» Rationalize your organization;

» Quantify your procedures;

» Apply operational research;

» Define your e-process model;

» Audit your proposed solutions and e-models;

» Avoid the legacy issue syndrome;

» Use performance analytics to refine operations;

» Monitor customer data and line performance;

» Understand ‘‘friction;’’ and

» Keep an eye on the global dimension.

1. RATIONALIZE YOUR ORGANIZATION E-operations promise to streamline the manufacturing process, but the process needs to be rational. Bolting e-processes onto existing processes is the path to failure, since the existing process may be the fruit of historical developments and not necessarily the fruit of rational design. An e-process-activated company therefore needs to understand what it is that is being manufactured, and the most rational way to manufacture that product, both in a classic sense and an Internetenabled sense. Only then can the appropriate organizational process be designed.

2. QUANTIFY YOUR PROCEDURES Assembling various players who will interact means defining manufacturing and management operations. Whilst admittedly subjective, it is crucial that all aspects of the manufacturing and organizational processes be quantified so that they can be measured and managed. This in turn promises the ability to use e-process control mechanisms to monitor and manage the process.

3. APPLY OPERATIONAL RESEARCH Whilst the roots of operational research date back over 50 years, it really is at the core of e-processes: mathematical modeling at the service of operational objectives. Operational research offers the possibility of quantifying and structuring manufacturing, logistics, and reporting processes. Since e-processes are a new field of manufacturing, operational research can assist in designing optimal new structures for the e-enabled company. It is essential, however, that the modeling is done with input from industry experts cognizant of the particularities of their specific market sector.

4. DEFINE YOUR E-PROCESS MODEL It is essential that the e-process model is at the service of the manufacturing process or service being provided. Therefore, before implementing procedures and processes into the e-process-enabled company, it is essential that the model is constructed using principles of operational research and PERT management, and logistics planning. Only then can the components (hardware, software, and Web architectures) be designed to support those processes. This needs to be coordinated by requisite IT staff, but also by business and sales staff who understand the nature of the market being targeted. There is a tendency for IT staff to build technologically elegant and expensive solutions which may not dovetail precisely with the business requirements. The extremely exacting and costly nature of building such systems means that careful thought about the model needs to be given at the beginning. Approximate or ‘‘tinkered’’ solutions are a harbinger of failure.

5. AUDIT YOUR PROPOSED SOLUTIONS AND E-MODELS An audit of the proposed solution and model can be useful in providing initial benchmarks for performance audits. Such an audit can be revelatory in identifying production bottlenecks of deficiencies in data processing andmanagement reports, and further refining of the process before full implementation. IT consultants and systems integrators such as Logica or PWC can provide input into this process but need to be managed carefully from the start if control of the agenda is not to slip entirely to them.

6. AVOID THE LEGACY ISSUE SYNDROME There is a tendency to stick with the tried and true, and those considering the implementation of an e-process-enabled company will not be exempt from this most human of tendencies. It is important therefore to be fully aware of the fact that e-processes are not a bolt-on layer of processes to be placed over an existing process. This approach is wholly incorrect, in that it is perverting the nature of the Internet and e-processes to an architecture designed in a different era with a wholly different paradigm. Instead, it is crucial first to define the goal and then the means to achieve that goal. In other words, define the goal and understand how and what are the capabilities of e-technology and e-processes and how they can be harnessed to support the manufacturing process.

7. USE PERFORMANCE ANALYTICS TO REFINE OPERATIONS Once operations are under way, ensure that the data feeds can be extracted in such a manner as to enable management to monitor operations and adopt corrective measures if required. This means that management information reporting criteria need to be defined clearly at the outset of the design process (of e-processes) so that the subsequent elements of the e-process model can be configured accordingly. This will primarily relate to the data capture sequences involved in the marketing as well as the manufacturing process, and the use of that information to compile reports enabling management to monitor and manage the marketing and production process.

8. MONITOR CUSTOMER DATA AND LINE PERFORMANCE Customer data will prove to be crucial in enabling management to identify profitable lines of business. E-processes promise to enable the monitoring of these processes fully, in an Internet-enabled company, by feeding through data flows into appropriate customer behavior monitoring reports. Such reports will enable management to identify profitable lines of business by product line as well as by other criteria such as customer segment, geographic zone, or even industry sector. The result is that the company will be able to tailor manufacturing output in accordance with its most profitable lines of business.

9. UNDERSTAND ‘‘FRICTION’’ In any new business model, especially one relying on new technology, it is inevitable that processes and procedures will not be implemented as easily as might be initially expected. Indeed, the difference can be as great as 100% in terms of budgets and implementation. Moreover, with this new technology, there will be a painful learning curve which will make successful implementation more difficult than originally envisaged. This is why it is essential to give a full audit consideration to the design process at the outset to understand where exactly the difficulties are so they can be pinpointed. There will also be friction in implementation, as implementation means that existing business processes and organizational models are threatened with change.

10. KEEP AN EYE ON THE GLOBAL DIMENSION Wrapped up in the intricacies of the implementation, it is often too easy to forget that e-operations are a means to an end and not an end in themselves. It is therefore crucial to ensure that the technology implementation is driven by business requirements and not vice versa. Moreover, such an internal organizational issue is by nature introspective, and it is altogether too easy to become involved in navel-gazing. It is therefore crucial to take a step or two back and look at the global dimension – how are other companies and competitors behaving, which ones are successful in their use (and extent of use) of technology, and what are their successful criteria? What new and unforeseen developments are being adopted by other players? Keeping an eye on the global dimension will enable you to make a more objective assessment of the success of your e-processes project.