GEELONG BUSINESSES SHOULD EMBRACE E-COMMERCE
The Geelong Chamber has two real concerns about the Internet and Ecommerce.
The first is that Geelong continues to have the lowest take-up of the Internet and eCommerce by its businesses compared to any similar-size city in Australia as well as smaller cities and towns on a percentage basis!
The second concern is the growing number of malware programs being written to invade computer systems through the Internet which can cause a lot of expense and lost time!
Fortunately, both of these concerns can be dealt with effectively!
The Chamber first made its concerns known about the slow take-up of the Internet by Geelong businesses when I wrote an article in the Geelong Business News on that specific topic nine years ago!
The Chamber believed that any businesses not taking up the opportunity to carry out a number of their applications on the Internet were operating at a distinct advantage to both them and their clients and were losing out on this great business resource.
I said that the Internet was, and still is, a low-cost high-value channel for all information and communication operations and a presence on the Internet, through an individual website or by e-mail, was another way of successfully promoting and advertising a business or organisation regardless of where that business or organisation is located.
There was a saying going around at the time: "Be in eBusiness or out of business!
At the time, the Chamber thought that businesses were preoccupied with the Millennium Bug and the introduction of the GST in the following year, and a lot of them were saying: "I will wait for others to try eCommerce first."
The situation did not improve so the Chamber then approached Multi-Media Victoria for some funding to assist with getting the positive message “out there” to all local businesses to connect to the Internet advantage.
Unfortunately, the Chamber’s claim was refuted by MMV at the time and the project was dropped. But statistics on local usage gathered as part of G21 Telecommunication Needs Study carried out in 2005 confirmed the Chamber’s original statement and, again, more recent information released by Sensis (Yellow Pages) supports the Chamber’s continuing claim.
The benefits of eCommerce have become much better known since 1999 and, generally, businesses have recognised that it allows them, regardless of where their business is situated, to expand into new markets and make their own operations much more efficient and user-friendly to their clients.
The cost of doing business can be considerably cheaper through eCommerce and if businesses are not involved with the Internet nowadays for a great deal of their operations and transactions, they need to really question whether they are really losing considerable advantage by not embracing it!
The Chamber advises all businesses not using the opportunities and advantage of the Internet to quickly review their situation and get some good advice on this!
The other issue, which is now a world-wide concern, is the increasing number of malware (malicious software) specifically designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system and to raid bank accounts without the owner’s consent!
Fortunately, there are simple and highly effective remedies now available to guard against malware invasions of your computers and the Chamber’s October article will deal specifically with these.