Let’s talk about e-commerce

To draw my mini-series on bringing your business online to a close, I want to talk about the importance of e-commerce for team and client experience. 

Do not tune out at this point, and do not misunderstand me. As surprising as it may sound, when I talk about e-commerce, I’m not talking about selling games or books online. I’m talking about equipping your business with online commerce and transaction abilities, for whatever the product or service, at whatever the value.

Broaden the definition

An incorrect assumption has crept into our collective consciousness that e-commerce is little more than selling small commodities online. This is incorrect. We need to come to a more accurate definition of the term as simply online transaction or online commerce capability. Having a strong and stable e-commerce platform facilities the cultivation of a strong and stable team. With an engaged and enabled team, the client experience is enhanced tenfold. Having online transaction capabilities within your company increases the team’s access to client touch points, and the more team to client touch points you have, the better your communication will be across the board. 

There is some fear surrounding transaction size when it comes to online sales and service provision: a fear brought about by the nurtured norm of trading low cost items. There’s absolutely no reason, however, why we shouldn’t be making larger value sales online - we’ve just been put off because we don’t see anyone else doing it. We need to change the norm and make online commerce capabilities an essential for every business. When I talk about e-commerce, I also want to stress that its nature extends much further than just finance. The exchange of contracts, transfer of documents, and other important liaising between teams and clients can be undertaken online and considered online commerce. A broadened definition of the term e-commerce undoubtedly allows for more interesting and productive uses for the technological platforms we use to enact it. Consider Tesla’s newly integrated approach for an exceptional utilisation of e-commerce. Everything from booking a test drive to making the purchase of a Tesla can now be done online. Cars are delivered in boxes to front doors, customer queries are taken online, and the whole system is streamlined, simple, and professional. Goods are exchanged as relationships are built.

Increase client touch points to cultivate inclusivity

No matter what you sell, or what services you provide, online touch points with clients are fundamental. At 3EN, we define touch points as opportunities for online interactions between the 3EN team and 3EN clients - be this the transfer of documents, the signing of contracts, or the payment of fees. Making these touch points accessible to the whole team is an important way to encourage an increase in your business KPIs, whatever they may be. At 3EN, we measure success in part through our KPIs of attitude, behaviour and culture (you can read more about this here). I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: with the right tools in place, leaders, your team will take responsibility for what they have been given the power to control.

Managing e-commerce well cultivates inclusivity. At 3EN, no team member is too junior to have access to our entire business. Each member of the 3EN team has every piece of information about 3EN (excluding HR matters) right at their fingertips. As a leader, I want to encourage the team at 3EN to become leaders in their own right. For team members at every level of seniority, knowing that they are respected enough to be entrusted with sensitive information instills a level of confidence and pride for our business and their individual role within. By taking this transparent, communicative approach to leadership, we show our teams that we expect them to take responsibility for how they handle the information entrusted to them. Such transparency allows for individual leadership to thrive. There are no exclusive groups at 3EN, there are no favoured positions, and there are certainly no assumptions about an individual’s capabilities. We must all be leaders in order to reset for success (I’ve written about this here). 

Look inwards to look outwards

This inclusivity extends outwards to clients, too. In my experience, to manage the experience of a client well, a business must be able to approach any member of a team and receive good service. By allowing the 3EN team full access to any information they should need, we ensure that each and every team member is prepared and capable to give answers and account for our work. It’s an important part of leadership to recognise that we cannot go it alone. 3EN would fall apart without the exceptional work of each and every team member. We must be prepared, as leaders, to let our teams know this through how transparent we are with our business information and the platforms we use to provide it.

At 3EN, as I have continually stressed, we embrace a culture that’s big on communication, big on honesty, and big on respect. I have huge respect for the talented young men and women we take on as interns, who have demonstrated the extent of their talent by stepping up for 3EN throughout COVID-19 and long before. There is great reward in watching such growth take place. Each of these interns has access to information and functions through our e-commerce platform that could potentially be used to 3EN’s detriment. Leaving this knowledge in their hands, to do with as they see fit, has only increased their capabilities and encouraged them to work harder and be the best they can be. I trust these individuals to do the right thing - and they do this and then some. The mutual respect this cultivates is phenomenal. 

Chloe, our youngest 3EN employee and an intern who concluded her placement year with us in June, says: “A lot of my friends have been taken on by companies for their year of placement and ended spending their time scanning documents and making coffee. My experience at 3EN couldn’t be more different. 

“When I joined 3EN as a student in September 2019 I received the same training that would be given to a full-time member of staff. From the very beginning, my account manager brought me on site to meet clients, gave me access to all the online touch points and information I would need to interact with these clients, and trusted me to join meetings and get involved with the work of the team. I’ve been very actively encouraged to find out as much as I can about 3EN and have full visibility of everything that’s happening on every team across the company. I have a huge level of respect for the leaders at 3EN, and am really pleased to be given the opportunity to continue working as part of the team even though my time on placement has come to an end.”

Chloe, along with the rest of the 3EN team, is the reason that the company has been able to reset for success. By empowering the 3EN team with the technological tools they need to communicate with clients and streamline business process, 3EN is emerging from COVID-19 a better business. E-commerce tools in the right hands are clearly a force to be reckoned with.

Want to learn more about what online commerce capabilities could mean for your business? Ask me in the comments. 

Dale Cree is CEO at 3EN, one of the world’s leading Oracle NetSuite Enterprise Resource Management Solutions Partners, with operations across Europe and the US. Its cloud technology helps businesses to drive growth through improving efficiency with seamless integration between NetSuite and other software platforms.