E-Commerce & Business on the Internet     Back to Top

E-commerce is the use of telecommunications and computers to provide goods and services to shoppers. This ranges from the use of telephones as a sales method, right up to the use of internet and WAP-enabled telephones to allow people to buy what they want, whenever they want.

If you want to be a company selling through the internet, you have a number of options.  You can build the site yourself, or you can have:

• A predefined shop building/registration service, like HomePageCreator, or Virgin Biznet
• An off the shelf toolkit to help you build your shop, and put it online, such as Actinic, Shop @ssistant or ecBuilder
• A dedicated bespoke system built to your requirements...

The nearer to the top of the list, the less control you have over the look and 'feel' of the site.  However, the first 2 options are suitable for shops selling a limited number of goods, or shops on a tight budget.

Alimar can help in the design, building and implementation of your web site. We can offer advice on different aspects of what image you want to project, give your customers what you want them to have, and make sure your site is as easy to find as possible!

XML

XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is a mechanism which allows different web sites to interact, share data and information, and even programs.   For example, you could use it to publish information about your business that you can make easily and automatically available to your customers.  Each unit of information or intelligence passed could be a strong revenue stream for you!

We can help you add XML to your site, or help you exploit XML information from other sites!

Click here for details on the uses and issues around XML

Internet     Back to Top

The internet is a reasonably inexpensive way to project a presence to millions of customers, and gives an opportunity to reorganise the mechanism for transferring information within an organisation. Many businesses have embrace the internet as an excellent tool to provide goods and services to customers. If your product can be sold successfully by phone, catalogue or advertising, then it is a prime candidate for the internet!

It is well known that some dotCom companies are failing - but what about the successes? What do these have?

• A sound business base
• A production chain completely integrated with the internet
• A strong web site and net presence
• Innovation

Client-Server Systems     Back to Top

Whilst the internet, e-commerce and all the latest technologies are at the top of the list for many businesses, there are still many, many computer systems used by organisations that are not 'net'-based. Alimar has a sound history and extensive experience in building such systems. Some of our areas of experience include:

• Billing/Contract reconciliation/validation systems
• Staff rota availability systems
• Booking systems
• Data Marts
• Contact management
• Knowledge Management systems
• Document Management systems
• Stock Control