Top Secret Briefing

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Migrating Applications to the Internet By Mike
Grigsby, ONTOP Systems Presentation available
at www.ontop.com/devcon email mike_at_ontop.com Tel.
503.977.0200
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Outline

• Projects weve worked on
• Expanding revenue opportunities With IC Apps
• Changing the way you look at your apps
• Modifying your marketing methods
• Internet opportunities may fundamentally change
  the reason youre in business
• What you need to know about technology and
  resources

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Goals

• Establish familiarity with resources
• Get you into the Internet marketing mindset
• Give you a starting point for building web
  apps/web business
• Get you thinking about the end-game (when do you
  want to retire and with how much?)

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4 Varied Experiences

• Successful subscription based DOS and Windows
  product Summit
• Fleet Management Jubitz, FedEx, Sears, Aramark
• Entirely CWIC Java
• Business Management Partial conversion of
  successful Summit to web
• All Java-Free, lots of JavaScript integration
• Financial and Credit Managment Full scale
  Internet portal, CreditPort
• All Java-Free

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Migration To The End

• All products online on the Internet
• Operation of Internet portals
• Huge opportunities for ancillary revenues
• Begin positioning for eventual buy-out or IPO
  scenario

Who We Are
Developer
Internet Service Provider
Application Service Provider
Marketing Machine
Summit-Windows
FleetLink-CWIC Java
ONTOP online-CWIC Java-free
CreditPort-CWIC Java-free
Windows
Internet Enabled
Internet Service
Internet Portal
Web Integration
Follow The Money
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Windows Summit - Problem

• Advantages
• Market leadership
• Loyal following
• High visibility
• Capabilities beyond market
• segment
• Disadvantages
• Cost too low
• Lack of education causes competitive problems
  with QuickBooks, PeachTree, et.al.
• Non-existent recurring revenue

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Windows Summit - Solution

• Put essential high-value functions on web
• Create low-cost point of entry
• Use database to upsell to Windows product
• Use Commission Finder to gain experience in small
  business portals
• Eventually get entire
• product on web
• Create revenue stream
• Capture market share
• and mind share
• Shut out competitors

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FleetLink Fuel Administration System

• Built in early CWIC, all Java
• Very slow for new users
• Very high visibility for our company because of
  early Internet application
• Low pain in
• producing product
• Just signed next
• generation of
• FleetLink

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CreditPorttm

• Entirely Java-Free application from scratch
• First step toward full scale credit portal
• Highly complex
• Continual revenue
• stream
• Easy ROI and cost
• justification
• Focus of our exit
• strategy

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CreditPorttm

• Architecture...

Experian
Equifax
CreditPort Server
Users
Trans Union
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CreditPorttm

• CreditPort Technology

Data Formatted to Browser
Broker Manages Data
Agent Technology Polls Data
Extremely Complex Data Schema
CreditPort Server
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CreditPorttm

• CreditPort Technology

Data Formatted to Browser
Built With C5, CWIC
Broker Manages Data
Built With C5, ClaCom
Agent Technology Polls Data
Built With C5
Extremely Complex Data Schema
CreditPort Server
Built With C5, All TPS files
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Why Should You Go Online?

• Simple math
• Every application written revenue made
  Gazillion
• Every application written - those put on web
  95 or more
• _____________
• Gazillion .95 almost a Gazillion
• minus the cost of C5 Web Edition - 1,799
• _____________
• Total available revenue to you still almost
  a Gazillion

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Why Should You Go Online?

• Bottom line the Internet is still in its infancy
• Web users exceed 200M by next year
• Last year, web documents totaled 100M, and will
  top 800M by next year (surely the content must be
  served up with some form of automation)
• Media comparison, to reach 50M users
• Radio 38 years
• Television 15 years
• Internet 4 years
• Think about the opportunity you had if you knew
  about TV. You could be the next CBS, NBC, Fox,
  ABC...

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Why Should You Go Online?

• What did you do on the web before 1999?
• Research phone numbers
• Put up sites that no one came to
• Search the web
• Get stock quotes
• Read the news
• What will you do this year?
• Book travel while interacting with airline data
• Maintain contact lists online
• Simple accounting functions
• More interaction with data
• Financial services

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Why Should You Go Online?

