Business processes that a company has developed overtime are one of the elements that configure the company's strategic resources. That's why innovation in business process management becomes one of the traditional areas where we can introduce innovation in our business model.

Business process management regards to those activities that are necessary for a company to develop its business. A company can be excellent in the manufacturing process, in the research and development process, in an specific process for providing a service or in any other specific process it carries out in its activity. Or in some simultaneously. And an specific process for itself could be the cause of its business differentiation.

Therefore, a source of innovation in the business concept can come from a radical rethinking of the traditional business process management for an specific company or for a whole business industry sector. We are not talking about reengineering in order to simply trying to optimize processes, but to deeply rethink the way how things are done.

An example of rethinking business process management in our company would be asking ourselves if a lot of the processes that rely on the company's staff could be done by the clients themselves, with greater value for them and for the company.

If rethinking what we are doing is a superb source of innovation, rethinking how we are doing it, it's an excellent one too. We have the experience of Dell that totally changed the manufacturing and distribution processes of PC industry. Or the experience of companies as Vistaprint which is doing the same in the printing industry.

Surely, we can rethink our company's business process management in a different manner in order to obtain a competitive advantage. We should do it before our competitors or an outsider if we want to stay in the market.

Posted by Francesc Llobet at 6:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Another difference between the possibilities of Internet and ecommerce business models at the end of 90's and today, is in the number of people who had an Internet connection at that time compared with those of nowadays.

And more important that just having the connection, the number of people who have assumed Internet as a part of their lives, as a working tool, for searching information, in order to buy, or even to publish a blog in which they spread their thoughts and reflections.

We are getting to the point that most of the population use Internet in some way, whereas five years ago the network was a strange thing for the great majority, and for an important number of those already connected, it was just the beginning of their experience with the Net.

Another important fact to analyze to find differences between 2000 and 2006 is the type of Internet connection. If five or six years ago most were low speed connections, currently an increasing portion of people have access to broadband connections, through cable or DSL lines. This is important, because these kind of connections allow to support functionalities that were impossible with slow connections, as rich Internet applications, video, etc.

All these factors are the reason why some business ideas that years ago seemed the result of foolish visionaries, and that underestimated the timing in which the described evolution would take place, now make sense as the maturation of the potential market is already taking place.

Posted by Francesc Llobet at 7:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of the factors that explains the new era in dot-com companies is the spectacular growth in Internet advertising. In fact, the immaturity of Internet advertising market some years ago was the cause of many bankruptcies of business models that were based on it.

Nevertheless, at the time that specific formulas for Internet advertising have been developed - as sponsored links in the search results or contextual advertising with messages adapted to the specific contents of the Web sites-, the increase in the use of these advertising systems has started to show spectacular figures.

Just one example: according to the figures of Google's third quarter 2005 report, their advertising revenues for that period were 1.559 million USD, 99% of total Google revenues for that quarter. And this is only the beginning.

Microsoft and Amazon have already seen the potential of this market and they are already completing its own contextual advertising systems to eat a piece of the enormous pie that will suppose this industry in the next years. In fact, Microsoft launched its Microsoft Ad Center last month and it's for sure that will be a tough competitor to Google and Overture.

There is no doubt that the huge competition that will take place in this industry is good news, as much for the advertisers as for web site publishers. For advertisers, mainly smallest ones, it is the opportunity to develop Internet campaigns at affordable budgets. For publishers, the opportunity, finally, to make their advertising-based Internet business models profitable.

Posted by Francesc Llobet at 6:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It seems that, finally, the revolution of Internet is taking place, although, as some said years ago, in a quiet manner, without making noise, in a rational way, and making deep changes in the way to make things and in businesses.

The last quarterly report of the Commission of the Market of the Telecommunications states a very important growth on Internet sales in Catalonia, specially with respect to services related to travelling (airplane tickets, hotel reserves…). The same is happening in the rest of the European Union.

On the other hand, in the last edition of Wired magazine, it is analyzed what already begins to be denominated as a new boom of Internet companies, at least in the USA. An example of what I am saying is that the mergers and acqusitions market related to Internet companies is starting to grow again. Nevertheless, without entering into the exaggerated valuations that were used just before the bubble explosion.

Another data to consider is that 1999-2000 business plans are being recycled an used again. Business plans that were never developed, or that failed at that time because the market was not prepared yet or because a bad execution.

Probably the models were good, but they went ahead to its times or they were executed with the prevailing irrationality at those moments. But, what has changed five years later? Several possible reasons arise to explain why ideas that failed years ago could be a success in the future. I will analyze them in the next articles

Posted by Francesc Llobet at 5:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)