A good friend shocked herself when she said to one of her customers "There is no standard strategy in e-business, you just have to start and experiment, in the end your customers decide what works best."

I have not met many consultants yet who where this honest. It's always scary to tell the truth to your customers but the best advice always starts with the truth.

E-business is not a set of static outputs. Technology, your organisation, your audience, they are all changing in an ever faster pace. Whether you start as an e-business company or when your company evolves to an e-business company the only strategy you can follow is to start with a dynamic "best fit" of what you do. You have to accept that you embark on a journey that never ends. You have to start communicating in it's true meaning. You need to focus on adjustment.

Theory in practice

If I apply this strategic advice to myself it looks as follows

"best fit" of what you do

I'm in the business of thinking and sharing my ideas I with others. Based on my ideas I get hired to implement those ideas through managing a project, writing papers or as a keynote speaker.
This website is basically serving that purpose. I share my ideas through the articles on this website and you can contact or hire me through this website. This website is the "best fit" to what I do for a living.

Communicating in it's true meaning

Most people do not communicate, they talk, send leaflets, write books but they do not communicate. They don't listen to their audience. Communication is a two way street. This website allows the audience to write me. Through the contact form you can share your opinion with me. I read your opinion, I read your wishes and I respond. Now I'm communicating.

Focus on adjustment

Adjustment is a logical result from communicating, I correct spelling, I change lay-out, I change my opinion, I write subjects on demand. I will even start to translate some of the articles to Dutch because some people asked me to. In my introduction I already pointed out this website was a work in progress. I started it with a focus on adjusting it to the needs of my audience and to the possibilities of technology.

The reward

If you communicate in business you get happy customers who will return. In my case it's easy to measure in visitors, page views and time spend on this site. In case of a business, the scorecard will probably be the balance sheet.

Recognizing that any business is a process, the wise will create feedback channels to allow the audience to help them re-examine what they should offer to serve the goals of the organisation and the goals of it's audience.