Building a Business Case For E-Learning
Learning from E-history
"E-learning, surely it's another doomed-to-fail e-thing," many are saying. It's churned up waves of hype, numerous inflated ROI projections and grabbed headlines, but it will inevitably lead to less than adequate results for those gullible enough to launch headlong into such uncharted waters. Right? Well, maybe…but only if we fail to learn from previous
e-ventures that wasted so much time, effort, and money.
But before we go any further, we should spend a little time reminding ourselves of the reasons behind the successes and failures of previous forays into e-space.
E-finance
Almost without exception, every bank now has an online facility for its customers to securely access personal account information online and carry out basic transactional tasks. Many sites could certainly do with better information architectures and general usability improvements, but they've generally succeeded in providing a valuable service to their online audiences The pre-eminent reason for their success is the fact that, as a communication channel, the Web is ideally suited to self-service financial tools.
E-community
Clearly demonstrating good online community-building principles of content quality, customization and personalization potential, and current activity indicators, Excite (post the Excite@Home fiasco) is now thriving again. Craigslist is another notable success story: With its simple text presentation and grassroots mind-set, it's now used by a million unique visitors per week. It is one of few such sites that has crucially succeeded in tackling the revenue problem and now commands $45 to $75 per ad for its main draw, the job postings.
Too many online communities have been built with a less than adequate understanding of what users really want and how readily they will appear, return, and contribute (especially financially) to community life. With over-inflated traffic projections, the "if you build it, they will come" fallacy has left many forums, chat rooms, and business wallets empty.
E-commerce
Amazon's model has so far proven to be reliable though their investors had to accept several years of selling every unit at a loss. Seeking a faster path to ROI, companies have often tried to sell goods too expensively over the Web—running against basic laws of supply/demand. Convenience may be desired by many, but not at any cost.
Delivery
A number of companies selling through their Web sites have found that solid online systems didn't help when their real-world processing and fulfilment systems broke down, resulting in late or undelivered orders. On the Web, reputations—and sometimes whole businesses—can be destroyed overnight.
Servers, Pipes, and Downtime
Because of the highly specialist nature of the technical systems involved, every company inevitably has to place a high degree of dependence upon various partners. A failure at any point in the line can lead to catastrophic results. In June 1999 the auction site eBay experienced a 22-hour server outage; during this time eBay's stock dived from $135 to $47, wiping out $5.7 billion of market capitalisation.
And Then There's the Online Customer...
Web users are undoubtedly the most critical and intolerant audience in the world. The medium allows and encourages them to be this way, allowing them to skip to a competitor's "store" in seconds. If they find any part of the experience confusing, or just too slow, they readily vote with their mouse...and click out.
All site developers must have a good grasp of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) as a fundamental issue. Many sites still fail to make clear exactly how the user must proceed in what should be very simple online processes. Usability, intuitive information architecture, and visual presentation are all crucial to the customer's experience. Confusing layouts, undesired interruptions, and reams of text will quickly drive users away.
Although established brands are always going to draw the attention of an online audience, the democratic power of the Web levels the playing field so that even the biggest brands will not succeed if their sites don't provide good experiences for their audiences.