• Whats happening?
• The web is the extension of everyones desktop!

Converging delivery systems, wireless and mobile
Internet, web browser, thin client
Novell, NT, Unix, Client Server (s2s)
Windows, peer to peer (c2c)
Stationary Desktop (DOS)
Punch cards (you went to the computer)
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Why Should You Go Online?

• Just last week
• Staples announced a 6M investment in a company
  called HotOffice, charging monthly fees of 12.95
  per user per month.
• Second quarter of this year
• Internet startups captured 56 of all dollars
  invested by VCs
• 6.8B this year, 3.3B last
• Fall of this year
• Hottest market for VC funding ASP renting out
  Internet accessible versions of business
  applications
• - VentureOne (www.ventureone.com) 2Q99
  statistics
• - InfoWorld, August 30, 1999 issue

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Why Should You Go Online?

• Strong movement from ISPs to Application Service
  Providers (ASPs)
• CWIC gives you the tools to participate in this
  next evolution
• Business to business collaboration will be
  huge--look at the next wave of ERP, SCM, and
  Logistics applications!

Collaborative Business Hosting - CSP
Application Hosting - ASP
Bandwidth - ISP
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Why Should You Go Online?

• Your Strategic Advantage
• You have the tool, its called CWIC!

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How are people making money on the web?
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Expanding Revenue Opportunities

• Strategies used to build a web business
• Give away free service
• Email, ala Hotmail, Netaddress, et.al.
• Websites, ala Hypermart
• Search engines
• Package tracking
• Return
• Advertising sales
• Hope to gather enough visitors that you get
  bought out
• Sell data list to marketers
• Use data list to sell other products to users

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Expanding Revenue Opportunities

• Strategies used to build a web business
• Provide service for no up front cost
• We will see more of this
• HotOffice, 12.95 per person per month
• Hypermart, Buy more disk space when you need it
• NetAddress, Buy more features
• You could give away common accounting functions,
  but charge for financials or payroll, etc.
• What youre looking for
• Upgrades
• Lock users into your system by making data
  un-portable
• Building a marketing lifecycle and using analysis
  to maximize revenue for given stages in that cycle

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Expanding Revenue Opportunities

• Strategies used to build a web business
• Per transaction costs
• We will see more of this
• CreditPort, 20 to 30 per transaction, multiple
  products
• Auction sites
• Classified advertising
• Real estate transactions
• Quotations and estimates (insurance, printing,
  etc.)

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Expanding Revenue Opportunities

• Strategies used to build a web business
• Software development
• System integration
• New workflow technology
• Middleware (Replication, encryption, workflow
  engines)
• Strategic components (e-wallet, CyberCash)
• Add on products to ERP, SFA systems
• SAP, Baan, PeopleSoft, Manugistics, Oracle
  Financials
• What youre looking for
• High usage
• Ability to provide rapid development
• Lower costs or resources through better
  technology, aka Clarion for Windows

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Expanding Revenue Opportunities

• Strategies used to build a web business
• Application service provider traits include
• Build useful, specialty applications
• Build applications strategic to customers
  business
• Make it difficult for users to switch elsewhere
• Look to the Intranets as well as Internets!
• Host the applications they build
• Cater to a particular industry or business
  segment
• Bill the business as a service, not a product
• Big area with too few experts and very high
  revenues!

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Expanding Revenue Opportunities

• Chances are, you may not be able to instantly
  retool your organization
• How do you retool?
• What will your transition be?

Who We Are
Developer
Internet Service Provider
Application Service Provider
Marketing Machine
Leasing Variations
Straight Purchase
Summit-Windows
Straight Purchase
FleetLink-CWIC Java
Monthly Fee Plus Per-Transaction
ONTOP online-CWIC Java-free
Trans Fees, Monthly Fees, Advertising, etc.
CreditPort-CWIC Java-free
Windows
Internet Enabled
Internet Service
Internet Portal
Web Integration
Follow The Money
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Where to Start

• What are your dreams?
• How long do you want to work?
• How much have you got in you now?
• What are your strengths?
• Are you a leader?
• Are you persuasive?
• What kind of management do you need help with?
• Can you build a team?
• Can you keep to schedules?
• Do you treat people well? (employees, vendors,
  etc.)
• All of this plays into this question What is
  your exit strategy?

