This seems like a great, friendly and helpful forum, so I thought i'd drop in and see if you could answer some questions i have.
To tell you a little about myself: My name is Morgan Newall and i'm currently enrolled in a small business development program in Sydney, Australia which runs alongside a 'small business management' course. The primary context of the course revolves around the creation of a business plan and im planning for an 'ebusiness' which will be operated and administered through the web.
I have done a ton of 'secondary research' and have all kinds of ideas and percentages, yet have come to stage where i'm looking for dialogue & feedback from ACTUAL operators - people that have started and run successful (YOUR definition of successful) e-business operations from scratch. Solo entrepreneurs, one person operations, independent operators and micro-businesses.
I'm especially interested in creating a comprehensive web application for managing this business and want to know how other people operate theirs.
So in the interests of collating this information i've sketched up a questionaire, i'm sure i'm not asking some probably very needed questions, so if there are any you'd like to add - please do so. This way this could be a useful insight to how each other operates - perhaps with a view to creating an email survey to send to thousands - with the data available to all! How about that!?
So without further ado, the questionaire!
QUESTIONAIRE:
1. In running your business what software/scripts/modules do you most depend on?
(pls list in order of importance): 1: 2: 3: 4: 5: 6: 7:
2. Can you describe the essential elements (possibly non-existent) of a software toolset for running an e-business?
3. Do you commonly work with remote workers/consultants/contractors regularly in your business (say twice a month)? Y / N
If so, what software/resources do you use in communicating with them?
If regularly working with remote contracters/partners/etc how do you plan/manage your workflow, sign-offs, etc?
4. Of the following software categories rate according to your dependence on it: 0-5 (there is some overlap, yet usually operators will use on or the other )
CRM
CMS
ERP
CONTROL PANEL
GROUPWARE
ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT
5. What do you see as the primary challenge to successful ebusiness operations in the following categories?
a) Operations & Management:
b) Marketing & Sales:
c) Customer/Accounts Management:
d) Personal/Team management:
6. Do you know of any comprehensive toolsets specifically built for ebusiness to manage site content (CMS), customers (CRM), sales (ecommerce), and managing projects (ERP, GroupWARE, etc)?
Would you be interested in such a product?
What price would you pay for such a product?
