> Interesting thoughts

'There is no security on this earth, there is only opportunity'. General Douglas MacArthur

 

 

'Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work'.

Thomas Edison

 

'The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.'
Winston Churchill

 

 

'When written in Chinese, the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters—one represents danger, and the other represents opportunity.'

John F. Kennedy

 

'Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don't recognize them.'
Ann Landers

 

'Never stop. One stops as soon as something is about to happen.'
Peter Brock

 

'People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily.'
Zig Ziglar

 

'People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of success.'

Norman Vincent Peale

 

'Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.'

Winston Churchill

 

'Those who are fired with an enthusiastic idea and who allow it to take hold and dominate their thoughts find that new worlds open for them. As long as enthusiasm holds out, so will new opportunities.'

Norman Vincent Peale

 

ecommerce consulting

 

Duplicity has the experience to assist you to build a simple website, or to build a web based enterprise solution. If attempting to establish an internet business the following may be useful. It is a general guide only. It reads from left to right, then down, and then right to left and so on:

 
 
Ideation
  • What business is this?
  • Who does it target and why is this needed?
Value Creation
  • How is value created?
  • What's the value proposition for a customer?
Business Planning*
  • What are the barriers to entry?
  • Who are the competitors and what are the substitute products?
  • What are the switching costs?
  • Market size & usual planning objectives;
  • Project management
 
         
 
Right Sizing
  • Revenue and expense forecasts, forms part of right sizing.
  • Optimising the scale of the business based on the expected and potential returns.
  • Consider likely technological diffusion and substitution rates.
Financial Model*
  • The timing of revenue and expenses, capital adequacy and indicative take up rate;
Marketing Strategy*
  • Promotion costs?
  • What are the sales channels?
  • Can the product be leveraged through other channels?
 
         
 
Enterprise Value*
  • What value can this enterprise have?
  • Capitalisation plan and shareholding structure?
  • Exit strategy? Who would want to buy this business?
  • Legal protection and IP Issues;
IT Infrastructure
  • What hardware is required?
  • What’s the scale of the application?
  • Where will it be hosted?
  • Security?
  • What language will the code be written in?
Application Design*
  • How does the application work;
  • Fulfilment and business rules;
  • What features does it have?
 
         
 
Beta Testing
  • Test with larger numbers of consumers;
  • Load testing;
  • Feedback for iterative development.
Alpha Version
  • System/Site testing by owner.
Branding
  • Graphic design & branding
  • Page layouts
  • Application design
 
         
 
Promotion
  • Online and offline launch of the business;
  • Paid Search Engine Optimisation*
  • Natural Search Engine Optimisation*
Continuous Improvement
  • Iterative development and ongoing enhancements tied to promotion and operations;
  • Creation of enterprise value;
  • Online Business Management*
  • Replan if business not right.
Exit
  • Sell business or harvest dividends
 
         
  .  

 

The important thing to note about an online business is that whilst the coding and software architecture is very important, the business model and customer value proposition is the most important thing.