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Part 3  Implementation

Summary

1 

Change as a result of digital business needs to be managed on two levels. First, the 

change that needs to be managed as part of projects to introduce digital business. 

Second,  organisation-  wide change is required for digital business. We focus on this 

change in this chapter.

2 

Sound project management is required to achieve change. Traditional project man-

agement activities such as estimation, resource allocation, scheduling, planning 

and monitoring are all important here. A project manager also needs to facilitate 

change by communicating the need for change.

3 

Traditional life cycle stages – analysis, design and build – can be used to estimate 

the tasks required for a digital business implementation. Since most digital busi-

ness solutions will be based on tailoring  off-  the-  shelf packages, there will be a 

change in balance between the analysis, design, build and implementation phases 

in comparison with a bespoke solution. Prototyping is essential to achieve the fast 

timescales required by digital business.

4 

Building a team for digital business will require technical, marketing and project 

management skills. This will be difficult in the face of a competitive marketplace for 

these skills and high staff turnover. Tactics should be developed to help retain staff 

in this environment.

5 

To implement digital business, a company will need to partner with a variety of 

companies. The digital business manager will need to decide whether to outsource 

activities such as strategy, content development and site promotion at the outset 

of a digital business project and whether it may be necessary to bring these activ-

ities back in-house at a later stage.

6 

Changes to organisational structures are likely to be required to build the digital busi-

ness. Coordination of digital  business-  related activities can be achieved through a 

working party, digital business manager or separate department. Companies may 

also spin off  sell-  side e-commerce to a completely separate business.