What if you don't do it?

Another use for the Cyberstrategy Model is as a diagnostic tool to assess what your competitors are doing online. This exercise will provide you with some benchmark examples and demonstrate how similar organizations have succeeded or failed in this new marketing dimension. This kind of knowledge will help you to adopt Internet technology in the most appropriate and successful way.

A primary use of the Internet is as a research tool. Online information sources are one of the best ways for you to get to know how your industry and competitors are using the Internet to achieve different business aims. To reach your competitors' web sites, search for their company name or use some keywords that are pertinent to your business in one of the many search engines available online.

Take a look at any sites listed, noting down the kind of facilities they provide (for example, search, ordering, response forms, private forums or chat rooms, etc.). Notice how graphics, animation and information are presented, and the effect it has on you as a user. Getting to know which sites you like and dislike using will help you formulate an initial idea of what your own site should offer.

As an example, we have taken a fictional flower distribution industry and compared the way the Internet is used by two high street brands with a company who does business solely via the Internet. We begin by mapping each firm...