Internet for Business
Making Money on the Web
A specialized workshop for
Executives and Entrepreneurs
www.perwit.com
Presented by
Jacques Rostenne
President PERWIT International
Ottawa, Canada
Produced by
Jacques Rostenne, Jeffrey Fine and Judith Stern
www.perwit.com
$ 320 billion
From humble beginnings…
700 million
users
E-commerce
The Internet
1969
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1996
2002
What kind of businesses run
on the net?
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E-retail
 Worldwide
E-retail was about US$ 8 billion in
1998. Expected to be US$ 320 billion by 2002
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Amazon.com
Dell
Apple
 Keys
to E-retail: Exposure , credibility, on-line
transaction and next day delivery
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E-retail- Buying books
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E-procurement
 One
of the fastest areas of e-business. Companies,
governments and NGO’s post their requirements
on the net and suppliers provide quotes by e-mail
 Big companies such as Ford, GM and others are
finding this a real cost saver.
 Some attempts in Africa, no rousing success so far.
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Business to business
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E-banking
 Highly
dependent on individual access to phone
and Internet; requires volume and significant
average transactions.
 There may be an opportunity to service the
Diaspora and the local expat markets
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Check your account balance
Pay bills
Transfer funds
Get a loan
Get a mortgage
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Getting a loan on-line
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E-travel
 Several
hotels and safaris are already on-line, but
the Net can do much more
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Check routing and schedules
Make reservations
Purchase a ticket (virtual or otherwise)
Pay on line
Check your frequent flier points
Take advantage of last minute offers
Buy tickets at virtual auctions
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E-zines and E-papers
 These
started as the electronic version of regular
magazines, some now only exist on the net.
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cheap to produce
cost nothing to distribute
can publish on a moment’s notice
carry advertisements
can target ads to specific on line reader (cookies)
 There
are real opportunities here to create strong
local “Portal” sites
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E-zines and E-papers some links
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E-radios &TVs
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Also started as regular radio and TV station relayed
through the net
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time shift
different audiences
different content
different advertisers
More and more they are specific to the Net (even if they
use material from the other)
There are opportunities here to create local “Portal” sites
Bandwidth may be a problem
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The new portals
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E-gambling
known as “E-fleecing”. You deposit a sum of
money (via credit card) into the account of a
Caribbean based casino. Then you bet on casino
type games such as black jack, roulette, etc. Since
you cannot see the actual dealer or roulette (there
is none), and since the computer can generate
results separately for each sucker, ...
 Also
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There is one born every minute!
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E-auctions
 There
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are several types
a product is offered to the highest bidder, or
reverse auction: you state how much you are willing to
pay ( for example for an air ticket) and airlines make
you offers.
 E-auctions
are a combination of E-retail
commerce and entertainment.
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What can we do, right now,
right here in Africa!
 Where
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is the market?
Where is the money ?
Where is the willingness to purchase from the net?
Who has the tools to purchase on-line?
 The
local market is not attractive!
 Lets focus on export!
 There are four basic export markets, lets look at
them
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1-The overseas (NA/EU)
consumer market!
 Do
you have the products? the services?
 Can you get them there?
 (Or bring the consumer here : Tourism)
 Are you competitive?
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If you have an export product
for the general consumer
market
 What
can the Web do for you?
 It can create awareness (Banners, E-zines, Epublications, etc.)
 It can connect you with interested people
(search engines, e-mail, etc.)
 It can provide a wealth of information to
prospective buyers (websites)
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It can help prospective clients compare your
products with competitors (website links)
 Clients can order on-line
 Clients can pay on-line (by credit card)
 You still have to ship and deliver.

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If you have a service for the
consumer market
 You
can deliver it on the net
 You can do it all on the net!
 But, getting exposure and acceptance is not easy.
 You will need:
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A lot of specific business knowledge
A lot of web design and web management expertise
A lot of connectivity and bandwidth , and
Probably a fair amount of start up capital
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Is anybody doing it
successfully ?
 Not
too many
 Some coop ventures are trying.
 Some are doing it smartly
 Unless you have a very special product or service
(such as tourism) and you already have a strong
market overseas, we do not recommend it!
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Tourism is different
 We

bring the consumer to the product
What can the Web do for your tourism business?
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It can create awareness (Banners, E-zines, E-publications, etc.)
It can connect you with interested people (search engines, etc.)
It can provide information to prospective visitors (websites)
It can show and promote your facilities (Webcam, video, sound)
It can help prospective visitors make-up their minds
Tourists can reserve on-line
Visitors can pre-pay or leave a deposit, or a guarantee
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Any local success stories?
