An article by Ben Wong
Let's connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminwongvt/
One day over breakfast, my friend, a venture capitalist, asked me if he should invest in online businesses as a number of such proposals had landed on his desk in the last couple of weeks.
Well then, the question is not the technology used to power these online businesses, but the businesses themselves that need to be looked at. Many companies looking for angel funding today use technology as a means of injecting a WOW! factor and showing superiority over their competitors, but it is ultimately the business that is being enabled by such technology that should be keenly looked at.
I have always believed that it is the business that drives applications, which in turn drive the software and hardware required to power the solution in its entirety. Without a sound and valid business value, the most advanced technologies will just drive an online business to the ground.
A business should be looking at going online to make doing business with their customers easier, while at the same time reaching out to new customers. It should not be used as a business proposition. The value is in the business.
You may say that this is common sense, yet we have seen, over and over again, how companies have purchased one 'misaligned' technology after another, thinking that they are the next best thing since sliced bread. Technology is just an enabler, what is most important is that a company's business model, processes, people, culture, operations are properly enabled and ready to run in an online world where many more variables are introduced to compromise the way work is done.
Does your business have what it takes to strive online? Or will your online investment end up a liability? That is the question...
Let's connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminwongvt/
One day over breakfast, my friend, a venture capitalist, asked me if he should invest in online businesses as a number of such proposals had landed on his desk in the last couple of weeks.Well then, the question is not the technology used to power these online businesses, but the businesses themselves that need to be looked at. Many companies looking for angel funding today use technology as a means of injecting a WOW! factor and showing superiority over their competitors, but it is ultimately the business that is being enabled by such technology that should be keenly looked at.
I have always believed that it is the business that drives applications, which in turn drive the software and hardware required to power the solution in its entirety. Without a sound and valid business value, the most advanced technologies will just drive an online business to the ground.
A business should be looking at going online to make doing business with their customers easier, while at the same time reaching out to new customers. It should not be used as a business proposition. The value is in the business.
You may say that this is common sense, yet we have seen, over and over again, how companies have purchased one 'misaligned' technology after another, thinking that they are the next best thing since sliced bread. Technology is just an enabler, what is most important is that a company's business model, processes, people, culture, operations are properly enabled and ready to run in an online world where many more variables are introduced to compromise the way work is done.
Does your business have what it takes to strive online? Or will your online investment end up a liability? That is the question...
Comments
Post a Comment