Electronic Commerce (Charles River Media Networking/Security)

Companies that market, sell, and service products via the Web share similar objectives, which typically include:

• Creating a customer community through improved communications, which can involve online discussion groups, targeted promotions, and content that fits customers’ interests.

• Reducing transaction costs. Automating online order and fulfillment processes is just one method to streamline business tasks.

• Facilitating customer self-service and reducing customer service costs by decreasing expensive dependence on call centers.

• Gaining insight into customer behavior to market and sell more effectively. This is accomplished with sophisticated analysis and reporting applications that transform information collected from observation logs, customer profiles, and transaction databases into knowledge that can help you determine what your customers want.

Meeting some or all of these objectives can enhance the site’s business value and overall profitability. A Web site is a fast, inexpensive way to deliver information to customers and to tailor it to their individual concerns. According to Forrester Research, 90 percent of all customer, partner, and employee interactions occur on the Web. So, is your business ready to make the most of its Web site? To do so, a technology solution must deliver a full spectrum of functionality for data gathering and analysis, retail commerce, application integration, information exchange, and publishing.