 Some
basic sites
 No (known to us) examples of full use of
capabilities
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2-The Diaspora market
 There
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are actually three ways to look at it:
Home to diaspora
Diaspora to diaspora
Diaspora to home
 What
can you offer them (goods, services)?
 Can you get it there?
 Can they afford it?
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The diaspora, a receptive
market
 Diaspora
client are more tolerant
 Willing to pay a bit more,
 Willing to wait longer
 Willing to accept less than perfection
 They are overseas consumers, but better.
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Do you have something for
the Diaspora?
 News
& Information (newspapers, radio, TV )
 Food, other specialty items
 Travel (deals on tickets, events )
 Banking ( fund transfers, savings, etc.)
 Real estate ( investments)
 Legal and professional services ( accounting)
groups , e.g. overseas students; overseas
professionals, etc.
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 Traditional
medicine
 Matchmaking
 Advertising for overseas businesses also focused
on Diaspora markets:
 London , Washington, etc.
 Specialized discussion groups , e.g. overseas
students; overseas professionals, etc.
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Anybody doing it
successfully?
 In
a very limited way
 We will be supporting two home to diaspora
portals.
 Almost nothing in the diaspora to diaspora or
diaspora to home country area (all of which can
actually be run from home)
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3-The offline Teleservices
market
 The
overseas market for business to business
offline Teleservices
 If you have the specific service expertise
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Africa has definite competitive advantages
You can get it there
They can pay
They are willing to buy
 Can
you deliver: on time, on specs, all the time?
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What role does the Net play?
 In
offline teleservices, the net is only used to
communicate and send text back and forth.
 You need to be online only infrequently
 You need little bandwidth
 No expensive equipment, no fancy offices
 A lot of the staff can work at home
 Its business to business, payment is by traditional
means
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Is anybody making money at
it?
 Yes,
but not from Sub Saharan Africa (or at least
not yet!)
 We will be supporting a variety of Teleservices:
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Digital mapping
Accounting data entry
Business Safaris services
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Some examples of African
based Teleservices
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E-Transcription (manuscripts)
 Company A
 Receive
(scanned) manuscripts over the net
 Split it into sections
 Parallel imputing (redundant entry)
 Full formatting
 Electronic document returned within 24 hours or
less
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 Rates
vary, US$ 1.00 to US$ 3.00 per page
 One experienced operator can do up to six pages
per hour
 May require full redundant entry and quality
control
 Must partner with an established local company
which will interface with local clients
 Quality and consistency are paramount
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E-editing
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African group of legal professionals trained in the French
(Napoleonic) legal system.
Receive daily, via net (scanned ) judgements issued by the
Quebec courts ( in French)
Documents are summarized for publication
Overnight service
No details on rates (said to be excellent)
Need a formal contract with a local provider of such
services
Need professional training and expertise
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E-architectural support
services
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Company B receives electronic cad-cam files from Europe
over the net
The European architects do the design, the West Africans
do the detail work
Employs draftsmen and architects
Need powerful computers and software
Need training and experience
Multiple shift work
Well paid
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E-Transcription (audio/video
files)
 Tests
with African company
 Receive audio tapes over the net
 Split into sections
 Parallel inputing (redundant entry)
 Full formatting
 Electronic document returned within 24 hours or
less
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 1hour
tape = +/- 5 to 6 typed pages
 US going rate is US$ 60 to 100 per hour!
 Must partner with an established local company
which will interface with local clients
 Quality and consistency are paramount
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E-Translation
 African
companies and Perwit itself
 Receive (scanned)documents over the net
 Split it into sections
 Quality control, revisions,
 Full formatting
 Depending on size of document, electronic
document returned within 24 hours or less.
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 English
to French : per word rate is approximately
US 10 to 15 cents.
 Experienced translator can do 300 to 400 words
per hour (especially using new softwares such as
Dragon Dictate or Via voice and specialized
“Termium”)
 Must partner with an established local company
which will interface with local clients
 Quality , speed and consistency are paramount
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E-Accounting
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New opportunity
Accounting data entry and statement preparation
Receive (scanned) documents over the net
Post to ledger, prepare statements
New market
Requires experienced operators
Speed, consistency, productivity, quality and price
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Lets take the accounting example
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The work to be done
The people to do it
The facilities and hardware
The software
The connectivity
Performance criteria
Volume of business
Twinning
Mentoring
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The work to be done
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Read, interpret (all entries pre-coded)
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Cheque stubs
Deposit books
Sales invoices (accounts receivables)
Bank statements
Supplier invoices (accounts payable)
Payroll data sheets
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The people to do it
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Able to read and write English
Introductory level Accounting training/experience
Computer skills - data entry proficiency
Basic personal skills - accuracy, organized, conscientious
Basic mathematical skills
Accounting software experience
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-e.g. Quickbooks Pro V 6.0
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The facilities and hardware
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Reasonably secure facilities (data confidentiality)
Secure, surge protected power source
A good Internet server
A good back-up system
A good local Ethernet LAN
Pentium computers ( but not necessarily last model)
Phone and fax connection
Desk, chairs etc.
