Putting the Internet to Work for Your Business

Why your business needs to be on the Internet.

Getting access to current information is becoming an increasingly important component to business success in today's competitive market. Old information is useless information. Companies that learn to provide and access information on the Internet, as well as practice the intelligent application of that information-for example, using it to service customers, streamline internal process or collapse product development cycles-will see there business prosper.

How can the Internet provide so much information?

Because of the enormous number of hosts connected to it. Since 1990, the number of hosts on the Internet has grown from under 500,000 to an estimated 6 million by the end of 1995. Many of these computers act as server, providing electronic resources-data, application and services to any computer user with Internet access. For This reason, the wealth and diversity of information on the Internet is truly remarkable. The Internet lets you get information form the U.S. Library of Congress, check on hotel room availability, track package delivery, view the latest stock quotes or shop for a book or a modem.

Expand your company to include global resources

Networks today provide advanced client-server databases, electronic mail and better integration of diverse computing resources- bringing greater amount of information to users, enabling corporations to become more efficient, and reducing the cost of sharing information.

Today, their is a growing need to extend these benefits more widely. This is because business are now expanding their computing borders to include people and resources outside the company. These virtual resources while not part of the company, are integral to it's success.

Much of the information received from outside sources is not in a electronic format; it comes through faxes, surfaces mail, literature and telephone calls, making it difficult to integrate with the internal company information systems and costly to manage. By linking their network to outside resources, companies can enable instant communication and create an efficient flow of information between people. E-mail can easily replace many faxes, surface mail and telephone calls to accomplish much of the day to day communications between companies. E-mail is much less expensive than surface mail and faxes and enables nearly instantaneous communication.

Reach a wide audience

Companies large and small can realize enormous benefits by establishing a Internet "presents" or Web Site. By creating this virtual store front on the World Wide Web, a business can reach a wide audience and interact with customers.

Lower the cost of marketing and support.

When printing and surface mail costs are calculated, the cost of marketing a business through traditional media such as advertising, direct mail and catalogs is very high. Providing information on your company and products electronically can be fast and relatively inexpensive supplement to these traditional methods, and allows for continual updating. The Internet enables companies to be "open" 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Offering online information lets you support more customers per dollar while increasing customer satisfaction.