Strategizing for the Net

• Scenario A: Your company goes in for Internet connection to help employees find market and technical information from the Net. Two months later, you realize half the workforce stays back to log on to their favourite Yahoo and ICQ chat rooms.

• Scenario B: An important e-mail gets delayed as it is stuck up in a download queue of 50 other e-mails. The culprit is a colleague’s 10-MB multimedia attachment.

• Scenario C: Conceding to employees pleas for faster Internet connections, you subscribe to an ISDN connection. But hardly a month later, they are clamouring for more. What do you choose next: a 128-Kbps or a
  2-Mbps leased-line?

Have you been through similar situations? If you have,congratulations! It is time to bring in some structure, some planning to yourcompany’s Internet usage.

Internet and Your Company

Before developing an Internet strategy, one needs to know thereal value that the Internet brings to a company. And only a few companies canactually claim to have a full-fledged Internet strategy, in spite of thefashionable prefixes of "e" and "i" to their names.

Notwithstanding the different business models, the Internetoffers some common benefits to companies. It offers a readily available andcost-effective way in which both large and small businesses can make the most oftoday's IT infrastructure. It also enables one to access and use informationitself, either as a product, or in the form of a reusable building block forsubsequent growth. The Internet, with its open and extendible network structure,is a great leveler providing many small and medium sized businesses anopportunity to compete with larger and more sophisticated competitors. It isalso shaping up to be one of the best communication media for networking withbusiness partners and prospective customers. In the box are given someactivities that can be conducted through a simple Internet connection.

Two developments in the IT industry have raised the usabilityof Internet from the corporate perspective. One, security measures likefirewalls and encryption of data have made Internet a secured communicationmedium. Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) is a cost-effective application of this.It uses Internet as the communication link for sending crucial private data overthe public network. By using this technology along with web hostingapplications, one can deploy an intranet that is accessible to authorized usersfrom any part of the world.

The second development is the convergence of voice, data, andvideo, which is making Internet a versatile communication medium. Internet,though primarily a data-centric medium, has the ability to transport voice aswell as video. Videoconferencing is another application that Internet promisesas it matures. It will be far more cost-effective than the dedicated privatelink across cities corporates use today. Internet telephony is yet anothercost-effective application for routing long distance calls.

Internet has a tremendous potential to empower youremployees. It helps in cutting down the response time and spreading the reach ofa company. Many companies have successfully employed the Internet to providecustomer support on a global basis. Internet connections are cheaper than a longdistance call and the language pronunciation barrier does not exist on the Net.It can transform a company’s market space from a local community to the entireworld. Another important thing that the Internet inadvertently brings intopractice is a new business/operational process within the organization. Theresult: transparency and accessibility within the organization.

Which Internet Connection to Choose?

In all probability, your company started off with a dial-upInternet connection. This phase was largely due to euphoria attached with havingInternet access–the haves and have-nots. In India, Internet was and is stilllargely not seen as a business tool. However, with reduction in leased-linetariffs and birth of broadband access, businesses can and are seriously thinkingof using Internet in a more effective manner.

For constructive use of the Internet as a business tool,planning for an Internet connection becomes important. How much bandwidth doesthe company require? What is the objective of investing on the Internetinfrastructure? How does it relate to the company’s overall objectives?

First of all one must decide upon the benefits that areexpected from subscribing to an ISP. Though, Internet access is a lot aboutempowering the employees, if corporate objectives are not achieved from thefacility provided, why would a company spend substantial money on this facility?A shared Internet access is the norm for most companies. And the Internetconnection subscribed is dial-up and ISDN. Here, one is not really bothered withhow much bandwidth is being used. In this case, either the Internet access isrestricted to a few employees or most employees share a slow Internetconnection. And there is no electronic tracking of Internet usage habits. Trustis the only basis of providing the Internet access in spite of all the fears ofits misuse.

