Business Model Comparison
The chosen business model is B2B, which is very popular and beneficial for the accounting firms that provide accounting and auditing services to other business organizations. There are also other business models such as B2C or P2P but they are more suitable for other business categories rather than accounting services (Qu et al. 2015). This is because, while the accounting firms function as independent organizations, they provide services to other business organizations as a whole rather than just a specific entity. For the study of this particular e-commerce model, two different organizations have been chosen as follows.
Organization 1: Accenture
Home Page URL: https://www.accenture.com/in-en/new-applied-now
Home Page Screenshot:
Organization 2: PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)
Home Page URL: https://www.pwc.com/
Home Page Screenshot:
Accenture belongs to the B2B model because it provides services to various other business organizations in accounting, auditing, technology solutions and others i.e. the company takes part in direct commercial transaction with other business organizations. However, analyzing the services of Accenture, it can be said that it also fits the B2C model as the organization also provides services to consumers in certain areas of business as well. It is evident from their existing business policies that have targets to provide services in both B2B and B2C models (Oliveira and Dhillon 2015). They have also authorized specific projects and initiatives that will help them invest more in B2C model in spite of being a B2B company. The website also reflects the same as it displays various plans of the company regarding the development of B2B and B2C business models.
PwC is predominantly a B2B company that provides accounting and auditing solutions to other commercial business organizations. Following the B2B model allowed PwC to grow from a UK professional organization to one of the world’s largest multinational services organization. The clients of the company are also large sized commercial business organizations that have built up strong business relationships with PwC (Rahayu and Day 2015). Various projects and initiatives of PwC also aim to further promote the use of the B2B business model that helps the company to continue to grow. The website of PwC is specifically developed for other business organizations who can view the services provided by PwC so that they can contact the company regarding a possible business relationship.
Based on the overall review of the website of Accenture, it is evident that the principal business goal of the website is attract the new clients with the wide varieties of projects that the company is associated with. The business clients have specifically chosen for display in the website that have high business and brand values (Mohtaramzadeh, Ramayah and Jun-Hwa 2017). From the website, some of the business partnerships displayed by Accenture include Telstra, Rugby Australia and others.
Website Attributes Comparison
On the other hand, the website of PwC is slightly different in terms of business goal. Instead of describing about business partnerships and the business partners, PwC’s focus is mainly on the industry as a whole and also some of the common issues that the industry faces. The website of PwC also emphasizes how the company wants to use these issues as tools and solve them in order to grow in the industry (Hamad et al. 2015). The website also focuses on some social issues like woman empowerment, LGBT community and others and clearly states they will continue to promote these developments and communities in order to develop a cultural and equal environment within the organization.
|
Attribute |
Accenture |
PwC |
Comment |
|
How does the website URL relate to the business name? |
5 |
4 |
Both of the website URLs reflect the business names of the organizations. However, the website URL of PwC only mentions PwC instead of the full name and hence, some new users may find it difficult to find the site. |
|
How easily is the website found using general internet search engines (e.g. Google, Ask, AltaVista, Bing, Yahoo!)? |
5 |
5 |
Both of the websites are easy to find using internet search engines. Whenever each of the business is searched using the name, the search engines provide the website URL in the first search result. |
|
Does the website give me all the organizational information a user could reasonably require? |
3 |
5 |
Accenture’s website does not provide sufficient organizational information as it is more focused on the projects, plans and business related information that are associated with the organization. However, PwC’s website provides in-depth details of each and every aspect of the company providing the visitor the chance to know all about the company. |
|
Are requirements to provide a user’s (personal or sensitive) information appropriate? |
5 |
5 |
The requirements of user’s personal information are appropriate for both the websites. Both of the websites ask for minimal details that are essential to create account with the website. |
|
How well does the website reassure users about the security and use of their information? |
5 |
2 |
The website of Accenture assures the user about the privacy of his personal data and information and has also published a brief data privacy details. However, PwC website does not provide such details and has not published any data privacy policy document for the users who will register in the website. |
|
How well does the website foster user trust in the organisation? |
3 |
4 |
Accenture website tries to foster user trust by displaying information about other clients that have strong business relationship with the company and tries to prove that the company is trusted by large organizations worldwide. PwC website tries to foster user trust in the organization by highlighting several issues related to the business environment and how the company is taking initiative to solve them. |
|
How well does the website address legal issues associated with use of the website or engagement in transactions? |
1 |
1 |
None of the websites emphasize on addressing legal issues associated with the use of website or engagement in transactions. However, for any user activity in the website, the user needs to agree with terms and conditions so that no legal issues arise in the near future. |
