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Using the Internet (i.e. your web site) as only an information
brochure and/or a product catalogue is a little like driving your
car and only using first gear! You're only just getting started.
The capability to programme web sites to carry out immediate,
vital and sometimes quite complex business tasks in a fully secure
environment has been around for a few years now and more
businesses are starting to realise some of the benefits of that
approach.
Consider the following business requirements:
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Publish critical changes to information instantly
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Give staff access to up-to-date business data wherever they
are in the WORLD at ANY time
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Minimise on-going information maintenance costs
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Provide wider, more up-to-date and exciting services to
your customers
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Use the Internet ACTIVELY to help promote more business
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Enable geographically dispersed offices to share, and
contribute to, on-line business data and processes
This list is hardly exhaustive and yet it is likely that most
businesses would identify at least one of those requirements as
highly desirable.
With properly designed web-based software all of the above
requirements, and many more, can be met NOW.
In the past, such features were dependent upon extensive (and
expensive!) intranets (essentially private networks) with
sophisticated telecommunications facilities to link together
remote offices and to enable remote staff to 'dial in' to access
information. While this still has its place in large
multi-national organisations, the same capabilities are available
to small and medium-sized businesses without the need for huge
sums to be spent on the network infrastructure.
Essentially for less than £20 per month for an ADSL Internet
connection plus about £20 per month for a professional web
hosting service any business can have any or all of these benefits
today.
SUMMIT has been specialising in developing web-based software
applications for several years and has extensive experience in
this approach. Solutions can be built in just a few weeks, costing
from just a few thousand pounds.
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