Web Business Engineering: Using Offline Activities to Drive Internet Strategies (Addison-Wesley Information Technology Series) - Softcover

Flor, Nick V.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 020160468X ISBN 13: 9780201604689

Publisher: Addison Wesley, 2000

Synopsis

Many Web developers have powerful technical skills, but limited understanding of business processes; conversely, many managers understand business processes intimately, but do not understand how to leverage Web technologies to improve them. This book bridges the gap, giving technical professionals and managers a systematic approach for analyzing their offline processes and identifying the best opportunities to add value through Web technology. Every business offers a goldmine of opportunities for using Web technology to increase revenue and reduce costs -- but every business is different. This is the first book to help you identify your opportunities -- and act on them. Web Business Engineering starts with a quick primer designed to help Web developers think about business the way managers do. Next, it shows how to map business processes and build "value models" that depict their costs and benefits; and, using these maps, identify key opportunities for adding value with Web technologies. Flor shows how to discover innovative ways to use the Web that go far beyond supporting existing business activities.

About this title

About the Author

Nick V. Flor is a Professor of Information Systems at Carnegie Mellon's Graduate School of Industrial Administration. On the vanguard of business/technology interaction, he was the first professor at a top-ranked graduate school to teach business uses of the Web. He is also a researcher, consultant to high-tech industries, and international lecturer on the topic. This book represents the culmination of over four years of research, teaching, and consulting. He has a Ph.D. in Cognitive Science, an MS in Human-Computer Interaction, and a BS in Computer Science from the University of California, San Diego. He owns two highly profitable Web businesses--www.datingexpert.com and www.yesnomaybe.com--designed using the techniques in this book.

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From the Back Cover

As a Web development professional, you have significant knowledge of Internet and Web technologies, but what do you know about business strategy? You can produce a Web site that incorporates eye-catching graphics and sophisticated features, but does it truly serve the organization's needs?

Web Business Engineering is your bridge from technical understanding to business savvy. Web practitioners and entrepreneurs will learn to approach the Web as a technology that serves business needs, not a technology in search of a business need. This book shows you, step-by-step, how to identify those needs and then create a profitable Web site that truly adds value to the business.

The author presents a new methodology--web business engineering--that combines business concepts with engineering-strength design and analysis techniques. He demonstrates how to use this methodology to analyze an organization's offline needs, determine where the Web opportunities lie, and create an effective online solution.

You will find coverage of such topics as:

• Business 101--idea-to-product--marketing, sales, and support
• How information supports the value chain for physical and knowledge-based products
• Competitive advantages of the Web
• Calculating Return on Investment (ROI), Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), and the amount of payback for Web sites
• Mapping business activities
• Building a model of interaction costs
• Diagnosing business problems and opportunities
• Designing Web-based solutions
• Ten free ways to create Web site traffic
• How to generate revenue with information-based Web businesses
• Memetic marketing for driving traffic to your Web site

A large portion of the book is devoted to real-world case studies that demonstrate how Web business engineering benefits a wide variety of businesses in diverse industries--from a small hair salon to a large institution conducting a survey. Further case studies illustrate how to use Web business engineering to enhance existing Web sites for greater impact and profitability.

Both forward-looking and practical, Web Business Engineering will help the business and technology communities identify and implement the real value-added opportunities of the Web.

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Edition details

• Publisher: Addison Wesley
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 020160468X
• ISBN 13: 9780201604689
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256