A01 chaf6542 06 se fm indd

1 

Digital channel strategy. The development of a clear strategy, including situation analy-

sis,  goal-  setting, identification of key target markets and audience, and identification of 

priorities for development of online services.

Table 5.3

A stage model for digital business development

1 Web presence

2 E‑commerce

3 Integrated 

e‑commerce

4 Digital business

Services available

Brochureware or 

interaction with  

product catalogues  

and customer service

Transactional 

e‑commerce on  buy‑ 

 side  or   sell‑  side

 Buy‑    and   sell‑  side 

integrated with 

enterprise resource 

planning (ERP) or 

legacy systems. 

Personalisation of 

services

Full integration 

between all internal 

organisational 

processes and 

elements of the value 

network

Organisational  

scope

Isolated 

departments, e.g. 

marketing department

 Cross‑  organisational

 Cross‑  organisational

Across the enterprise 

and beyond 

(‘extraprise’)

Transformation

Technological 

infrastructure

Technology and 

new responsibilities 

identified for 

e‑commerce

Internal business 

processes and 

company structure

Change to digital 

business culture, 

linking of business 

processes with 

partners

Strategy

Limited

 Sell‑  side  e‑commerce 

strategy, not well 

integrated with 

business strategy

E‑commerce strategy 

integrated with 

business strategy using 

a   value‑  chain  approach

Digital business 

strategy incorporated 

as part of business 

strategy

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Part 2  Strategy and applications

Figure 5.7

Summary applications of a portfolio analysis for an example B2B 

company

High

Future 

strategic importance of

information systems

Low

Electronic catalogue

E-commerce system

Customer intelligence

and CRM systems

High potential

(Beware)

•

•

•

HR systems

Finance systems

Support

(Safe)

•

•

Procurement system

Stock control system

Distribution systems

Strategic

(Attack)

•

•

•

Production line systems

Key operational

(Explore)

•

Low

High

Current

 strategic importance of

information systems

2 

Online customer acquisition. Strategies for gaining new customers online using alterna-

tive digital media channels (shown in Figure  1.7), including search engine marketing, 

partner marketing and display advertising.

3 

Online customer conversion and experience. Approaches to improve online service 

levels and increase conversion to sales or other online outcomes.

4 

Customer development and growth. Strategies to encourage visitors and customers to 

continue using online services using tactics such as email marketing and personalisation.

5 

 Cross-  channel integration and brand development. Integrating online sales and service 

with customer communications and service interactions in physical channels.

6 

Digital channel governance. Issues in managing e-commerce services such as structure 

and resourcing, including human resources and the technology infrastructure such as 

hardware and networking facilities to deliver these applications.

Organisational and IS SWOT analysis

You will know that 

SWOT analysis

 is a relatively simple yet powerful tool that can help 

organisations analyse their internal resources in terms of strengths and weaknesses and match 

them against the external environment in terms of opportunities and threats. We recommend 

that to get the most from SWOT analysis it’s of greatest value when it is used not only to ana-

lyse the current situation, but also as a tool to formulate strategies. To achieve this it is useful 

once the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats have been listed to combine them, 

as shown in Figure 5.8. This can be used to develop strategies to counter the threats and take 

advantage of the opportunities and can then be built into the digital business strategy.

Figure 5.9 gives an example of a digital marketing SWOT using the approach shown in 

Figure 5.8.

SWOT analysis

Strengths, weaknesses, 

opportunities and threats.

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Chapter 5  Digital business strategy

Figure 5.8

SWOT analysis

Stengths – S

1  Existing brand

2  Existing customer base

3  Existing distribution

SO strategies

Leverage strengths to

maximise opportunities