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The software
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Basic internet package (browser, FTP, e-mail, ICQ,
Internet Telephony)
Specialized Accounting software ( depending on client)
MS Office or similar
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The connectivity
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Good, reliable, but
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No need for high bandwidth Internet connection
No need to be online all the time.
Preferably, some redundancy
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Performance criteria
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Accuracy
Consistency
Professionalism
Confidentiality /security
Good work organization
Fast turn around
Cost
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Volume of business
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Can start small
Tremendous room for growth
May lead to more upscale work
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4-Online Teleservices
 Basically
VOIP call centres
 Brand new opportunity
 We will support two/three VOIP call centre pilot
projects
 The technology is so new that African VOIP call
centres are going to be among the first in the
world
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Online Teleservices - the
future
 Live,
interactive, on-line services provided over
the net
 Chat, e-mail, or more likely voice, video and
assisted browsing
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E-interpretation (as opposed to translation)
Telemedicine
Net based interactive education
VOIP business to business call centers
VOIP business to consumer voice buttons
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What is a call center?
 People
prefer to talk to people !
 Call centers are specialized facilities where
“phone operators” use CIT to facilitate
communications with the public
 Dublin is the call center capital of the World (+/130,000 operators)
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 Call
centers are generally located in low cost
communities with good phone facilities
 e.g. Moncton, New Brunswick: Pop, 100,000 $0+
call centers, 7,000 + operators
 There are two basic types of call centers:
 Incoming call centers, and
 Outgoing call centers.
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Outgoing call centers
 They
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originate the calls:
Market research
Opinion polling
Telemarketing
Donation solicitation (Red Cross, ...)
etc.
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Incoming call centers
 The
vast majority of all call centers receive
incoming calls for:
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Reservation services (hotels, airlines, ...)
On line ordering (catalogue purchases, ...)
Technical support services (software companies, ...)
Customer services (insurance companies,
governments, ...)
Online transactions (banking, brokerage, ...)
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How do telephone based call
centers work?
 Traditional
call centers use WATTS line which
may cover a single region, a country or a
continent.
 Traditional call centers MUST be located in the
geographical area they serve (or have a special
dedicated set of lines)
 Traditional call centers use CIT (computer
integrated telephony)
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VOIP call centers, What is the
difference?
Net based call centers do the same thing, but they use
Internet telephony to do it
 Advantages:
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Can be located anywhere in the world
Can take advantage of lower labor costs (and
availability)
VOIP calls do not incur long distance costs
Disadvantages:

Sound quality is still not as good
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VOIP voice buttons
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They are the next (explosive) growth VOIP service
Click on the screen and TALK to (and see) a real person
VOIP, VIDEOIP, Assisted browsing,..
You can think of them as VOIP “distributed” call centers
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Ask questions
Bargain
Get assistance
E-law
E-medicine
etc.
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Making a call using a voice
button
http://www.nortel.com/voicebutton/action.htm
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Live online interaction
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VOIP call centres, the jackpot
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Could compete with current phone based call centres
Uniquely positioned to serve the needs of Websites with
voice buttons
Phone based call centres currently employ hundreds of
thousand individuals of all types and all levels of skills.
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What does it take?
 Enabling
legislation
 Direct access to the backbone via VSAT or similar
 Significant investment in specialized equipment
 Technical expertise
 Training
 A lot of mentoring, twining , and especially
 NA or EU partnering
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How is Perwit involved with ecommerce in Africa?
 We
are just starting an infoDev/IDRC sponsored
program aimed at providing:
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Mentoring
Twining, and
Partnering
 For
12 e-commerce private sector pilot ventures in
Tanzania and Uganda
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E-commerce is a knowledge
based business
 African
entrepreneurs need to become much more
familiar with the Internet as a business tool
 African ISPs and Internet professionals need to be
able to support sophisticated e-business websites
 Governments need to understand how to create an
e-commerce friendly environment
 Perwit
www.perwit.com
provides training, mentoring and consulting
Question period
 For
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more information about:
the infoDev/IDRC e-commerce support program
Our e-commerce training and support services
Our e-commerce competitiveness policy advice
Check out our website: www.perwit.com
Contact me at: rostenne@perwit.com
Our services are available in English, French and Portuguese
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