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Get your business model in place: Ashok Soota

Kanchana Suggu in Bombay

Is the Internet only about traffic? No.

Or is it about having the first-mover advantage? Not really.

Does only speed matter in the cyberworld? Is advertising the right mantra for hitting the jackpot? Well, the answer to all of the above surely is 'No'.

The frantic quest of many a dot-com entrepreneur for the right protocol would have begun after listening to Ashok Soota, chairman and CEO, Mindtree Consulting.

"The age of dot-com is over and an era of the Internet has begun," Soota emphasised. He said that the Internet is a major institution of change to make operations more cost-effective; it is high on the efficiency scale and at the same time it meets the required standards of customer service.

"The true benefit of B2B is only in B2B2C model. You have to integrate at the back-end first. It is important to complete that part of the integration before going directly to millions of consumers," Soota told rediff.com.

Soota underlined that just getting an idea was not enough, but revenue streams and the concept of 'click-and-mortar' should also be given due importance.

So have Indians faltered in every aspect?

"Indians did not go wrong. The whole world went wrong. If there's anything, we've been lucky we came late so we could learn from other failures. India has relatively lost less," he said.

"Although Ebay might have been a successful dot-com story in the US, majority of the ventures have gone bust. Today, there is a need of changing the way in which companies sell intangibles, rather than hardcore products," he said.

Soota told rediff.com, "First of all, you have to get your business model in place. Then you have to go back to the consumer and try to understand his needs. A company in the manufacturing industry may have to concentrate more on the back-end and a consumer company should do it on the front-end. One has to look at the company and act accordingly."

Soota said that despite the US economy downturn, stock prices of e-integrators in the US have climbed up 40-50 per cent in the last eight weeks. He added that in India, companies have not taken a major hit in the first place.

Soota added, "People must realise that the Internet helps one improve customer service and reduce the cost of transaction. You don't have to wait for a crisis to make that happen. You do it because there is a tool available and this in turn, will help you to move further."

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