Understanding Technology
eBusiness SWOT Analysis
Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat (i.e. SWOT) analysis has been around for many years and it is typically used as a strategic
tool in business.
At The Information Age, we developed
our eBusiness SWOT (eSWOT) service
as an initial or recurring tool to evaluate how well our customers are leveraging the Internet. We have found that
organizaitonal productivity is enhanced or hindered by how well the Internet is leveraged.
Three examples come to mind when I think about eSWOT encounters during the past few years: the non-working man, death
from SPAM, and I didn't realize that!
The Non-Working Man
Several years ago, we were asked to analyze web usage by employees at one of our customer sites. Our
customer was concerned about one particular employee, who always seemed busy, but never
completed his/her work. Needless to say, we reviewed the employee's web usage and found he/she was
attending school online verses doing his/her work. The employee always had a browser open to his/her
school web site, while he/she also kept a cover browser open to a work-related web site.
The problem was the lack of work completion and the cause was the school attendance while on the employer's
nickel. Our customer initiated a policy regarding attending school online during work hours; they warned
the employee; and all ended well.
From an eSWOT perspective, ask
yourself, do we have an "Internet Usage Policy" at our company? It is important to define what is expected
and not expected in business, and if your team members are going to use the Internet, you need to define
your policies.
Ok, this experience along with several others prompted me to write a song last year, which I named "The Non-Working Man."
It begins with:
He sits in his office, with the lights down low
Surfing the net, hiding where he goes
He tells his boss, I'll do that when I can
He's very busy, for a Non-Working Man!
Well you get the picture.
Death from SPAM
Email is the number 1 use of the Internet; it can also be one of the most frustrating things people
deal with each day; and it can also be costly for a business.
Let's say your average annual employee salary is $17,500 (ok, I'm being very, very conservative with my numbers
here), and let's also say your employees are spending 5 minutes each day dealing with SPAM. For reference
purposes, my definition of SPAM is any "unsolicited email."
Our eSWOT process would quantify
the monthly SPAM cost to your organization at greater than $15 per month; and this would justify spending
$5 each month per email account to eliminate the SPAM. The Information Age developed our eBlockade service
(a subject for later articles) to effectively eliminate all the SPAM, while returning productive time back
to our customers' business.
I didn't realize that!
Now for a couple of fundamental eSWOT questions:
- Does your company have a domain name, and
- Do you use the domain name in your business email addresses?
For example, The Information Age's
organizational domain name is InfoAge.US, and our email
addresses are formatted like TimC@InfoAge.US.
However, every day we see business people using email addresses that are based on their Internet service provider's
domain name. For example (these are made up, by the way):
- AlfredDribble@BellSouth.Net
- CarolDontKnowMuch@AOL.Com
- JohnInsurance@Verizon.Net
- TooDangProud2KnowBetter@Yahoo.com
A business professional should be promoting their business and not their ISP's business. Here's some free advice,
no matter where you go to get this solved:
- Buy a domain name for your organization, and
- Use your business' domain name in your email address!
In conclusion, it never hurts to look at your business and how it is using, or not using the Internet. Sometimes
it helps to take a structured, well-proven approach to uncover obvious and not-so-obvious opportunities for
improvement. I'll be writing additional articles which include eSWOT business examples for your consideration in the future.
To learn more about eSWOT, or to seek
assistance with your organization's Internet usage, you may call The
Information Age, Inc. at 770-838-0373, or send a message to Sales@InfoAge.US.
Until next time, we’ll see you in The Village!
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