Archive for August, 2009
The internet changes everything. We’ve heard that phrase so often in the past that it has ceased to have any shock value. Of course the internet changes everything. The reality is the internet, for all it’s buzz, has wrought flashy but mainly superficial change in the most industries so far. It has transformed back office procedures for how goods are inventoried, brought, and sold; it has served as an intriguing new medium for marketing and selling to customers; and it has even streamlined investing so much that millions in average Americans, once sheep led by stockbrokers, are now trading stocks daily- no, hourly. Yes, buying an obscure book or auctioning off Granma’s can-oil lamp has never been easier, and e-mail has vastly improved internal communications at most companies. And over time these e-changes will grow to seem more fundamental. But those who proclaim that the net is a revolution that has already ripped through American business mistake a clear view for a short distance.
And now, in the internet age, the number of IT big shots is further multiplying by virtue of the all-embracing nature of ubiquitous networks. The IT industry is no longer a simple value chain with a handful of key links and choke points, but instead is a value “web” built around universally agreed-upon network standards.