The complexity involved in implementing a commerce platform should never be underestimated. Before taking on a new e-commerce project, here is a list of suggested questions for your organization to consider which will help you develop the business case for your e-commerce project. You also might want to take it one level deeper with an ROI analysis (which will not be covered today) to justify having a new commerce project for your organization.

Recommended Questions to Consider:

1. What is your long-term vision for Commerce for your organization?
2. Who are the critical stakeholders for the new commerce platform?
3. What are some of the short-term goals and objectives for the new Commerce project?
4. What will define the success of your commerce initiative?
5. What are the current common pain points?
6. Does your organization have the required skills to implement a new e-commerce project?

Analyzing Commerce Platforms

Once your senior management agrees on the business case, the next step is to analyze commerce platforms that will meet your organization's requirements. Its important to identify the features and functionalities you need that are dependent on whether you plan on building a B2B e-commerce site or a B2C e-commerce site. During the commerce platform evaluation and selection process, Dunn Solutions suggests you consider the following criteria:

1. Responses to the RFI/RFP questionnaires
2. Commerce Platform demonstrations
3. Gap analysis between the business, functional, and integration requirements and the Commerce platform features
4. Estimates on software pricing. It could be based on volumes, the number of servers, etc.
5. Estimates on the initial implementation of the Commerce solution
6. Estimates on training
7. Estimates on maintenance
8. Estimates on hosting

Dunn Solutions has many years of e-commerce experience and can provide guidance on how to evaluate your commerce platform options, including developing a scorecard that will help you drive your decision making process.

Contact Dunn Solutions when you are ready to discuss your upcoming commerce project!