E-Commerce strategists: The new hired guns

January 30, 2001 —

They've been dubbed the new consultants, the e-consultants, the e-business builders, the Internet strategists, the digital strategists, the electronic-commerce innovators, the interactive relationship managers, the solutionists. Christopher Lochhead, who is one, calls them something else. "We are the Marines of the business," says Lochhead, the unabashedly promotional chief marketing officer for Scient Corp. Not only does his 23-month-old San Francisco-based consulting company consist of an elite cadre of specialists, but, he says, those specialists can mobilize quickly, efficiently and decisively to craft and execute strategies for do-or-die e-commerce ventures at both brick-and-mortar companies and daring new dot-coms. After deployment, an occupation force may stick around for years, helping the client quell competitor uprisings or market changes.

In today's cutthroat e-business environment, the buzzwords have changed yet again. Lochhead calls e-business startups "attack businesses," operating not under a paradigm shift but under paradigm violence, a sudden, drastic and irreversible transformation in their markets.

And to deal with that, he and other e-business strategists say, companies need guidance from experts who know the territory, know the enemy and know how to map out a fast, comprehensive take-no-prisoners strategy.

E-commerce strategists say three main features distinguish them from their ancestors, the big-time consulting companies and traditional systems integrators, and their cousins, the Web design or advertising agencies. First, they're faster and more flexible. Many pledge to launch a global high-transaction e-business in anywhere from 10 weeks to six months, as opposed to old-fashioned startup plans, which are measured in years. "The traditional 12-month strategic planning process no longer works," says Randall Hancock, senior vice president of e-strategy for Mainspring Communications Inc. in Cambridge, Mass. "I no longer even have six months. I have six weeks."

Equally important: While most e-commerce strategists do build e-commerce systems, they don't consider themselves Web designers or developers. They emphasize business strategy as least as much as technology and tactics. Mainspring went so far as to register the trademark for "eStrategy." Some don't even get their hands dirty with IT implementation. "We are not in the business of installing huge armies of programmers," says John Sviokla, partner at Chicago-based Diamond Technology Partners and head of its digital strategy practice. "Generally, we act more as a general contractor," helping clients develop new business plans, then hire other companies to install, implement and maintain the technology to make the change happen.

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