Effective & Efficient Business

A Business Executive in China started off his day with a meeting in the US East Coast then followed by one in Brisbane, Australia in a few hours time. What made that possible - High Speed Jets. No, not at all... 

Located somewhere these people are conducting business in different parts of the world. They are only virtually present at the place where the business is being conducted and that is immaterial to their physical location or identity. We are talking about Virtual Business here.

The term Virtual Business is defined by some as a business which operates without a corresponding Physical Identity.

Consider the story and working of Amazon.com the online book store. They do not have any physical space but the customers get all the facilities of a book store. They started off their first shipment in 1995 and in 2006 Amazon had 9 million Square Feet of warehouse space. That shows the speed and power of Virtual Business.

What Businesses are Best Suited for the Virtual Entrepreneurs ?

Home based internet business like Make money on Google. Someone can have a home based business that does Search Engine Optimization on search engines like Google, Lycos, Yahoo etc. The person needs to use his / her brain to put the required web page on the top when the users search for certain key words. It needs a lot of knowledge and expertise.

Knowledge Economy and computer related work is a good business for the Virtual Entrepreneurs. Aurva Infotech provided support to BrandMail for their mailing problems. Our knowledge in Mailing Domain was the only thing needed to successfully do the job. It was a virtual business because we were working as BrandMail employee but we were located in India. Rather we could facilitate our work from anywhere with a Computer with Internet and Email facility.

When goods with standardized features are involved, then Virtual Business makes more sense. Generally Virtual Business has larger customer reach. With standardized products or services the customer does not need to physically judge the product to make a purchase. Another type of business that makes a lot of sense doing virtually are the Job portals and matrimony sites.

What technologies are making it easy for this distributed and collaborative business to happen ?

Technologies that are making Virtual Business successful include the Internet, Online Collaborative Software like PC Anywhere, WebExPC, Remote Desktop Connection and Communication Technologies like yahoo messenger, MSN, Skype etc. VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is providing an important platform for communication with Virtual Businesses. As we all know E-Mail is the single most important technology that makes the Virtual Business a success.

These VoIP and messenger services are enabling voice communication between the Virtual Business and their clients. That way both the parties can have tele-conferences to communicate complex ideas and solutions.

Other Collaborative Software and Products are providing Virtual Access to remote computers there by achieving complex technological work.

What Kind of Relationship with Supplier and People makes it Sustainable?

Many times in Virtual Business the goods to be sold to the customers are kept in the Supplier's premises. Upon the receipt of the order from the customers the goods are shipped directly to the Customers. So it also becomes the responsibility of the Supplier to maintain the Quality Standards of the Goods he is supplying to the Virtual Business. The Supplier's commitment hence takes a priority in the whole Virtual Business scenario.

The Virtual Business generally works in Economies of Scale. And that model allows for Cost Reduction and better efficiency for the Business. Hence in this case the customer loyalty becomes very important to sustain the feasibility of Virtual Business.

Another important relation between Virtual Businesses and Customers arise from the fact of Risk involved in the transaction of Goods and Services. The customer does not get  chance to choose goods as there is no physical identity of the Goods present. Hence when he places an order he is taking some risk. It becomes the responsibility of the Virtual Business provider to live up to the expectation of the Customers. This is also true for Services.

Time sensitivity becomes an important pillar of Virtual Business on which it stands. The Goods or Services should be delivered in time to make the customer a loyal customer and to have the Good Will of other customers in general.

In a nut shell a Very good level of understanding and faith is required between Virtual Businesses and their Customers. Let us consider the case of a Successful Virtual Business  of a online Projects Market Place called Elance (www.elance.com). The responsibility of the portal is to get buyers and service providers together and to bind them with some rules and regulations. Here the Quality Deliverables and Timely Deliverables becomes the responsibility of the Service Provider. Whereas Timely Payment and Clear Project Specs becomes the responsibility of the Buyers (Service Buyers). And amicable dispute resolution becomes the responsibility of both the parties. The portal (Elance) can provide the framework for this to happen and how well they do that determines their credibility, reputation and sustainability.

How does communication of ideas and complex processes happen?

Webification, which was made possible by the internet, and Portals have provided the platform for the communication of ideas and Complex processes. Due to Webification, shared data is being accessed by different parties to the Virtual Businesses. Electronic Mail or E-Mail has become the single most powerful mode of communication in this context. Portals like Elance are providing their own framework to facilitate communication between different parties.

But for legal work (agreement between parties etc) nothing can replace the Snail Mail as things need to be put in Black and White with due signature and stamps.

Here I will mention some more technologies that are making the communication of ideas simple for Virtual Businesses. Consider the example of LogMeIn (www.logmein.com).  Using the LogMeIn web application, we at Aurva Infotech (www.aurvainfotech.com) take control of Computers located in the US or anywhere for that matter. Sitting here at Bangalore using web application like this we can work on the remote computer as if we are sitting infront of the remote computer. That in fact facilitates complex processes (Specialized Work) to be done without the same knowledge being passed on to a person near the remote computer. 

There is enough going on in this world to discover the real you, now it is time to discover the virtual you and your virtual business. 

Sibasish Mishra is the Managing Director of Aurva Infotech a Software Development and Outsourcing Company spacializing in Microsoft .NetTechnologies. He can be reached at siba@ aurvainfotech.com.

Issue BG79 Oct07