Just a short post tonite - I have too much work left to do. But I have so many conversations everyday and I am amazed that more business buyers in the Small and Medium Business (SMB) space don't demand an integrated e-business solution as part of their ERP/CRM system. How many different pieces and vendors do you have to jigsaw together in order to have a semi-working e-business solution? Is this acceptable? Many of the SMB's that I talk to seem to think it is, possibly because they don't realize that there are alternatives. And even though the SMB might think that the public can't see all of the square pegs in round holes that exist behind the scenes, the fact is that they, the public, can sense the hodgepodge solution. The important thing when you're an SMB isn't the size or even the bling of the site but the user's experience. When you go through the order and payment experience only to find out that the item is out of stock, or not even available at all, it's more than disappointing; it makes you want to go back to the mall. A lot of ERP systems have not attempted to integrate a native e-business solution, strangely enough, as if they thought that the whole Internet thing was going to blow over. Or perhaps they are content just harvesting maintenance fees from the current customer list. Whatever the reason, they remain cut off from a really important and substantial part of the modern business. Your customers should be able to sign up for the newsletter online, enter a customer service request, buys goods, make payments, see balances, print invoices and receipts and so much more and every transaction should integrate with your ERP/CRM without any further data manipulation/interpretation/interfacing. We are past Web1.0 and on to Web 2.0 and Web 3.0. If you want to compete you need to be integrated and you need to offer a great user experience. | 
