Q&A With OnLink's Buck French

On the Web, site performance becomes inextricably identified with an e-business itself. That means solutions providers have to step up to a whole new level of planning their solutions.

"With e-commerce, Web integrators are faced with externally focused software issues," says Buck French, co-founder, president and CEO of 4-year-old OnLink Technologies Inc., a privately owned e-commerce applications provider in Redwood City, Calif. "A site has to be responsive to customers' needs and promote a brand image that evokes a positive response and lasting customer loyalty."

That topic is close to French's heart. His company provides e-commerce applications that enable vendors to create and manage online buying processes. He recently discussed OnLink's customer experience focus with VARBusiness senior editor/hardware Jan Stafford.

VARBusiness: What is the value-add that OnLink brings to the e-business market?
French: OnLink solves an e-commerce problem that many first-generation sites have overlooked: helping customers accomplish their online buying goals by effectively guiding them from their perspectives to the right purchase decisions.

VB: How do Web integrators fit into your e-business strategy?
French: We use a direct sales model and also leverage Web integrators for business success. Along with our own professional services team, OnLink has an aggressive systems integrator strategy. We are currently engaged with leading systems and Web integration firms to assist with business consulting on the touch points across the full e-commerce landscape. OnLink is also closely aligned with ASPs to reach the midmarket via a subscription pricing model.

VB: What are some of the challenges your company faces in today's newly emerging e-business software market?
French: Being visionary requires educating people about new ways to solve problems vs. forcing old technology to fit in the New World. Also, simply keeping up with the increasing customer demand in this exploding market space and growing OnLink's infrastructure to support our expanding Fortune 500 customer base are a few of the challenges that keep us up at night.

VB: What are your goals for this year?
French: Our No.1 goal is to continue our track record for winning large customer accounts and getting them up and running quickly.

VB: What are some typical ways that Web integrators fail when they first enter the Internet market?
French: Integrators will fail if they try to apply old technology and antiquated ways of doing things to a substantially new market space. That is how we got Y2K. All kidding aside, integrators have to take a new perspective with e-business, one in which their clients' customers are in control. They fail because they take an internally focused approach to solving an external need. Customers shopping online want to engage with a site that is interactive and driven from their perspective. Simply taking an internal application, like a sales force automation tool, and placing a Web front end on it will not work in the next generation of e-commerce.

VB: What is your advice to Web integrators who are trying to find their niche in the e-business market?
French: You need to embrace the concept of looking at a company through its customers' eyes on the Web, as well as through other channels. Think outside of the box and set up companies to do business online the same way they have for hundreds of years with a sales force or channel. The principles of solution-selling should not be abandoned on the Web. Web integrators that embrace this online model of doing business will find their niche and flourish.