Building an account service area is an incremental process. You need to get the organization focused on making it work. For banks, that means beginning with account information and bill payment. Airlines think about reducing the costs of handling frequent flier inquiries and put mileage statements on the Web. Colleges could move the course registration process online.
Pharmacies ought to enable doctors and patients to renew and order prescriptions over the Web.
Goodmans Furniture Inc., an office furniture dealer in Phoenix, has given its customers access to order status since its site launched in 1996. Now it's getting fancy. Architects and designers who buy from Goodmans can visit the site to see if they have the latest catalog and pricing from a given manufacturer. And since Goodmans' headquarters is across the street from the baseball stadium where the Arizona Diamondbacks play, customers can also reserve parking spaces for specific game days through the site, receiving a printable pass for their dashboards via e-mail. Key to any online service endeavor, though, is ensuring the organization will support it by fixing flubs and helping shift customers to the Web.