|
How well does the website provide for the accessibility needs of users? |
1 |
1 |
Both of the websites does not provide any measures for the accessibility of the users. |
|
How well does the website address the language or cultural needs of users? |
5 |
2 |
Accenture website has the feature for choosing user location so that when a region or country is chosen, the website only shows information and company details that are related to that specific country only. For instance, if the country chosen is Australia, the website will only show relevant business information specific to Australia only. On the other hand, PwC website acts as a global website and does not have such region specific features. |
|
Does the website contain all the product information that a user could reasonably require? |
5 |
5 |
Both of the websites have in-depth detail about the product / service information that the companies provide and the users can easily find their requirements in the website. |
|
Does the website allow all the customisation (user-managed features) that a user could reasonably expect? |
1 |
1 |
None of the websites allow all customisation that the users can expect from the sites. Rather, the user has to work on whatever website template provided to them and fulfill their requirements. |
|
How well does the website personalise the experience for users? |
3 |
1 |
Accenture website personalises the experience for the users significantly well. Accenture also provides region specific content to the users in order to provide them with better experience. PwC website is more focused on the business aspects and does not invest much in the personalised experience for the users. |
|
Does the website identify sufficient channels for user service/support? |
1 |
1 |
None of the websites identify sufficient channels for user service / support. The user has to go through a lot of hassle in order to reach the user service and support. |
|
How easy is it to find any information on the website about the organisation, their products or services? |
5 |
5 |
In both of the websites, it is significantly easy to find information about the organizations, their products and their services. Both of the websites emphasize on displaying suitable amount of information such that the users can easily find them as required. |
|
How easy is the information on the website to read (i.e. is provided information in appropriate language and with sufficient detail for most users)? |
5 |
5 |
Both of the websites ensure that the information provided in the pages is easy to read by all the users. The information is written in clear English along with suitable use pictures and graphs so that the users have a clear understanding on what the information tries to say. |
|
Is the website easy to navigate (i.e. move through the website to find information, products, or services, and engage in transactions with the organisation)? |
4 |
5 |
PwC’s website is relatively easier to navigate as Accenture’s website displays too many animated and high definition pictures that may cause a lag in the user’s system if it does not have sufficient hardware support. |
|
How appropriate are the website aesthetics (e.g. use of layout, colours, imagery, fonts, etc) for the target audience? |
5 |
3 |
The website aesthetics of Accenture are much better than PwC in terms of layout used, colours, pictures, fonts and others. Accenture mainly focuses on specific information details rather than the use of aesthetics. |
|
How well does the website foster community among users? |
2 |
5 |
Accenture does not focus much on fostering communities among users. On the other hand, PwC website has strong emphasis on fostering different communities among the users. |
|
How quickly does the website load into your browser and do all website features, links and embedded objects (eg: media files or applets) work as intended? |
3 |
5 |
The loading of the Accenture website is much slower than PwC due to the extensive use of aesthetics like high quality images, animations, embedded objects and others. However, in spite of slow loading, the parts of the websites work accurately although the user might have to go through some minimal waiting time to load the pages. |
|
How well does the website support different web-browsers or platforms (e.g. mobile devices)? |
5 |
5 |
Both of the websites have full support for different web browsers and platforms. However, as mentioned in the previous point, the mobile users can face some difficult time in loading the website. |
|
Does the website provide a sufficient range of payment options as could be reasonably expected? |
5 |
5 |
Both of the websites provide sufficient ranges of payment options in their payment page. The payment options include various debit and credit cards like Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and others. |
|
Does the website provide a sufficient range of delivery options as could be reasonably expected? |
3 |
4 |
Accenture website focuses mainly on the types of services they provide rather than delivery options. On the other hand, PwC basically emphasizes on how they wish to deliver their services to their clients. |
Based on the comparison between the two websites, it can be said that the PwC website much more likely to be successful than Accenture. This is mainly because the PwC website focuses more on the services and the strategic tools that the company utilizes in order to achieve success in the market such that potential clients have a clear idea about the company’s operations and reliability (Alsaad, Mohamad and Ismail 2014). On the other hand, Accenture website focuses on the existing clients in an attempt to let the new potential clients know about the profile of the company rather than the company’s services and initiatives taken to prosper in the market. However, if a potential client wants to choose a service provider solely based on the company profile, they will find the Accenture website much more attractive (Hoque and Boateng 2017). Again, based on the ratings provided in the previous table, Accenture is ahead of PwC by only a single point and hence, it is evident that both the websites have their own advantages and disadvantages. Hence, in spite of the points, it will be up to the clients whether they will choose Accenture or PwC for their required services
References
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