Business Strategy: Extranet
I am a manager in a small service business and I have been asked to introduce some sort of information system to increase the capabilities of the enterprise, increase efficiency, and convey professionalism to our customers.
I would like to highlight that it is a very SMALL business with limited budget and LOW tech expertise - therefore any system that is going to be integrated has to be extremely accesible to a "beginner" user. This is especially true as we have very few employees and any time wasted learning a new system will be costly to the business.
The business specializes in the legal processing of specific import/export documents. Once a document is submitted by the customer, it must undergo several steps (translation, certification, etc.) at different offices/government agencies before they are ready for the customer to pick-up/have delivered.
Because we deal primarily with corporate customers, it is fundamental for them to be able to track the progress of the documents so that they may in turn report back to THEIR clients.
Our competitors have not implemented information systems for tracking documents. Rather, they have employed more and more people to keep track of various market segments. However, this is an extremely costly option and depends highly on the oft-lacking talent of individuals.
We would like to implement a system whereby we can establish a CENTRAL DATABSE for the organization and allow our customers limited read-only access on an EXTRANET where they can track document progress in real-time (as updated by our staff).
Because we have limited technology expertise and not enough funds for a specialized IT department, it is important that we have an easy-to-use information system that allows for scalability in view of expected future growth and diversification of our business portfolio.
I would like to know, from anyone that can help, what would be the best solution Apple can provide our business with.
The basic requirements are:
- a central relational database with relative database management system
- an extranet allowing customers access to specific information
- easy to implement and use
- scalable
- cheap
- must be Windows-compatible
Any and all suggestions will be much appreciated, as would be your care to explain highly technical terminology in common speech.
Thanks again
I would like to highlight that it is a very SMALL business with limited budget and LOW tech expertise - therefore any system that is going to be integrated has to be extremely accesible to a "beginner" user. This is especially true as we have very few employees and any time wasted learning a new system will be costly to the business.
The business specializes in the legal processing of specific import/export documents. Once a document is submitted by the customer, it must undergo several steps (translation, certification, etc.) at different offices/government agencies before they are ready for the customer to pick-up/have delivered.
Because we deal primarily with corporate customers, it is fundamental for them to be able to track the progress of the documents so that they may in turn report back to THEIR clients.
Our competitors have not implemented information systems for tracking documents. Rather, they have employed more and more people to keep track of various market segments. However, this is an extremely costly option and depends highly on the oft-lacking talent of individuals.
We would like to implement a system whereby we can establish a CENTRAL DATABSE for the organization and allow our customers limited read-only access on an EXTRANET where they can track document progress in real-time (as updated by our staff).
Because we have limited technology expertise and not enough funds for a specialized IT department, it is important that we have an easy-to-use information system that allows for scalability in view of expected future growth and diversification of our business portfolio.
I would like to know, from anyone that can help, what would be the best solution Apple can provide our business with.
The basic requirements are:
- a central relational database with relative database management system
- an extranet allowing customers access to specific information
- easy to implement and use
- scalable
- cheap
- must be Windows-compatible
Any and all suggestions will be much appreciated, as would be your care to explain highly technical terminology in common speech.
Thanks again
