Up to date Business

One of the common mistakes with businesses is the comfort zone that is operated, while many businesses are happy with the current level of business it is often the case that they are dependant on the current levels of clients and the services that they offer to their clients and which they receive from their suppliers.

To clarify one case, a business was operating a support service and provided products, on investigation by GTWCMT the business was found to be purchasing stock at a greater prices that was nesses to allow the business to grow. After the interventions of GTWCMT and the souring of new supplier this company had saved around £50,000 per year on stock purchases allowing the business to take this saving as a profit to put into the business for development.

With the dawn of the internet some years ago and the dot com boom, business took advantage of the internet to offer their services to new clients on an international basis. within this time frame there was a skills gap from the staff and users of the internet meaning that the full online potential of business over the internet was considerably less than it is today.
Many businesses offer a simple and easy text based internet website to tell customers of the business and the services /products that are on offer and in these cases, the website lacks the ability to sell these items due to the out of date website that is on display, sometimes being out of date by some years and in a few cases there is no website available.

At the current levels of internet use and demands for products in traditional methods, we will shortly see that the traditional method of buying and selling will be reverted to online provisions. For older businesses who rely on traditional sales with shops and yellow pages advertising will notice or have noticed a drop in the sales that has moved to online services.

With the greater move to online services, customers are looking for services that can be used online. Support is one of the main areas which most businesses are moving to the internet. CRM has been born and offers great interaction between customer and staff.

Software developments
Software developments have changed the way in which we run businesses and operate the services that we all offer. CRM and sales force software opens the door to the SaaS ( software as a service) lowering the cost of computer software required and using these software applications are mixed together to offer a wide range of combined services that allows you to work more effectively.

To make a point, most business do not need a fax machine, but are still using this old services to conduct business, I would assume that in today's world that businesses have moved into email and fax to email services that have been in operation since the 1990's.

Another point was the use of several applications to deal with business, now there are one single application that can match the needs of most businesses to fit the role of many applications and make working more easier.

Are up up to scratch?
Lets ask a few questions to see how you get on:

When a customer calls, is their information on screen?
If a customer has an issue, can they log in to gain help?
Dose your current system inform you if a client will be making a order shortly?
Can you track all your clients and contact from those clients with a single click of a button?
Can you review all contact between your business and your client at a click of a button?
Dose you present system allow you to track shipping and automate invoices?
Is your system automatically backed up?
Dose your system produce detailed information on sales, stock and staff at a click of a button?
Will your system keep track of all stock?
Was your web site updated in the past 2 months?
Do you create a new look for your web site on a regular basis?
Do you have new clients each month which return to you for business?

If you have answered no to any of these questions then you are most certainly out of date. Please feel free to contact us about bridging the gap and seeding new business to you.
Our services are wide ranging and can assist you in developing your business and bridging the gap from both the business and the services that are offered and used.

E-commerce plays an increasingly important role in the way in which products and services are purchased. E-commerce systems such as your website can be used to market and sell to customers, and to provide after-sales support. E-commerce can also be an important part of strengthening relationships and improving the efficiency of your dealings with suppliers and other key trading partners.

Our advice guides look at the key issues to consider when planning for the introduction and development of e-commerce. It provides advice on how best to identify the opportunities for e-commerce within your business and the solutions that can be made available. It also emphasis the need to plan for the ongoing development and maintenance of any e-commerce system at the outset together with a range of opportunities.

Don't worry if you are not a website Guru and don't know your PHP from your HTML. we support a wide range of applications which just mean that you need to type and have access to a computer and the internet. We also offer training in HTML and PHP website's to assist you.

Even in the planning stages of an e-commerce project, it is important to understand how the website will be maintained on a day-to-day basis. There are also various marketing and security issues that need to be taken into account.

Site maintenance

Changes in product details, product ranges, special offers, up-to-date advertisements and sales information will all need to be maintained throughout the life of the site. In addition, you should consider redesigning the site on a periodic basis in order to improve the features offered to customers and keep the site looking fresh.

Customer feedback

It is important that the site evolves to meet the needs of your customers. There are a number of actions you can take to encourage customer feedback, including carrying out surveys and putting feedback forms on the site.

Marketing

No matter how well designed your e-commerce site is and how competitive your products and prices are, if the customers are unaware of its existence then you will fail to exploit its potential.