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Where to Start

• Start your research now
• Research will never end. Subscribe to all the
  freebie magazines you can
• InfoWorld, InternetWorld, InternetWeek, PC Week,
  etc.
• Thoroughly research would-be competitors
• If there is too much competition, find a new
  angle (new marketing, pricing or partnership)
• If there are no competitors, quickly identify the
  features in your product that will create
  barriers to entry.

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Where to Start

• Bring your staff up to speed
• Send them to training
• Buy lots of books on the subject
• Spend the money to evaluate tools and systems
• Subscribe to industry magazines and share with
  staff
• Visit lots of other websites
• Use your tools to try building websites yourself
• Start talking to customers now
• Before you know it, youll have your first gig!
• Take on a small data-centric project or two. Get
  your feet wet!
• Find ways of extending your current application
  to the web and propose it to a customer or two

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• Step by Step Guide...

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Step 1 - Strategies

• Consider
• Your exit strategy IPO? Merger? Acquisition?
• Your funding strategy private investors? VCs?
  IPO? (tip go to www.ipo.com)
• Your model for making money in the interim
• Your vision for growth and migration of service
• Your strategic technologies and architecture
• Your service strategy
• Your marketing strategy
• Most of all, your USP!

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Step 2 - What will you offer?

• What do you offer?
• How does it relate to your current product?
• What will be unique about your service?
• Develop a quotient for cost to revenue (C/R)
• What are your performance issues?
• What infrastructure issues are there?
• Host internally, co-locate server, lease server
  space?
• Security needs firewalls, etc.
• How will you scale your application?
• OUR 1 4 THEORY

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Step 3 - Marketing

• How will you succeed with marketing your new
  service?
• If you have small dollars
• Partner with large companies with same core
  target customers - Leverage every relationship
  you have - Build alliance programs, referrals,
  AOL 100 free hour approach, alliance programs
• If you have more dollars
• Internet ads, banner ad trading, direct mail and
  email, PR Firm, marketing department, trade shows
• If you have big bucks
• Television and print ads, ad firm, analysts, etc.

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Step 4 - Sales

• Sales considerations...
• Where do you find customers?
• Buy mailing lists, attend trade shows
• and buy databases, borrow partner
• customer lists
• How will you close customers?
• Can you automate the sign up
• process online perhaps your
• first application
• Telesales / customer service
• What ancillary products can
• you upsell?
• Hardware, partner related
• services and products, selling
• your mailing lists, etc.

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Step 5 - Service

• Service considerations...
• Can you service online?
• Build systems to put
• redundant questions and
• answers online
• Be generous with the
• information you provide
• Remember you can save
• lots of money through call
• avoidance!
• Who will create service
• content?
• Use service as an upsell
• Sell training sessions for fee, Charge for
  support calls, Sell support contracts

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Step 6 - Build Your Budget and Plans

• Build a marketing and service plan
• Identify marketing and sales activities and where
  your costs will be
• Build an operating plan
• Outline how things will work, where will the
  costs are?
• Build a budget
• Use identified activities to build a budget for
  revenue and expense
• Dont screw up or you may have problems getting
  VC money
• Build a 5 year plan
• Plan for growth and use as a foundation for sales
  and operating activities
• Build product and technology plans
• Predict the future of the Internet!

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Step 6 - Build Your Budget and Plans

• Tip Dont forget to identify where you will get
  the talent needed to execute your plan. Savvy
  investors will ask you this. It can be a major
  barrier in any techno-organization, let alone a
  Clarion shop!

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Step 7 - Building Your App

• Take a different approach to development
• Challenge everything you know about software
• Youre in the service business now
• Build software along business processes and
  workflow!
• What can you do to add to the ROI quotient?
• Limit the scope of your project from the start!
• No other suggestion will help you more
• Build a product and customer lifecycle plan
• What do you do now, three months from now, etc.
• Stick to it or formally revise it!
• Build a technology plan that forecasts technology
  needs of your product over the coming years
• Will Corba beat out COM?
• Will Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) be the next
  wave?
• Is MS SQL the wave of databases on the net?

