Today it all happens online. The car industry was the first to introduce Just-In-Time delivery. They automated the logistics around the production. Suppliers deliver the products just at the moment the car is going to be assembled. But it is also based on the concept of forecasting and ordering. Customers have to wait for the car they ordered, in function of the planning of the production.
Things are changing though, as we are consuming more virtual/digital goods. And this isn’t just music or online newspaper. It is becoming any service and any product. Let me give you some examples. Tomtom’s online traffic jam information allowing your navigator to recalculate the route as it all happens. Location based services allowing you to obtain touristic information on the spot. Reading your newspaper on your smartphone. Online payments, payments with your mobile phone. E-prescriptions allow you to go to the pharmacist (in Belgium with your electronic identity card) and the pharmacist gets the prescription on his PC. Any business process becomes an online process.
Questions to ask yourself are : Which process can I automate ? Most of them will be outward looking processes, because most of the internal processes have been automated. How can you integrate your process with that of your customers ? Whether you are in a B2B or in a B2C case, it does not matter. They are online, and thus so should you. How online are they ? With a car (track and trace), with a smartphone, with a credit card, with an e-reader, with an iPad, with their server ?
Which information is of value for them in that particular situation, on that spot, on that time ?
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