Advice on Internet policy
Creation and hosting
Internationalising Web sites
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Basic principles
Despite what is reported by the media, the
Internet represents a genuine business tool based on internationally recognised technical
standards. Internet technology is currently adopted by the main computer constructors and
software publishers and its development has not become a monopoly for any one among them.
Like the fax only a dozen years ago, e-mail will become increasingly widespread in
business because it is a tool that offers a very fast return on investment. In a second
stage, on-line payment techniques which are being established will open the door to
electronic trade on a huge scale.
In the future, the Internet is going to become unavoidable. Which is why it is important
to get involved with the technology right now.
The Internet’s different
uses:
- Presenting products and services: relatively easy to set up, a
Web site is the ideal tool for maintaining contact with customers and colleagues and to
drastically reduce the costs of producing catalogues, shipping and fax costs. Product
technical files can be up-dated on a daily basis.
- On-line trade: exponential growth in the last year (though official figures are
still fairly low and probably under estimated). In 1999, on-line trade in France alone
will be 300 million Francs.
- Prospecting business: it is possible to approach potential distributors of your
products abroad via their Web sites, or to find products to import. Discussion forums can
also be a means of making contact with businesses abroad. A company prospecting must have
the ability to export.
- E-mail: fast, reliable, accurate, consultable like an answering machine but
independent of place, you can even attach documents and black and white or colour
drawings, sounds, etc.. The same message can be sent to several addresses at the same time
(information to all customers about a new product or service by means of a single key).
Surely. Take the example of the fax. Though only in existence a dozen years, could you now do without it?(*) Like the fax, in many companies the Internet is already changing working practices, and will continue to change them, no doubt in a far more radical way (marketing and sales, internal and external communication, production).
(*) In fact, the Internet replaces the fax very advantageously (you can attach messages to documents, black and white and colour pictures, moving objects, etc.). Why be there now?
As with the telex and fax, those who get them first have a head start over their competitors. Having said this, while it is certain that not everyone will need an Internet site, an address for e-mail will rapidly become essential. The next chapter tells you about different cases that do or don’t need an Internet site. Broadly speaking: if your main competitors have a site, you should have one too. If your competitors don’t have sites and you think an Internet site would help your business develop, then use your lead to benefit from all the advantages connected with the correct use of a Web site before they do. Who looks at sites?
On the Internet, the audience is world-wide. So you can get requests for information from the other side of the globe. Thus for businesses wanting to export, the Internet is a medium particularly well suited to finding potential customers abroad.
It is also essential that potential customers on the national and international markets are able to locate your site among millions of others. To attract them more easily, there are several very precise techniques that must be respected at each phase in the site’s design and creation. The following chapters deal with this particular point in greater detail, because it is crucial to the success of Internet sites. What does a Web site cost?
Think from 4,000 to tens of thousands of French francs. There is the cost of access to the network (less than 100 FRF a month), creation of the site (which you may perhaps be able to do in-house), registration of your domain name (www.your_company.com - about 1,000 FRF for 2 years) and hosting (from 150 FRF a month). Everything depends on the complexity of the site. Also budget for promoting and maintaining your Internet site's Web pages.
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