Executive Thought Leadership

A Positive Future For The Internet

In keynote speeches to business, government and education audiences around the world, Howard Charney argues that, despite the current market challenges, the best of the Internet Revolution is yet to come.

Howard supports his hypothesis with three axioms:

1) All major technology revolutions follow a predictable cycle of the three Bs: Boom. Bust. Build-out. And the Internet is no exception.

2) The Internet is a disruptive technology. It's disruptive because it has the potential for being less expensive and more productive while offering more functionality than any of the respective existing networks. This means we can imagine something we never envisioned before: unifying all communications on a single infrastructure.

3) The business model must work. Technology revolutions require investment--and investors today want to see a payback in months or quarters as opposed to years. The only way to achieve that rapid ROI is by increasing productivityand the convergence that comes with the Internet is the mechanism for achieving that increase.

If history repeats itself, then we can look at the predictable cycles of major technology revolutions in the past and know that the golden period of sustained economic growth is yet to come.

Whats happening in this important transitional phase we're now in is that the Internet technology is becoming more mainstream and more essential for everyday lifewhich will drive the market demand and inevitable expansion period yet ahead.

To learn more about Howard's speeches, please take a look at the speech and accompanying slides for a keynote he presented in Australia in August, 2002.

Obtaining Productivity from the Internet

Investment in information technology, networking and the Internet is making a positive impact in a very direct and tangible way that's important to businesses, governments and entire nations: it's driving increased productivity, or worker output per hour.

A 2001 Economic Report of the President found that the information technology sector-although a fairly small part of the economy, worth about 8.3% of the U S G.D.P. in 2000-accounted for almost one-third of all output growth between 1995 and 1999.

Furthermore, the report states that the sectors that invested the most in information technology experienced some of the greatest productivity gains during the 1990s.

So how do organizations obtain productivity from the Internet? In four progressive stages:

Information. In this stage, the Web is used for conveying information. What we're really talking about here is Web sitesof which there are more than 3.2 billion today.

Interaction. There are two components to this stage: E-commerce, or using the Web to buy and sell things. And e-service, using the Web to deliver customer services.

Collaboration. This stage is about many-to-many communications and transactions. It refers to new technologies that link people together online such as instant messaging, threaded discussions, videoconferencing, Web-based meetings and virtual conferences. And it sets the foundation for such exciting applications as the digital collaboration in the design of products and services, eMarketplaces, telemedicine and e-learning.

Transformation. Where the Internet is integral to everything you do. This stages requires an IP infrastructure that carries voice, video and data. This Internet platform is used to support Web-based applications for every business function, from e-commerce to employee services to supply chain management.

The Internet is driving the increased productivity that's necessary for survival in the fast-paced Internet Economy. The question is: Are You Ready?