You must keep in mind some basic activities that employeeswill carry out through the Internet. Once these facts are on paper, you canproceed on to sizing the Internet bandwidth that will be sufficient for thecompany. Estimating the right bandwidth requirement is a critical activity. Eventoday the cost of bandwidth is very high. High-speed Internet links likeleased-line, DSL, cable Internet, satellite link, etc., are quite significantlypriced over PSTN dial-up links. One might go in for an E1 link and later realizethat the throughput is nowhere 2 Mbps. On the other hand, every time an employeedownloads a MP3 file, the 512-Kbps leased-line connection seems ordinary. Howmuch bandwidth is really required is a question that most IT managers try hardto come to terms with.

Certain steps need to be taken while making a choice of theInternet connection. Consulting peers among the industry does not harm you.Exchanging notes with the network managers of an associate company could giveyou some good insights. Though you could take the help of anintegrator/consultant, you can also insist the ISPs to advise you on this. TheISP would have been already involved in similar scenarios. Ask the ISP toprovide you business cases of earlier projects executed by it.

To lessen the probability of errors, the company can itselfinvest on an Application Performance Management (APM) tool like the ones fromTivoli or Optimal to try out the application’s effect on the network before itis deployed over it. APM tools analyze the traffic characteristics of theapplications and can project the performance of the Internet links that yournetworks subscribe to. Though there is an additional cost attached to thisoption, it is worth considering. The tool also comes to use in futureapplication deployment and upgradation of Internet link.

The next issue is that of scalability. If you want to upgradeyour link from 64 Kbps on twisted pair copper cables to 2 Mbps on fibre, itcould prove to be costly–both in terms of time delay as well as additionalexpenditure. In such a scenario, you could explore the possibility of leasing afibre cable even if you have to take a connection of lesser bandwidth. Withfibre connectivity, future scalability issue gets largely solved as far as themedia is concerned.

Many ISPs have been recently seen flaunting Internetconnections that bypass the DoT/MTNL local loop by offering alternativetechnologies. There is the cable Internet bandwagon, which promises high-speedbroadband Internet access through a co-axial link in place of the telephonecable. Some are providing DSL connectivity through copper wires. Yet others areproviding Internet links through a point-to-point microwave radio or through asatellite receiver. ISPs are even trying out stringing Ethernet/RF cables acrossbuildings and streets to provide Internet at Ethernet speeds.

So, how does one choose from these options and the onesavailable through ISPs tied up with DoT/MTNL? One needs to do a cost/performancecomparison of the various types of Internet connections before choosing theservices. Though DoT has been very inconsistent in providing reliable Internetconnections, even the competitors are still experimenting with varioustechnologies and are largely dependent on the government agencies for otherbackend resources. But the upcoming private international gateways and the basicservices/DLD buildup could make a lot of difference in the near future.

One question that most corporates ask about Indian ISPs isthat how does it matter since they all depend on the same unreliable links ofDoT? But with monopolies after monopolies being dismantled, the new Indian ISPsmight be in a position from where they can start providing reliablebusiness-class Internet services. The alternate technologies for last-mileaccess and private international gateways are indicators of the rapid change.

Insisting on Service Guarantees

In India, service guarantee is still regarded a premium. Manyservice providers simply refuse to provide any service guarantees. While theinitial impact of competition was seen in prices, the next level of competitionwill focus on providing reliable services and offering some level of serviceguarantees to customers. With ISPs being allowed to build their owninternational gateways and use alternate mediums of last-mile access, it is hightime that you as a corporate insist on signing a Service Level Agreement (SLA).You can start by asking the ISP to guarantee that your dedicated connection isnot down for more time than a pre-agreed interval. If your ISP has aninternational gateway, then an international private leased-line should comealong with a minimum bandwidth throughput guarantee. The bandwidth Quality ofService (QoS) guarantee offered by US ISPs are upwards of 99 percent. You canstart from a lower level.

