Ecommerce Implementation Pitfalls
Ecommerce implementations programs are complex and challenging. Not all retailers have the internal capabilities or scale to execute on them successfully. Interestingly, a leading research analyst confronted me with the question - "So what are the challenges that we need to be aware of before embarking on ecommerce implementation programs?"
In our perspective there are several challenges that retailers need to consider when they embark on their ecommerce programs:
Most clients attach inadequate focus to the organization change impact and what it means to people roles and responsibilities. For example, how does the IT organization for the online business coordinate and engage with the Corporate IT organization? What is the change readiness and training impact to people as they implement the new technology?
In several cases, the effort impact to legacy and backend systems has been underestimated. This is usually a case because of insufficient knowledge and documentation of the incumbent systems. Likewise the effort associated with the customization and integration of the ecommerce platform with existing systems (which in a specific client example included integration with over 30 existing systems)
The other issue is the elaborate definition of the content management and workflow processes and the retraining of merchant teams so that they can effectively use the new content management systems.
Performance tuning is another area that gets pushed to the backburner and sufficient importance needs to be attached to the architectural implications of scalability, availability and performance.
Other aspects that retailers need to consider include social networking and the usage of Web2.0 http://www.infosys.com/industries/retail-distribution/multi-channel-commerce.asp technologies to improve the overall quality of the user experience.
