Stakeholders are the people you want to do e-business with including your customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, regulators, the media, government and others. You need to consider how these relationships will work. While the same basic marketing principles apply to online businesses as they do to traditional ones, the way those principles are executed will almost certainly differ.

For example, who will you sell to? The fact that Canada has one of the highest per capita online populations may sound encouraging, but manufacturers rarely sell in the consumer market. Thus, the critical issue is: how many of your customers, suppliers and other business partners are online?

Often, the improved service you want to provide your customers will depend on your suppliers' ability to meet your own demands on time. Are they ready to participate in your new venture?

Not everything lends itself to being sold online. Books and compact disks were among the first items to sell well over the Internet because customers didn't need to touch or feel them to know what they were buying. All they need is an item description and picture. You may need to package and present your products differently to sell them online.

Consider the other services you will offer, since the actual product may be the smallest part of your online strategy. Increasingly, the services that accompany the product make the difference, and may include order status tracking, product technical help, online configuration, multiple delivery options or more.

What business processes do you need?

Most companies must revamp their business processes to support their online outlets. Online businesses operate in 24/7 time and customers shopping in the middle of the night expect the same high level of service, including access to online help, that they would receive if they were shopping in mid-afternoon.

A second concern is the availability to promise (ATP) for the products you're selling. Many companies don't truly know exactly if and when a particular order can be fulfilled without doing work off-line. This may be a result of poor information systems, or poor business processes that result in inaccurate inventories, random reordering methods or inappropriate production scheduling.

Another consideration is how you'll handle the additional volume you'll generate from your online operations. You'll need to make arrangements with suppliers to ensure there are no delays in shipping products. You'll also need to determine how you'll handle returns should a customer be dissatisfied with a product.

Also, be aware that your online processes will duplicate your existing ones, and that will mean additional costs. Even though online transactions are cheaper, they must be borne in addition to your existing costs since many customers will still prefer to transact with you the way they always have.

IT systems applications

Systems applications are critical for online businesses. Here are some important considerations:

Your website and associated market-facing systems must be easy to improve and maintain since you'll need to change them on a regular basis to keep them from growing stale or static.

Because you'll be changing your front-end systems regularly, the interface between them and your back office systems must be an easy one. When you change your website, for example, you don't want to have to reconfigure your company's entire back office information system to accommodate that change.

Next, your back office systems must be integrated across the supply chain associated with the Web transaction. For example, online sales must be supported by a system integrated from inquiry through fulfillment to bill presentation.

Back office systems must be "black box" -- you need to be able to rely on the fact that information your customers input at the front end (when they place an order on your website) will be translated accurately and immediately to all relevant back office functions. You don't have time to verify every transaction.

Incidentally, if you're waiting to see how e-business will evolve and affect your industry, then spend the time getting your basic transaction processing systems and process into perfect shape. Then when the e-business wave does hit you, you'll be ready for the challenge.

IT infrastructure

One of the most important concerns for your information technology infrastructure is reliability. Your systems must work when you need them. Performance is also important, since your technology must be capable of handling the volume of online traffic. You'll need appropriate bandwidths to ensure that when customers visit your website, they are able to enter it.

Your technology must be easy for your operations staff to manage and control on a day-to-day basis. It should also be flexible, since you'll inevitably need to make changes, add new components, connect to new sources of data, and bring in new technologies.

Another critical consideration is the ability to duplicate. When problems arise, you'll need to switch processing to alternative systems while you fix things. In the online world, you'll need the ability to take down complete portions of your system without any visible effect on operations.

In the fast-changing world of high-tech, you need technology that will be around and continue to grow.

IT staff and support

They key staff person you'll need for your online business is a webmaster -- the point person for your online operations, responsible for maintaining and regularly updating your website. Other staff are needed to support customer queries, and maintain your technology infrastructure on a 24/7 basis.

Your existing staff may also need to adapt attitudes and cultures to meet online demands by becoming more flexible and responsive than is often the case with many in-house IT departments.

Security, audit and control

The denial-of-service attacks of February 2000 illustrate the importance of online security. Your security framework should satisfy at least these five controls:

• authenticity: is the person or company conducting the online transaction actually who they say they are?;
• non-repudiation: once a transaction has been conducted, it should not be possible for the transactor to deny that they made it;
• confidentiality: new security features with improved encryption technologies will help ease these concerns;
• availability: your systems must be available when needed, every time;
• integrity: the data captured and information provided must be fully reliable. You can't afford to have stored data deteriorate, and calculated information must be accurate at all times.

Tax, legal and regulatory issues

Online businesses are global operations, which introduces a world of tax, legal and regulatory issues affecting their businesses. Currently, a tax moratorium exists for online commerce in North America. But governments are working on it, and online businesses may find themselves exposed to multi jurisdictional income and sales tax laws.

Bill C-6, Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, controls the information collected on customers and how it is used.

Online businesses can also be liable for information posted on their websites, so have someone check all materials. Searching for new customers can involve an extensive and costly marketing campaign, which you may not be able to afford. You'll need to find a way to do so, however, if you are to fully realize the advantages of going online.

You may also need to convince your suppliers to accept online transactions from you, especially if they are much larger than you.