5.4. IT - Using the Internet for your business

A library without a librarian

The Internet is a vast store of information and data, some of which could be highly valuable to you. But finding the specific information you need can be difficult and time-consuming.

This briefing will help you to overcome the obstacles, so your business can make good use of the Internet as an information tool. It is aimed at people who are already connected to the Internet.

The briefing explains:

• The range of information that is available.
• How to find what you are looking for.
• Common problems and how to avoid them.

Help is a few clicks away

Among the millions of interconnected sites that make up the World Wide Web, there are many that can save business people time and money. You can source information and contacts for any aspect of your work.

This briefing lists various websites that give a glimpse of what the web has to offer. It assumes you are already linked to the Internet (see Going online, IT 14), so you can check out the sites.

The web is growing daily. Some sites may close, others will change. This briefing is intended as no more than a starting point for your own explorations.

It covers:

• Websites that will help you find new customers and suppliers.
• Sites that allow you to check industry news, patents and other legal issues, and grants and other financial matters.
• Sites that help you make the most of IT generally, and the Internet specifically.
• Sites that help you import or export, and sites that make business travel easier.

In the shop window

A website lets you put your products in front of a worldwide audience. It can help you generate new revenue, cut costs and build better relationships with both customers and suppliers.

The costs of setting up a website are relatively low, so every business should think about having one. This briefing will help you decide a strategy for your website. A second briefing, Designing your website, IT 21, explains how to put your ideas into practice.

This briefing covers:

• The benefits of setting up a website.
• The costs involved.
• How you can make money from your site.

There are no mysteries

You can design your website yourself, using modern software that makes it no harder than using your familiar word processing software. You can hire a web design agency to do it for you. Or you can use a service that gives you a fixed-price deal for a set number of pages.

Whichever route you choose, this briefing will help you put together a more effective site. A second briefing, Your website strategy, IT 17, explains the benefits and costs of having a website.

This briefing covers:

• Deciding what your website is for.
• Deciding whether to do it yourself.
• Organising and presenting your material.
• Maximising the site's impact.

Using the Internet gives you access to a number of powerful marketing techniques.

The Internet can improve the reach and cost-effectiveness of your marketing. It can help you build your company’s reputation and win new customers.

This briefing covers:

• The opportunities for marketing online.
• Keeping customers and press informed.
• Generating interest and revenue through online advertising.

The Internet enables you to sell 24 hours a day to customers anywhere in the world and the sales process can be fully automated. Your Internet shop can attract new customers and provide better service for existing customers.

The increasing availability of low-cost broadband connections and increasing consumer confidence in online security means the number of people shopping online is growing rapidly. It is now possible to buy and sell just about anything on the Internet.

This briefing covers:

• The benefits of selling online.
• What makes a site successful.
• The legal implications.
• How to accept payments.
• The costs involved.

A tool for better business

An intranet is like your own private Internet. It uses the same technology as the World Wide Web and the same easy point-and-click approach.

An intranet does not have to be large. It might just link three people working for the same business in three different locations.

An intranet can give you better access to information, better co-ordination of people and resources, better customer handling and more cost effective ways of working. It may also provide you with internal e-mail facilities.

This briefing covers:

• What an intranet can do for you.
• How to make it happen.
• How to exploit the potential.

Risk to business

Your IT system, and the information you hold on it, is valuable. Accidental or malicious damage is at best inconvenient, and at worst disastrous.

Simply using a computer to hold and process business information creates a security risk. Connecting the system to the Internet increases the threats to which it is exposed and the potential damage from a security breach.

This briefing covers:

• The basic security features every computer system needs.
• The additional security required for systems linked to the Internet.
• Assessing how secure you are.