Date: Fri 31-Jul-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

iinfo-E-commerce-SNET

Full Text:

INTERNET INFO FOR REAL PEOPLE: E-Commerce

By Bob Brand

"Kiss Your Mall Goodbye" screams the cover of the July 20 issue of Time

magazine. The feature story explains that while on-line consumer purchases

from the Internet now run in the range of $6.1 billion per year in 1998, by

the year 2000, the figure will balloon to $20 billion. Almost all stocks

related to Internet activity have skyrocketed in an insane effort to avoid

missing the cyber-gravy train on Wall Street. Driving this madness is

E-commerce, buying and selling goods and services on the World Wide Web.

Not a Normal Website

Whether we use the web to find information or seek entertainment, an

increasing number of surfers have gone the next step and made purchases. The

barriers to creating websites keep falling. Software suitable for creating web

pages becomes easier to use. There are now a large number of sites advertising

products and allowing surfers to call a toll-free number to place an order.

However, those sites that perform complete sales, shopping cart, inventory,

and credit card transactions using only the website make up a small, elite

group. Not only is the cost for development of these "supersites" high, but in

many cases a traditional consumer-oriented company must radically change its

operation methods and computer environment.

Buyers on the Web expect hassle-free transactions. Many expect to be rewarded

with lower prices for a job normally performed by a middleman. There is, also,

the accelerated pace of business and inventory replenishment. In spite of

daunting obstacles, many companies have reached the realization that they must

be able to accommodate E-commerce or face a slow, painful death as buyers move

from traditional to cyber-purchasing.

Reliability Counts

Companies who open their cyber-doors realize the importance of having their

cyber-store housed on a reliable server. If the website should become

unavailable (such as hardware breakdown, activity overload, hacker attack) for

any reason, sales stop immediately. Surfers are short on patience and have an

even lower threshold for excuses. Reports of bad experiences quickly ricochet

across the Net in chat/gaming rooms and on listservs.

SNET, the largest ISP (Internet Service Provider) in Connecticut, with over

100,000 subscribers, has put together an impressive program to address all the

important issues surrounding the creation, hosting and running of high-end

commercial websites. Surveys indicate that Connecticut has an unusually high

population of web-savvy users. A breakdown reveals: 55 percent of homes have

PCs, almost 30 percent have Internet access, most businesses have Internet

access and 20 percent of the businesses have websites.

In June, SNET ran a series of eight seminars in five locations around the

state. They addressed issues faced by both businesses considering their first

venture into c-space as well as by seasoned E-commerce providers. SNET has

forged an alliance with many of the best website design firms in Connecticut.

The jointly conducted presentations provided uniformly high quality.

My Observations

I attended the presentations made on June 19 in Waterbury. It became

immediately apparent that SNET takes this burgeoning market seriously. SNET

has invested heavily in Internet infrastructure. For example, the Network

Operating Center in Meriden is secure, fire safe and has diesel generator

backup. SNET understands and addresses anxieties faced by companies who want

successful enterprises on the Internet. All SNET/authorized web developer

discussions are available for downloading from the website:

http://www.snetweb.com. (Note: they are in Microsoft Powerpoint format.) Any

company already on the Net should compare the services received from the

current host provider against the SNET program. SNET sets a high standard.

Future Activities

Rob Batchelder, the Director of Commercial Internet Services, reports an

overwhelming seminar response. More are planned for the months ahead. Check

the website periodically for a fall schedule. Any business, large or small,

should consider a web presence. For newcomers to E-commerce, SNET should be on

the short list of candidate host providers.

URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) of interest:

http://www.snetweb.com/

http://www.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/1998/dom/980720/cover1.html

http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/news/0615/15dell.html

(This is the 114th of a series of elementary articles designed for surfing the

Internet. Next, File Attachments is the subject on tap. Stay tuned. Until next

week, happy travels through cyberspace. Previous issues of Internet Info for

Real People (including links to sites mentioned in this article) can be found:

http://www.thebee.com. Please e-mail comments and suggestions to:

rbrand@JUNO.com or editor@thebee.com.)