Financial Times

Climbing the eLadder: Should your business be on the Internet?
By Nilooka Dissanayake
Not so long ago, when anyone who could, was starting up a dotcom (or a web based) business, the Internet was called the ultimate equalizer. Those riding the Internet bubble, both in business and in media believed that, or wanted us to believe that, multinational corporations and one-man-shows can rub shoulders; that the long established businesses stood to lose with the competition that web enabled entrepreneurs created simply sitting at home on their computers. The catch phrase was 'bricks vs clicks'. Internet businesses were going to steal away all the customers of the old timers.

Then came the crash; and the bubble burst. Many thousands of dotcom businesses went bust. And all those in and out of the Internet bandwagon started applying basic business sense to doing business on the Internet. That was not the case earlier. During the euphoric days of the Internet bubble, the novelty and the immense possibilities and potential of this new spangled technology made it easy to forget basic business sense. But not any more.

First there was doom and gloom and it was stylish to deride the Internet. But some dotcoms thrived. They started making profits and acting like regular businesses with controls and best practices. Think of Amazon.com, the retailer, eBay, the auction site and the world's favourite portal, Yahoo!. Many small operators too survived. This growing up, however, took time and pain. But, once again we can speak of doing business on the Internet without people thinking we are dreamers.

This is the background into which you enter as you seek to establish a web presence for your business. Now let us resume climbing up the eLadder. The first rung was getting familiar with using email. The next few rungs consisted of browsing the 'Net and finding your way around. You can have fun too while you are about it. As to how you can do that, is beyond the scope of this column. However, I invite you to visit the eWorld section in the smallbusiness.lk which archives many of my articles that list out websites by theme.

Once you move beyond this stage, the next thing to do, naturally, is to establish a web presence for your business. Before we explore how, we should try to answer a few questions that naturally come to mind. Since we are no longer floating on the euphoria of the Internet bubble, it pays-or should we say, saves-to look before you leap.

* First of all, what does it mean when we say, 'establish a web presence'?

* How does one go about it?

* Does your business need it?

* Is there sufficient justification by way of benefits?

* How much will it cost?

* Can you afford it?

* Can you manage it?

These are just some of the questions that will come to mind. We invite you to share with us other questions that come to mind as you try to take your business online.

Establishing a presence on the web for your business is an important decision. It should be based, like any other business decision, after weighing benefits to be derived against the costs of achieving those benefits. However, just like some business decisions, a well thought out vision might prompt you to go online although rupees and sense (sic) might not justify the cost on the short term. But, let this be a calculated risk; not merely building castles in the air. Too many businesses have gone online and wasted money without achieving much. Their experiences have given a bad name to the Internet. It is rare to see entrepreneurs taking responsibility for failure or admitting lack of foresight, knowledge or planning. It is easier to blame the medium: the Internet!

Before you take the decision as to whether your business needs an online presence, it will be good to learn from both successes and failures of others.

What are your questions and concerns in this regard? Let us know so that we can share these with our readers and seek solutions together. You can contact us on ft@sundaytimes.wnl.lk. (The writer is the Managing Editor of Athwela Vyaparika Sangarawa (Athwela Business Journal), the only Sinhala management monthly targeting the small and medium enterprises, the Ezine Athwela Email Magazine and www.smallbusiness.lk, the bilingual small business website)

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