Change management Using Web 2.0 tools to support
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Part 3 Implementation
Strategy – Limited capabilities to integrate Internet strategy into core marketing and busi- ness strategy as discussed in Chapter 5 is indicated by frustration on gaining appropriate
budgets. Structure – Structural and process issues are indicated by the challenges of gaining
resource and buy-in from traditional marketing and IT functions. Skills and staff – These issues were indicated by difficulties in finding specialist staff or
agencies. E-consultancy research I completed in 2005 highlighted some of the main challenges of
implementing e-commerce. My initial sample for interviews were e-commerce managers for transactional sites – for example, mobile phones Orange, The Carphone Warehouse, travel
Tui and MyTravel, financial services Lloyds TSB and Bradford and Bingley and direct marketers such as BCA.
One of the aims of the research was to gain a picture of the organizational processes and activities that need to be managed as part of sell-side e-commerce and the organizational
structures that had been created to manage this. Figure 10.2 gives an indication of the number of operational e-CRM processes that need to be managed across the three core
e-CRM areas acquisition, conversion, retention which we reviewed in Chapter 9. It also shows the management activities needed to support these. Some large organizations in the
study had between 10 and 50 specialist staff managing these activities. For smaller com- panies, there is also the challenge that only 1 or 2 people are responsible for these activities,
so they will need to work smart and outsource many of the activities
As part of the research, respondents were asked what their main challenges were and these highlighted the issues of gaining sufficient resources for Internet marketing. Their key
challenges included: Gaining buy-in and budget consistent with audience media consumption and value generated
Conflicts of ownership and tensions between a digital marketing team, traditional marketing, IT, and finance and senior management
Coordination with different channels in conjunction with teams managing marketing programmes elsewhere in the business
Managing and integrating customer information about characteristics and behaviours collected online
Achieving a unified reporting and performance improvement process throughout the busi- ness including reporting, analysis and actioning suggested changes
Structuring the specialist digital team and integrating into the organization by changing responsibilities elsewhere in the organization
Insourcing vs outsourcing online marketing tactics, i.e. search, affiliate, e-mail marketing, PR Staff recruitment and retention since there is a shortage of e-marketing skills given the
rapid growth in demand for these skills, which gives great opportunities for everyone reading this book
After initial qualitative interviews, identifying the type of challenges faced by an e-commerce manager, a wider survey identified how common these problems were. The responses of
e-commerce managers are summarized in Figure 10.3. The research showed that managing the interfaces between the e-commerce team and
other parts of the organization was a major challenge for many organizations. Managing these interfaces is a key role of the head of e-commerce and managers within their team.
Every respondent articulated the need for education of colleagues in the organization about the benefits of e-commerce and the changes in processes required to achieve these benefits.
This need for education was mentioned with respect to three main parts of the organization:
1
Senior management. Managing the senior management team interface was mainly an issue for less-evolved adopters of e-commerce. Leading adopters mentioned it had been a
problem, but they now felt they had achieved understanding of the strategic importance of online channels and this was matched by financial resources and sufficient input into
planning to achieve alignment between business objectives and e-commerce initiatives.
2
Marketing, different brands, businesses or countries. Similarly, this was more of an issue for the less-evolved organizations. Others had created processes for collaboration between
e-commerce and marketing teams and defined responsibilities for e-commerce within these marketing teams.
3
Information technology. This interface was mentioned as a challenge by nearly every respondent – there was a belief that insufficient resource for applications development was
limiting the potential of e-commerce to deliver value to customers and the organization. Where this was less of an issue, companies had either incorporated some development
function within the e-commerce function, or had outsourced parts of development.
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Figure 10.2
Digital marketing activities that require management as sell-side e-commerce
Source: Econsultancy 2005 Search engine optimisation
Acquisition
Pay per click search Partnerships affiliates
Online ads sponsorship E-mail marketing
Online PR Offline campaigns
Proposition development
Conversion Proposition Development
Content creation Content management
Merchandising Site usability and accessibility
Design and development Customer service
Proposition development
Retention and growth
Outbound communications E-mail marketing
Customer management Touch strategy definition
Loyalty programmes Personalisation
Performance improvement including Management Information, web analytics and customer analysis
Supporting processes
Design guidlines and operating procedures Technical infrastructure including service level management
Operating pr
ocesses
Creating the vision. Assesing technological innovation.
Strategy and Planning
Market analysis and competitor benchmarking
Financial analysis and modelling
Defining the multichannel customer experience. Managing customer information
Annual planning and budgeting
IT Project and campaign planning and management
Interfacing with senior management
Managing relationships
Interfacing with marketing and corporate communications
Interfacing with IT Staff development, education
and retention Managing external relationships.
Vendor selection and management Managing improvement
and change
Management pr
ocesses