The Chamber's Web site is continually being enhanced to ensure it remains a valuable business tool

Picture this: You run a promising business -- say, a small or mid-size factory making toys or some other product for an established "old-economy" market. Your customers like your products, and you see good prospects for your business. But you worry your "new economy" savvy competitors will steal your customers. You would like to be connected to global markets but are not convinced that the Internet can really help your business, or you simply don't have the money to invest in setting up a Web site.

"This is a dilemma facing many companies, and is one of the reasons that we decided to offer members a free Web page," Chamber Assistant Director Dr Y S Cheung said. "We provide member companies with that Internet presence and an e-mail relaying service free of charge. For SMEs, such a setup is ideal for them."

Companies choose their Web address and provide the Chamber with the information they want to put on their homepage. The Chamber's IT staff then put the homepage on line, and set up a message relaying service. For a nominal fee, the Chamber's IT staff can construct a more elaborate homepage or online catalogue for companies that want a greater online presence, he said.

"This is just one of the added-value aspects of Chamber membership," Dr Cheung said. "In the two weeks that we promoted the service, over 200 companies signed up."

Powerful business tool
Its Web site (www.chamber.org.hk) has been helping members and even non-members take advantage of the power of the Internet since April 1998.

At a time when e-commerce was still in its infancy, the Chamber recognised the potential of this new business tool and set up its Web site for businesses to utilise.

"We wanted to create a useful, informative Web site for business people to use, but at the same time make it as simple as possible to navigate and use," Dr Cheung said.

This recipe has proven to be successful. The Web site now gets an average of 4,500 page views a day, with 70 per cent of visitors coming from Hong Kong, the U.S., and mainland China.

"Our hit rate is increasing by approximately 2,000 page view per month, and we now have regular visitors from over 100 different countries," he said.

Rather than creating a Web site that has a little bit of everything, but not much of anything, Dr Cheung said he decided to focus on the main things which business people want -- Directory, Opportunities, and Information -- to create a useful site with substance.

Directory
In the Directory area, visitors have access to the Chamber's database of 4,000-plus corporate members, which allows them to find potential buyers and sellers. The directory also lists roughly 5,000 non-member companies which are allowed to add in real-time their business information to the database, though much more briefly than members' listings.

"The big plus of the Directory is that every company's information is up to date," Dr Cheung said. "You won't find any companies that have folded, or outdated phone numbers because we know who all of our members are."

Non-member companies listed in the directory are requested to up-date their information every 60 days, which can be done online. Failure for them to do so will mean their removal from the database.

Opportunities
People using the Opportunities area are mostly companies from outside Hong Kong. Members and non-members alike can search specific products or services they seek, or wish to provide, and relay an email to a potential client.

"From the number of enquiries being posted daily there is a lot of activity and dealings going on in this section. Thirty three per cent of our visitors are from the United States, and mainland China, but there are also visitors from Australia to Zimbabwe. So it truly is a global marketplace," he said.

Information
The Information area carries a myriad of practical information for businesses, including live business news impacting Hong Kong firms, SAR Government tenders, economic analyses ... even the live traffic conditions in Hong Kong courtesy of the government's Transport Department.

On a softer note, members can also have their story published on line in the Member Profile section. Among the well-known companies and individuals the Chamber's editor has interviewed for this section are TAL Apparel, Hari Harilela, Alibaba.com, Jebsen Co. Ltd., and Sun Hing Group.

"We think our members have lots of interesting stories to tell. Member Profile not only allows them to share their stories, but it also increases the awareness of these members and what they do among other companies," Dr Cheung said.

Members Only
A recent initiative has been to create online Chamber committee communities, wherein members of various committees can read minutes from past meetings, post comments and chat online.

The online committees' area was first tested by the Chamber's e-Committee, and is now being expanded to include other committees.

"We think committee members utilising the online committee information will discover the benefits of doing things electronically," Dr Cheung said. "Similarly, those members that test the waters of e-commerce through our free online hosting service may discover that it's worthwhile taking the plunge into e-commerce."

Web site Cooperation
In July this year, the Chamber called for requests for proposals from companies interested in cooperating with the Chamber to develop its Web site on a mutually beneficial basis. More than 30 requests were received, and after a careful screening and evaluation process, that number was whittled down to about 15 proposals. The Chamber is now in negotiations with these companies, and you can expect to see some exciting changes to the Web site in the coming months, Dr Cheung said. "One of the biggest changes will be that we will become a business portal. As such, members will find much more information and services to utilise."