Don’t write off the Internet for business yet

New technologies often start by copying what was done before (email and fax) and later “change the world.” Therefore, it would be a mistake to underestimate the potential impact of the Internet, which, despite the recent dot-com bust, is immense.

The Internet is not simply a new distribution channel or a new way to communicate. It provides a new market-place, an information service, a means for manufacturing goods and services, and a computing platform in its own right.

Hudson Valley organizations are enjoying new Internet technologies while driving down the cost and speeding up the rate of processing, transmitting, and storing information. Robert Feldman president of NewCoLabs in New Paltz said: “The Culinary Institute video-broadcasts live cooking tips all over the world and stores them for viewing on demand.”

Almost every business process involves information in some form. Feldman was audio conferencing the Village meetings in New Paltz so anyone could listen “on line” and email questions to be addressed. “The cost of internet broadcast technologies has gone from thousands to hundreds of dollars so even small business can afford it” said Feldman.

In 2000, seven years after the Internet’s commercial launch, 57 percent of Hudson Valley companies are using it for some of their sales, doubling sales use of only a year earlier. Nearly all were using the Internet to buy supplies and services, recruit employees, and research markets and industry trends.

The astonishing fall in the cost of transferring information around the world is a powerful force for globalization. It is not just big companies that have an incentive and the means to arrange production globally in whatever mode is most efficient. Now, small companies can also reach a global market and “look” like big firms.

Feldman is video-conferencing live CPA review classes in Washington to CPA candidates wishing to prepare for the exam all over the country. The Internet makes all kinds of work better because it increases access to information, thereby fostering new decision-making processes and tools. Even the smallest businesses or a single individual can use the Internet for research and education.

The Internet speeds up the dissemination and adoption of new techniques. As computers grow ever more powerful, the Internet becomes more powerful and it becomes easier to design new products. Wider competition increases the pressure to innovate.

The Internet allows companies to connect teams of designers or engineers in different parts of the world, enabling them to hand off work to each other and use time zones to accelerate research and testing.

This unprecedented combination of qualities explains why the Internet is affecting business life more profoundly than any previous technology. The greatest benefits will come only to Hudson Valley companies that have the right people and the right structure.

However, the Internet has an obvious limitation: It is not responsible for the final outcome. As a result, Hudson Valley Business leaders will need strong skills with emerging technologies and have to position their workforce with lifelong education and training to keep up. The “Business Internet”…you ain’t seen anything yet.

This article provided by Joe Murtagh, President of “the SOURCE”, a business and financial planning firm in Goshen, 800-239-0058 is, in part, extrapolated from the best selling business book, The Company of The Future by Frances Cairncross. Articles about change, competition, customer service, the Internet, management, marketing and training are archived on www.gotothesource.com under “Free Tips on Building Your Business

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