“Do It Yourself (DIY) portalets” for developing e‐business solutions for small and medium enterprises

Abstract

PurposeTo propose and develop a cost‐effective approach to developing and implementing customized electronic business solutions in a do‐it‐yourself (DIY) fashion.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed DIY approach is based on the concept of “portalets” that are used as building blocks to develop e‐business solutions with little or varying degree of customization efforts. Portalets form a platform for deriving the software (e‐business) product lines.FindingsThis paper not only discusses the necessity but also demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed DIY e‐business approach. New challenges associated with the approach are highlighted.Research limitations/implicationsIt is a critical and incremental task to develop portalets building blocks and identify their interfaces and standardize their customization points in terms of backend, middleware and client components.Practical implicationsThe study identifies a suite of tools and techniques for building and implementing EBS in order for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to significantly reduce the time and effort to an affordable level while capturing the unique business logics into the solutions.Originality/valueThe DIY e‐business approach represents a unique alternative for SME companies to adopt and implement EBS to best suit their operational characteristics.