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Step 7 - Building Your App

• Build consistent standards, look, and feel
• Where possible, use include files in your app
• Include files for banners and menus for easy
  maintenance and upgrading
• Research your color scheme
• Make sure your design is consistent
• Make designs appealing to many people
• Do market research and usability testing
• Put graphical controls into a common directory
  and use throughout all your systems
• Let users choose colors and other parameters
• Cookies can help here
• Be smart about your screen resolution
• Allow user to choose, or assume 800x600

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Step 7 - Building Your App
Tip Advertising banners are big business! Plan
to use them in your design right from the start.
Build standards for using ad banners, rotation,
and tracking.
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Step 7 - Building Your App

• Get away from list-browse thinking!
• Build workflow systems
• Think wizards! HTML is ideal for this
• Take your customers on a journey
• Give them new ways to view info and new insights
• Build standards around your apps for consistency
• Fortune 500 IT shops expect workflow designs
  along business rules
• Use your product plan to design a second
  generation product from the start
• Things change. User feedback will pour in. You
  will have a generation 2 and 3 product. Be
  prepared for it as soon as you release gen 1!

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Step 7 - Building Your App
Tip With Java-Free CWIC, you can use logic to
easily build pages of content within a single
procedure and displayed based on
conditions. Tip Practically, you can build
your entire application within a single
procedure.
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Step 7 - Building Your App

• Your administration system must integrate with
  your service!
• Your application will probably be only half of
  the applications you build
• Prepare to automate all systems with internal
  accounting and other systems.
• Develop online sign-up systems
• Develop billing and receipt system
• Develop customer help systems
• Think of ways to utilize email--there are some
  easy-to-use templates that can help you with this

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Step 7 - Building Your App

• Security without making you customers life hell
• Build security plans early on
• Make your plans formal and include firewalls and
  SSL
• You need security
• Security breeches can give you more PR than you
  think
• Develop robust security methods. CWIC already
  gives you a start
• Develop security into your automation systems
• Reduce the hassle of security
• Dont require your own silly password schemes,
  let customers use their own
• Give customers back doors to remember their
  password
• Build email system to forward passwords on-demand

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Step 7 - Building Your App

• Consider your help system up front
• Many help utilities allow for creation of HTML
  help pages
• Develop ways of integrating help with your app
• Wizards, help pages, etc.
• While youre on the web, consider training
  systems that utilize streaming technology
• Real systems
• Hypercam, ScreenCam, RoboHelp
• Do everything you can to build a call avoidance
  system to reduce service overhead!

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Step 7 - Building Your App

• Choose your Internet technologies
• What works for your service?
• Java vs. Java Free
• Integration of JavaScript and DHTML
• Combine technologies
• Internet allows for easy mix and match of best of
  breed systems
• Use ASP or CGI if it makes sense from a business
  standpoint. Remember TopSpeed has an ODBC driver!
• Follow trends closely so you use the best
  technology and dont get allied with a turkey
• DO NOT be bleeding edge! Use what works!
• One exception VCs love technology!

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Step 8 - Execute or Execute

• Do not operate your business without a budget
• This often means identifying financial resources
  early on, and continually
• Build firm plans and include managers in process
• Nothing will frustrate staff more than constantly
  changing business scenarios and changes in
  direction
• Constant change of direction indicates poor
  vision and determination at the top!
• Formally review and enhance plans every quarter
• Review two-year plans during these meetings

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Step 8 - Execute or Execute

• Get Managements buy-in
• Youve included them in the process now get them
  to buy into your direction--the more public the
  better!
• This gives you leverage! Hold monthly or
  semi-weekly status meetings (not the same as
  planning meetings) to review execution,
  successes, lessons learned, and missed milestones
• Publicly flog manager who do not make milestones,
  setting the tone that they are accountable to all
  the employees for their success and failure
• Execution is everything! Immediately execute
  managers with a track record of failure!
• Investors count on you to make your milestones.
  Share the grief!

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Thank you!

• I hope youve found our experience, and this
  session, to be useful!
• Mike Grigsby
• COO, ONTOP Systems
• COO, ExtranetWorks Corporation
• Download this presentation at www.ontop.com/devco
  n

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How will customers buy these new systems?

• Non Traditional Revenue Structures
• Advertising
• Monthly subscriptions
• Per-click charges
• Alliance / referral programs
• Combination of all of these