Managing the Internet Strategy

One needs a thorough inspection of how the Net is being usedin the organization to find out the real performance of the Internet connectionat your workplace or find out the benefits of using the Internet. It is herethat web usage management enters. While Internet benefits companies by improvingcommunications, turnaround time, market awareness, etc., if used withoutobjectives, it can make employees ineffective. No-management of Net usage couldlead to wastage of resources and time and more worryingly abuse of the facility.With a huge library of pornographic material available at a click of the mouse,the Net is not just the parents’ but IT manager’s nightmare come true.

Managing the Net not only keeps a check over wastage andabuse of the Internet access, but it can offer new ways of utilizing the variousinformation and communication resources that it provides. It also gives a goodopportunity to frequently review the activities and objectives of the Internetstrategy in consonance with your company’s business goals. This way you canalso keep a check on whether the company is under-spending or over-spending onthe Net connection.

The easiest way to manage the Internet usage is toblock/filter certain sites that you think are abusive and personal in nature.While this may restrict and minimize the wastage of Internet access, it onlyfocuses on the negative aspect. How does one encourage and increase the usefulaccess of the Internet? For this purpose, the management has to decide on anInternet usage policy and see to it that the frameworks are best adhered to.

Bandwidth managers can be installed behind the routers ofyour company to report the usage pattern of your company on the whole. Abandwidth manager can identify where the traffic is getting choked and how. Thisallows the company to take preventive measures in terms of usage or additionalinvestments on bandwidth. For frequent changes, one needs to subscribe to anInternet connection that can be scaled up to higher bandwidths without much ado.Check out with the ISP, whether it can provide you a fractional bandwidth thatcan simply be multiplied to its full capacity. One can also go in for flexible-bandwidth connection, which can provide a normal bandwidth throughputof a certain speed in ordinary periods and a much higher bandwidth during burstyperiods.

Save Money Through the Net

Considerable saving in your communication bills is the firstsign of being benefited by using the Net. E-mail is the cheapest way for longdistance communication available today. One can in fact even discuss a fewcrucial things through swift exchange of e-mails. VPNs is yet anotherapplication that uses large public network as a communication medium, thussaving precious amounts of money for the company.

Using an intranet can also reduce operational costs of anorganization in terms of manpower and resources like paper documents andtraining facilities. Additionally, if one has a private leased-line betweenoffices, inter-office fax and telephony can be routed through this dedicatedlink using Fax-over-IP (FoIP) and Voice-over-IP (VoIP) technologies, thus savingon the STD charges.

Earn Money Through the Net

There are some direct ways of selling via the Internet. Theeasier part is that of pre-sales pitch. One way of doing this is to host a goodweb site, which actively updates itself with information about the company. Thesite should not appear to be just a brochure/catalog of products that yourcompany sells, but should carry information that will interest your potentialcustomers. Another effective method, and probably more tested, is e-mailmarketing. The trick here is to maintain a qualified database of potentialclients to whom you can send your company’s mailers and update them about newschemes. However, giving them an option to choose not to receive your mail wouldbe appreciated.

As the rules of e-commerce get crystallized, you can providean ordering page on the web site, thus enabling your customers to check yourproducts online and give orders directly on the Net. The payment mode can beoffline, as well as online. For the latter, you will have to tie up with apayment gateway provider. It requires considerable investment on securityfacilities to win the trust of customers for online
payment.

The one big question is how much is to be invested on this?While Internet offers a variety of services and tools which can improve bothcommunications and information storage and retrieval, it need not necessarybenefit an organization right from the word go. As the usage pattern of Internetintensifies, the learning curve and overhead involved also goes up. Individualcompanies must decide how far they want to go. Most Indian businesses still donot own an Internet domain or have a dedicated link with a local server. Bothcost as well as technical knowledge are impediments for smaller organizations.However, one just cannot shy away from Internet when competition meansinformative advantage and fast turnaround. Internet strategy can be implementedby companies in a phased manner–invest as one grows.

Also one must carefully explore the feasibility of any new service beingplanned out.