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Think Tank: Corporate home pages deemed 'abysmal'
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July 04, 2005 (Computerworld) --
Global Home Pages Receive 'Abysmal' Report Cards
A global corporation's Web home page is an entry point for every conceivable visitor, from investors and business partners to customers, and research shows that you have only eight seconds in which to make a good first impression. But most corporate home pages are "abysmal," says a report by Forrester Research Inc. analyst Ron Rogowski.
Rogowski audited the home pages of the 100 biggest global companies and found a sea of wasted space, navigation problems, cryptic categories and "blocks of inane marketing messages."
The key is to conduct usability research and analyze clickstream data to figure out what visitors really want to do when they reach the home page. Success is measured not by how much time the visitor lingers, but by how fast the home page routes him to the right regional site or product page, Rogowski says.
The study found some pockets of enlightenment, at BP PLC in London, Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies in the Hague and Credit Suisse Group in Zurich. These companies track the user path off the home page to identify the most-visited areas. This guides decisions about which content and links should be included on the home page.
Royal Dutch/Shell takes it a step further and adjusts the page based on the day of the week: On weekdays, it features content aimed at investors; on weekends, it switches to content for consumers.
Best Bits
The most useful parts of recent business and IT management books
The book: The 2nd Digital Revolution, by Stephen J. Andriole (CyberTech Publishing, 2005). Apparently, in the first digital revolution, IT was used for tactical operations, whereas in the second revolution, IT is at a strategic level. I'm not so wild about the title, but the book itself has a good deal of candor about the role IT needs to play in corporate America. For example, Andriole says it's time to move beyond talking about "business alignment," which is a sequential approach, and take a more holistic approach that recognizes that business and technology are so intertwined, it's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. Andriole—a professor at Villanova University and a Cutter Consortium consultant—calls it "business-technology convergence." CRM is a great example: It's both a business model and a technology. Or, as one prescient CIO used to say, "There are no technology decisions—only business decisions."
As for return on investment and total cost of ownership metrics, he says that they're great, but "you cannot build a business with these hammers." Andriole adds that "obsessive-compulsive TCO/ROI behavior is as unhealthy as any obsessive-compulsive behavior."
And to answer Nicholas G. Carr's question as to whether IT matters, the author replies: "Try telling a CEO that a botched $100 million ERP system doesn't matter."
ROIT Leaders: Financial Services
The top five companies in the financial services industry, ranked based on how well their IT spending produced financial results for the company.
COMPANY
ROIT
1. SLM Corp. (Sallie Mae)
1,136%
2. Moody’s Corp.
1,033%
3. Fremont General Corp.
532%
4. M.D.C. Holdings Inc.
479%
5. Gtech Holdings Corp.
422%
BASE: 8,000 U.S. public companies in the financial services industry
Methodology: The return on IT (ROIT) is calculated by dividing the company’s overall financial performance — as measured by the Economic Value Added metric — by its IT spending. A higher percentage indicates more efficient and effective IT spending.
Source: Alinean Inc., Orlando, June 2005
The IT Economy
SECURITY IS UP, ERP IS DOWN
What software products are you buying more of this year?
1
Security
2
Database
3
Storage management
What software products are you spending less on?
1
ERP
2
Desktop applications
BASE: 100 CIOs (75 in the U.S., 25 in Europe)
Source: Merrill Lynch & Co., New York, April 2005
Buying Intentions
IDC researchers say their index of business IT demand (below) shows that user spending expectations were unchanged last month. IT buyers are full of “guarded optimism,” IDC analyst Carol Glasheen says, which means “users are preparing for renewed economic growth, even if they’re not entirely convinced that the recovery will continue.”
The buyer intent index is based on monthly surveys of 400 to 500 U.S. CIOs and business executives, who are asked about their IT spending expectations for the next 12 months. Results are weighted to be representative of the U.S. market. An index of 1,000 means zero growth. Caveat: Buying intentions don’t always lead to real spending.
Source: IDC's FutureScan, Framingham, Mass., June 2005
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