by site - automatically generated customization based on a user’s previous
behaviour, and the actions of other similar users

Personalization
• Personalization is usually used to refer to customization of a site by the user
him or herself.
• Promotes stickiness and customer loyalty
• Once a user has selected preferences, they must be saved and can then be
accessed by use of registration/log in.
• Examples of personalization:
– E-mail accounts or storage space
– Content and layout configurations - mytelus.com
– Software agents - can be configured to notify a user when an item is in stock, or to act
as an alert service
• Cookies are often used in tandem with personalization, but they can identify
only the machine on which the cookie is stored, not the individual person.
Hence the need for log-in.

Tailoring by site
• The second type involves automatically generated customization
based on a user’s previous behavior, and the actions of other similar
users
• Interface software dynamically publishes different versions of the site in
order to better address users’ interests, habits, and needs.
– The technologies to achieve this include cookies, and recommendation engines
that use collaborative filtering. This is all completely automated, but can be
improved by using active user input.

Personalization/customization using a combination of
tools
• Amazon.com provides a very good example of this combination of
methods to customize the user experience using collaborative filtering
and a recommendation engine
• Lands’ End - My Model (allows you to configure a model to your body
type and appearance and try on clothes) and My Personal Shopper
(uses “Conjoint analysis” - presents alternatives for selection)

Communication
• Communication refers to a firm’s dialogue with its customers
– Dialogue can be one-way (broadcast) or two-way (interactive)
• Broadcast communication
– Mass mailings (opt in only!)
– E-mail newsletter
– Content update notifications
• Interactive
– e-commerce dialog using email to exchange information re orders etc
– Customer service - email or live chat
– User input - content, reviews, feedback etc

Connection: how does a firm connect to other
businesses?
• Links to other sites
• Outsourced content - eg. news feeds, stock quotes, weather etc
• Affiliated sites - complementary products/services etc

Some things that really damage Customer Experience on
a commerce site
• Badly implemented search
• Not telling people an item is out of stock until late in the process
• Shipping cost not given until late in the process
• Asking for personal information too early in the process
• No contact information
• Can’t print properly

Webpage Layout
• Layout of web pages is very important
• Poor layout makes for -
– Difficult navigation
– Hard to locate information on page
– Visually unappealing

Tables, tables, tables!
• Use tables to lay out your pages!
• Make the table borders invisible
• A 2x2 table works well

Areas of a Web Page

A 2 x 2 Layout

Table within a table

Centred with three columns

Really complicated design!

Building an E-commerce
Web Site

Right-Sizing a Web Site
• What are the factors you should take into account when sizing a Web
site’s infrastructure?
• Why is peak usage an important factor to consider?
• What did eBay discover from its use of OPERA?
• How can operators of smaller sites deal with the right-sizing issue?

Building an E-commerce Site:
A Systematic Approach
• Most important management challenges:
– Developing a clear understanding of business objectives
– Knowing how to choose the right technology to achieve those objectives

Pieces of the Site-Building Puzzle
• Main areas where you will need to make decisions:
– Human resources and organizational capabilities
• Creating team with skill set needed to build and manage a successful site
– Hardware
– Software
– Telecommunications
– Site design

The Systems Development Life Cycle
• Methodology for understanding business objectives of a system and
designing an appropriate solution
• Five major steps:
– Systems analysis/planning
– Systems design
– Building the system
– Testing
– Implementation

Web Site Systems Development Life Cycle

System Analysis/Planning
• Business objectives:
– List of capabilities you want your site to have
• System functionalities:
– List of information system capabilities needed to achieve business objectives
• Information requirements:
– Information elements that system must produce in order to achieve business
objectives

Systems Design:
Hardware and Software Platforms
• System design specification:
– Description of main components of a system and their relationship to one
another
• Two components of system design:
– Logical design
• Data flow diagrams, processing functions, databases
– Physical design
• Specifies actual physical, software components, models, etc.

Logical Design for a Simple Web Site

Physical Design for a Simple Web Site

Build/Host Your Own versus Outsourcing
• Outsourcing: hiring vendors to provide services involved in building site
• Build own vs. outsourcing:
– Build your own requires team with diverse skill set; choice of software tools; both
risks and possible benefits
• Host own vs. outsourcing
– Hosting: hosting company responsible for ensuring site is accessible 24/7, for
monthly fee
– Co-location: firm purchases or leases Web server (with control over its
operation), but server is located at vendor’s facility

Choices in Building and Hosting

Testing, Implementation, and Maintenance
• Testing
– Unit testing
– System testing
– Acceptance testing
• Implementation and maintenance:
– Maintenance is ongoing
– Maintenance costs: parallel to development costs
– Benchmarking

Factors in Web Site Optimization

Web Site Budgets
• From $5,000 to millions of dollars/year
• Components of budget:
– System maintenance
– System development
– Content design & development
– Hardware
– Telecommunications
– Software

