E-Commerce: Everybody's darling full of opportunities

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Blogs, RSS, Twitter, Cloud Computing, Social Networks... Today's online business is moving faster than ever. How can small and medium enterprises keep in step with ever changing technologies and marketing opportunities in order to increase turnover at minimum cost - especially in these financially troubled times?

Two IT trends have proven to bear great opportunities for companies of all sizes: Cloud Computing and Social Commerce. While Cloud Computing stands for flexible resource utilization and a highly technological concept, Social Commerce tools enable customers to experience much more transparent and effective information about products or services.

Cloud Computing: Flexibility and scalability at its best

Cloud Computing is more than just Software as a Service - and it has much more to it than a server that is not any longer in one's own basement: It is the combination of on-demand infrastructure and on-demand software. This concept does not only offer enormous flexibility but has also cost-saving potential.

Local resources like for example hardware are not needed any longer as companies may now store their data externally on virtual servers and use their software via web access. Generally, all essential features for a professional e-business such as CRM solutions, ERP systems and e-commerce software are available. In times of higher traffic, for instance before Christmas or Easter, additional server capacity can be ordered temporarily.

Companies pay only for their individual set of services - and hosting providers will take care of updates and bug fixes. There will be no more worrying whether the last update for example by eBay has been missed.

More than just e-business

It is essential for all online and offline businesses to inform their customers about products, opening hours or news from the company. Recent studies confirm that almost all customers have informed themselves online before actually buying a product. Would it not make sense to offer customers an appointment right away while they are on the website? An active community recommending and commenting your products is not only a much more reliable source than any marketing material but also offers valid feedback about your products.

A professional website can thus play a decisive role in being ahead of competitors. With ePages 6, both the website and the online shop can be combined on one platform, with the same design. Without special programming knowledge, installing and updating an online store and business website is done much easier than before. All that is needed is a computer with Internet access.

Extended by an appointment management and booking function ePages 6 widens the scope of e-commerce beyond the more traditional sales model.