Improving Web environments in theory – and in practice

Citation

Schwartz, D.G. (2001), "Improving Web environments in theory – and in practice", Internet Research, Vol. 11 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/intr.2001.17211eaa.001

Improving Web environments in theory – and in practice

Improving Web environments in theory – and in practice

Much effort has gone into the development and deployment of customer relationship management (CRM) systems in the first decade of the commercial Internet. Most of that effort has been based on the assumption that managing a customer relationship online is both more efficient and more effective than traditional customer relationship mechanisms, resulting in lower customer turnover, or churn. That assumption is challenged by Lejeune in "Measuring the impact of data mining on churn management", where the author examines the use of a CRM system to manage customer churn by applying data mining techniques.

Trust is perhaps the most fundamental of traits that must be nurtured in customer-vendor relationships, for without trust even the most sophisticated CRM system is doomed to fail. Revisiting the issue of trust, Roy, Dewit and Aubert discuss "The impact of interface usability on trust in Web retailers". Many factors have been pointed to as being critical to establishing a trusting online relationship between retailer and customer. Roy et al. look specifically at interface quality as a determining factor, providing a model and survey-driven analysis of a cross-section of online book vendors.

The adoption of Internet technologies by SMEs has been the topic of discussion in much research that has appeared in Internet Research. This issue presents two new additions to that stream of research. Martin and Matlay present "`Blanket' approaches to promoting ICT in small firms: some lessons from the DTI ladder adoption model in the UK", in which the dominant technology adoption model for SMEs in the UK is critically examined. Raymond, in "Determinants of Web site implementation in small businesses", looks at the development and deployment questions that small businesses are faced with in fielding a Web site, using the specific example of the travel industry in Canada. His study of 54 Canadian travel agencies provides a number of fascinating insights into the implementation issues across a complete sector.

The recent acceptance of digital signatures by the US courts, and the ensuing legislation, has perhaps raised more questions than it has provided answers to the difficult issues involved. In "Electronic signatures: they're legal, now what?", Broderick, Gibson and Tarasewich begin to address those issues. In addition to providing a systematic analysis of the US Electronic Signature Act, they delve into the United Nations UNCITRAL efforts and provide important insights as to how, if at all, the different approaches will be able to coexist.

In this issue we also present Chao's work on "Mobile Internet protocols in cellular environments" providing a detailed look at this increasingly important topic, and a meta-case study that actually presents the results of 20 case studies on the use of "Knowledge for Web site development". Taylor, England and Gresty studied 20 UK organizations to try and determine the employee skillsets IT departments seek as the internal demand for Web-based development increases. In this study they aggregate their findings from 20 different IT departments, ranging from 1 to 1,000 IT staff members. Perhaps the most troubling is their finding of a complete lack of regard for Web development standards bodies and academic research results. A number of other important and troubling trends in the directions being taken for Web site development are discerned by Taylor et al. in this work which leads one to wonder how we are ever going to achieve higher standards in Web site design and implementation if all the promising technologies and techniques developed in the research labs are not matched by competent skills and staffing in our IT departments.

David G. SchwartzEditor