13 QUESTIONS every CEO should ask about their Internet strategy

1) What are we already doing on the Internet and how do our activities align with customer needs?
2) How are competitors and startups using the Internet in ways that will take away customers or market share, or worse, change the market dynamics and endanger our business?
3) Will failure to act now precipitate crisis within the next two years in any of our lines of business?
4) Which groups are most exposed because competitors or start-ups have established, or will shortly establish, an e-business?
5) Can the Internet create sustainable value for our shareholders by increasing profitability, accelerating growth, reducing time-to-market for products and services, improving customer service, or improving the public’s perception of the quality of our company, and thus cause our stock price to go up?
6) Do our management team and technical staff have the skills to implement and run e-businesses? If not, how do we get the required skills and how much can we outsource?
7) What are the relevant e-business models that match our businesses, are most threatening, or are reasonable new ways to conduct business?
8) Are we making assumptions based on our old way of business, ie, assumptions that don’t fit with e-business operations? How are we blinding ourselves?
9) Will the proposal be compatible with, replace, or break our processes, technology infrastructure and enterprise systems, including customer, marketing, sales, supply chain, logistics, inventory and financial systems?
10) What will it cost to fix weaknesses in our processes, infrastucture and enterprise systems that have been exposed by our e-business strategy and could cause it to fail?
11) How can we use the Internet to lower our operating costs? How long will it take from starting the project to achieving cost savings?
12) Can we afford to ignore the Internet as cost-saver if there’s high likelihood that our competitors are working toward achieving cost savings that will give them pricing advantages in the next few years?
13) What are the appropriate business and financial structures to manage risk while executing an Internet strategy?