From wealth to efficiency

The internet was going to change the world.

In the mid-1990s, we were on the brink of a technology revolution and it was only a matter of time before we would never have to leave our homes again.

We would be able to buy everything on the web from the occasional book and the weekly groceries to holidays and cars and every service imaginable.

Shops would become superfluous and there was genuine concern that the internet could have a detrimental impact on society resulting in the loss of huge numbers of jobs.

Then came the internet crash. Businesses that had been spending millions of and millions of venture capital pounds, content with the fact that they weren't making a profit but they had a pool table in the office, fell like dominos.

The end of ebusiness was nigh, if you believed the sceptics. It was a great idea and great that we'd had a try, but maybe it was time to concentrate on more traditional business models.

Ebusiness and ecommerce then struggled to ride itself of its tarnished reputation, before a much more sensible landscape emerged.

What remained was a more cautious sector that had to sell its value and benefit to win approval and prove it was a viable tool and channel.

It is now quite clear that ebusiness, far from disappearing, has merely changed focus - from the egos of web 'geniuses' to the benefits and conveniences it can offer customers.

Examples of electronic-based services are increasingly appearing in our everyday lives. But now with the benefit of hindsight and a more considered opinion, ebusiness is being regarded as an enabler and a device capable of delivering value both to businesses and to the consumer.

After the infamous dot-com crash, the main selling point of ebusiness was its ability to cut costs. From a consumer perspective, cost was also the big draw. Most online sales operations would offer cheaper goods if they were purchased online.

But the internet has matured enormously over the past couple of years, and it is seen as an essential channel by most businesses. While cost implications are obviously still important, the convenience and efficiency that come hand-in-hand with ebusiness and ecommerce are now being recognised as the real value of the technology.

Exmaples of ebusiness in action are evident in all corners of the private and public sector, as businesses and individuals continually strive to achieve more and more value in their operations or day-to-day lives.

Tony Blair made the country take notice of the value the internet can bring when he announced plans to get all government services online by 2005.

Now councils across the country are allowing residents to pay bills and book services over the internet. While there are cost savings associated, the real value is efficiency and ease of use.

Tameside Council, one of the 10 districts of Greater Manchester, has had an online culture for many years and regards ebusiness as an essential element of its business.

According to head of communications Lindsey Macdonald, the internet has been part of the council's culture since the late 1990's, and residents have been able to make online payments since May 2001, including council tax, business rates, mortgages and parking fines.

The council has transformed since it grasped the concept of ebusiness and believes it can now deliver a much more valuable and useful service to residents.

'Ebusiness is a fundamental part of the way we do our business now,' Macdonald said. 'It's made access to our services much quicker, much easier and it's obviously helped with our budgets, because one call, one click of the mouse and that's all it takes. It's helped streamline our business.'

Tameside's main web site receives 50,000 hits a day.

'For residents it means they can go online any time of the day or night to pay a bill or request a service,' Macdonald said.

In addition to payment services, Tameside residents can request a range of services or book appointments with council officials from the site. Macdonald says the response to online births and deaths registry appointments has been particularly impressive.

'This is something that is continually developing and improving, delivering value to the council and residents,' Macdonald said. 'Technology carries on moving and we are moving with it.'

Computer hardware manufacturer Dell is a classic example of how the ebusiness can be used to bring real value to a business.

A few years ago the company was like any other. It made and sold computers. Then in 1997, it decided to sell direct over the internet, eliminating the middleman and subsequently reducing costs and improving customer service.

Six years on and over half of the company's $40bn annual revenue is derived online, translating to $60m a day in online sales.

'As an organisation, ebusiness has helped us become more cost effective and that reflects in our prices,' said Barry Collins, ebusiness marketing manager at Dell in Europe. 'We have also been able to deliver a higher level of customer service at the same time, and get products to customers quicker.'

The process of purchasing a PC from Dell is dramatically simpler than it used to be. Purchasers can go to the web site and decide exactly what spec they want their machine to be. It will then be built to order and sent directly to the customer.

National Rail Enquiries is another classic example. Discovering what time a train was leaving or arriving at any given station used to be a laborious chore that involved phoning a call centre and asking the operator for the information you required. If it was windy, or snowing, or there were leaves flying around, you might have to wait in one of those famous queues.

In the electronic world the call centre is still integral. But now there are other options. Train timetables, fares and network information can be accessed online and as of this summer, passengers can access live departure information derived from departure boards over the internet. And this can be accessed from PC's, web-based PDAs and over WAP to mobile phones.

'The whole point is to improve customer service and information,' said National Rail Enquiries chief executive Chris Scoggins. 'It improves travellers' perception of the reliability of rail travel.'

If accessing live information is easy and reliable and the eliminates pain of waiting in the call centre queue, the value it delivers the user will be obvious.

Ebusiness will soon be known as business. It's here to stay and now instead as being regarded as something as a novelty that may result in cost savings, its true value of convenience and efficiency is being realised.

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