Group Assignment #1
Technical specifications for Cyber-presence
This assignment requires your group to research a number
of possible hosting options for an e-biz solution, based on clearly identifiable
criteria. In Kim Bayne's The Internet Marketing Plan, Bayne identifies
budgeting for an internet marketing plan as one of the major concerns for
building an online presence. Certainly, many people work in an intellectual
vacuum, divorcing mundane money concerns from the "creative" approaches
to a cyber presence.
Not you. Nope. Your group needs to look at the budgeting
issues involved in establishing a web presence for a small company which
has traditionally not considered itself a mail-order company. Several
notes:
-
Non-web issues involving inventory control and shipping/receiving, including
cost of labor, tracking, and so forth, are being dealt with by a separate,
but related, part of the organization.
-
You must assume that the operation you suggest will need to be scalable.
-
You should not assume that the operation will be on-site: look at
hosting and co-location options as well.
With that in mind, you need to look at the budget involved in building
the operation to do online sales and marketing to the general public (this
is not a B to B site), and you need to consider what parts of the organization
must be involved in the construction of your online efforts. Please
address the following:
-
Give your company a name, an address, and a product line to sell.
-
Select a domain name for the organization (and check at one of the registrars
to ensure it is not already taken). Explain why you have chosen this
domain name. Does it have name value/recognition?
-
Select a method of building the e-commerce site. This method will
be scalable to accommodate increased traffic and inventory. The options
are: a hosted site, a co-located site, an in-house site. Describe
the various advantages of each type of option, the disadvantages, and then
look at which you feel is the most appropriate for this ventury.
Why?
-
Provide a budget for costs of creating the e-commerce site. Several
things must be included: (a) general marketing at the site, (b) some
sort of forum or bulletin board posting service, (c) true e-commerce via
credit card acceptance at the site (this should not be a PayPal site),
(d) shipping calculations and routing, (e) electronic mail hosting for
email accounts with this domain name, and (f) DNS hosting and re-direct.
-
Remember that budget must include all costs of starting this venture.
Your budget will include the first full fiscal year costs for site creation
and startup, and a second year which includes only ongoing or amortized
costs.
-
Finally, provide a general narrative about what areas within the corporate
structure need to be included in the decision making and exploration processes
of the project.
Like any budget, this one requires substantial research in order to be
put together in a reasonable fashion. You will need to look at the
possible methods of bringing this site online, then evaluate the financial
burden of each one in relation to the strengths and weaknesses involved.
Please write this up, and be prepared to present your proposal (and
answer questions about it) in class on November 14 (yes, I know that's
a Wednesday).