Simple versus Multi-tiered Web Site Architecture
• System architecture
– Arrangement of software, machinery, and tasks in an information system needed
to achieve a specific functionality
• Two-tier
– Web server and database server
• Multi-tier
– Web application servers
– Backend, legacy databases

Two-Tier E-commerce Architecture

Multi-tier E-commerce Architecture

Site Management Tools
• Basic tools
– Included in all Web servers
– Verify that links on pages are still valid
– Identify orphan files
• Third-party software and services for advanced site management
– Monitor customer purchases, marketing campaign effectiveness, etc.
– E.g. WebTrends Analytics 9, Google Analytics

Dynamic Page Generation Tools
• Dynamic page generation:
– Contents of Web page stored as objects in database and fetched when needed
• Common tools: CGI, ASP, JSP
• Advantages
– Lowers menu costs
– Permits easy online market segmentation
– Enables cost-free price discrimination
– Enables Web content management system (WCMS)

Application Servers
• Web application servers:
– Provide specific business functionality required for a Web site
– Type of middleware
• Isolate business applications from Web servers and databases
– Single-function applications increasingly being replaced by integrated software
tools that combine all functionality needed for e-commerce site

E-commerce Merchant Server Software
• Provides basic functionality for online sales
– Online catalog
• List of products available on Web site
– Shopping cart
• Allows shoppers to set aside, review, edit selections, and then make purchase
– Credit card processing
• Typically works in conjunction with shopping cart
• Verifies card and puts through credit to company’s account at checkout

Merchant Server Software Packages
• Integrated environment with most or all of functionality needed
• Key factors in selecting a package
– Functionality
– Support for different business models
– Business process modeling tools
– Visual site management and reporting
– Performance and scalability
– Connectivity to existing business systems
– Compliance with standards
– Global and multicultural capability
– Local sales tax and shipping rules

Building Your Own E-commerce Site
• Options for small firms
– Hosted e-commerce sites, e.g., Yahoo’s Merchant Solutions
• Site building tools
• E-commerce templates
– Open-source merchant server software
• Enables you to build truly custom site
• Requires programmer with expertise, time

Choosing the Hardware for an E-commerce Site
• Hardware platform:
– Underlying computing equipment that system uses to achieve e-commerce
functionality
• Objective:
– Enough platform capacity to meet peak demand without wasting money
• Important to understand the different factors that affect speed, capacity,
and scalability of a site

Right-Sizing Your Hardware Platform: The Demand Side
• Demand is the most important factor affecting speed of site
• Factors in overall demand:
– Number of simultaneous users in peak periods
– Nature of customer requests (user profile)
– Type of content (dynamic versus static Web pages)
– Required security
– Number of items in inventory
– Number of page requests
– Speed of legacy applications

Right-Sizing Your Hardware Platform: The Supply Side
• Scalability:
– Ability of site to increase in size as demand warrants
• Ways to scale hardware:
– Vertically
• Increase processing power of individual components
– Horizontally
• Employ multiple computers to share workload
– Improve processing architecture

Vertically Scaling a System

Horizontally Scaling a System

What is strategy?
• ‘Defines how we will meet our objectives’
• ‘Sets allocation of resources to meet goals’
• ‘Selects preferred strategic option to compete within a market’
• ‘Provides a long-term plan for the development of the organization’.

Sell-Side E-Commerce Strategy
• Sell-side e-commerce is a channel strategy
• Objectives for online contribution percentage
should drive our strategy
• Our e-commerce strategy defines how we should
– Hit our channel leads and sales targets
• Acquisition, Conversion, Retention, Service, Profitability
– Communicate benefits of using this channel
– Prioritize products available through channel
– Prioritize audiences targeted through channel
– Select partners for this channel
• Channel strategy thrives on differentials
• BUT, need to manage channel integration.

Buy-Side E-Commerce Strategy
• Buy-side e-commerce strategy is about maximizing operational
efficiencies while improving customer service quality
• Operational efficiency KPIs should drive our strategy
• Our buy-side e-commerce strategy defines how we should
– Automate internal processes
– Link internal resource management systems with external purchasing systems
– Prioritize suppliers/partners collaborating using this channel
– Prioritize applications for E-SCM – create a roadmap
• Involves selection of appropriate strategic partners.

What Happens Where There Is No E-Business Strategy?
• Missed opportunities for additional sales on the sell-side and more
efficient purchasing on the buy-side
• Fall-behind competitors in delivering online services – may become
difficult to catch-up, for example, Tesco, Dell
• Poor customer experience from poorly integrated channels.

A generic strategy process model

Dynamic e-business strategy model

Elements of strategic situation analysis for the e-business

Using the Internet to support different growth strategies

Matrix for evaluating e-business strategy alternatives

Strategic options for a company in relation to the
importance of the Internet as a channel

Class 9, 10 and 11

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