For a startup whose key values are creativity,
efficiency and profitability, finding the right solution for office
collaboration can go a long way in providing the company a much needed head
start.
Andrew James, the managing director of eCCH, strongly believes that ASP
technology is all that he needs to run the company. "I am an evangelist for this
sort of stuff so you are going to get a very strong argument from me as to why
you should go out and use ASP technology for running as many of your businesses
as you can." he says.
Singapore-based eCCH is the Internet spin-off of CCH Asia Pacific, a provider
of tax and business law information. CCH itself is a subsidiary of Dutch
publishing MNC, Wolters Kluwer. Once a traditional publisher, the company, like
others in the publishing line, has repositioned itself as an e-business. "We
believe information as a commodity is coming towards the end of its life cycle,
so Wolters Kluwer has strategy for developing Internet channels." James
explains.
Wolters Kluwer started digitizing information twenty years ago with CD-ROMs.
Although paper is still the most important medium in terms of sales and
profitability, new media such as CD-ROM, online systems and Internet have
steadily contributed to sales. The Internet, in particular, is seen to be the
main medium for distributing content. This is especially the case for particular
Asian markets like Japan and China which have
low penetration of print and CD-ROMs, says James.
Previously, he says, Wolters Kluwer's Internet division was run as a
consultancy arm for its units throughout Asia. In August
2000, eCCH was formed to "focus on developing the Internet channel and
e-commerce".
"We think this is a better formula than just a single company trying to do it
because both these streams (traditional and Inter) deserve100 per cent
focus.
As for cannibalization, James asserts, "There is no cannibalization - there
is just a broadening of the sales channel and the delivery
channel."
No entry risks
The start-up needed a comprehensive suite of office collaborative
applications and James considered ASP technology.
justLogin.com and Hot Office were the two suppliers shortlised, and
justLogin.com was selected for the quality of its products and the fact that
they were a local supplier. justLogin.com's portal provides an avenue for
companies to utilize the Internet to work more efficiently with no entry
risks.
"They create efficiency. These guys understood where the market was going and
understood how to deliver a service and that for me, as a business manager, is
something that I wanted to have and needed to have and that is what we are
looking for, creative problem solutions. justLogin.com made it easy to create
and identity, create an e-mail and create a community
immediately.
Cost is not a consideration
The cost advantages of switching to justLogin.com were also an attraction. In
James's view justLogin.com is priced in such a way that costs do not even become
a consideration. "It costs us S$10 per month, per user for 20 users. S$200 a
month nothing - there are no IT costs and there are no staff costs in running
it. I don't even have to consult anyone."
Indeed, justLogin.com provided the full Internet-based technical support,
monitoring of the application, network and servers and there is no investment in
hardware or software.
"The cost and time of integrating eCCH staff into legacy system is quite
frankly a nightmare for us"
But eCCH would definitely have incurred significant costs, had James chosen
to incorporate eCCH into the existing network of CCH. CCH currently uses Lotus
Notes and the company has a very powerful infrastructure for communications.
"The cost and time of integrating them [eCCH staff] into a legacy system is
quite frankly a nightmare for us."
In addition, he recognizes that, "once you commit yourself, as a business, to
an internal network and hardware maintenance, it is almost as difficult to get
rid of as it is to buy it in the first place. Our traditional business [CCH]
could never make the jump across [to justLogin.com] because they have got such
an interest in a massive network and Lotus Notes.
In contrast, for eCCH, the entire move to justLogin.com was very fast and
simple. The decision was made in a couple of hours and the implementation took
place a couple of days later.
Two-day implementation
Only one person from justLogin.com and one person from eCCH were involved in
the implementation, which took just over two days. The exit cost, or lack of it,
was also a significant attraction. As James says, "At that price we'll just try
it and in six to 12 months [if it is unsatisfactory] the exit cost is
zero.
According to James, it is still early days to judge the success of the
system. eCCH's requirements have been minimal and justLogin.com is not used at
the front end of eCCH's e-commerce but is being used just for e-mail and
chatrooms, though James intends to adopt further applications in the
future.
However, since implementation there have been no problems and in terms of
functionality it is felt there isn't a log of difference between justLogin.com
and Lotus Notes. Furthermore, training has not been an issue with the system
described as 'intuitive' by James. "Everyone knows how to use Web e-mail so it's
not difficult."
As for James, he is happy with the set-up process and finds it hard to
identify anything specific that he would have done differently. In fact, he is
determined to use ASP for running as many aspects of his business as possible in
the future.
"You can use the Internet to redefine the way you do business and you don't
have to spend thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. All you have
to do is log on and pay a monthly fee."
He cautions: "The hard decision is to know where to stop, to control your
growth and stay focused on your core markets."