Relax. You don’t have to dress in black or be sipping an Evian Water to hear the truth (Yes, friend. Ah say the TRUTH! Say Amen!) about the Internet.
First. What happened? Answer: It was too hip to sustain itself. Remember the Hula Hoop?
Second. How is the Hula Hoop similar to “Jogging?” Answer: I don’t know for sure, but I’d like to make as much money as Nike makes in a day.
Third. The point is, Pandora’s Box has been opened. Part of it was the craze, but part of it will continue to sustain a huge industry and provide for lifestyle changes for the entire world. (Case in point: how many executives jog daily; how many executives use e-mail daily?)
Three to four years ago, the Internet was going to replace everything but soda pop. No company was going to survive unless it could go from “bricks to clicks.” Internet darlings, in their all-black, stylishly-pierced, BMW-driven splendor, seeped into even the most pin-stripped of offices, where they commanded ardor and attention.
By the end of 2000, the whiz-kids were booted out of big-time.
But, of the demons loosed from Pandora’s Box, we’ve come to enjoy the company of many: e-mail certainly, online research, online banking, online job hunting, online ticket reservations and online shopping.
eBay is thriving, attracting 37 million customers, expanding abroad, selling more and more things every quarter, and most tellingly, ringing up honest-to-George Washington, ever-increasing profits: $129 million on $740 million in revenues and $6.6 billion in gross sales in the first three quarters of 2001. Circuit City and Toys "R" Us are surging online. Jupiter Media Metrix recently said that total U.S. Internet users topped 100 million in October. Jupiter also says that B2C (business to consumer) Web sales were at least $24 billion in 2000 and will exceed $30 billion for 2001.
U.S. banks are offering online-quick electronic money transfer, bill payment, and automated record keeping. 22 percent of American households have given up checking for clicking. Right up until last fall's anthrax scare; whether people are anxious about contaminated mail or about delays that could result in late mortgage and credit-card payments, more customers are turning to online banks. According to the Gartner Group, a Stamford, Conn., e-commerce research firm, some banks reported a 20 percent increase in enrollment between September and November of 2001.
The mortgage industry will never be the same, fundamentally changed by enabling consumers to assume greater responsibility and control. Through the end of 2000, 3.4 million consumers shopped and/or applied for a mortgage through the online channel, according to Gomez Inc., a Waltham, Massachusetts, online market research and advisory firm.
But sites catering to the public are having a much harder time. Online magazine Salon.com, which started subscriber-only content in March, and Britannica.com, which began charging in July, say they're meeting or surpassing their expectations--but they have yet to convert even 1% of the more than 3 million people who click on their sites monthly. Salon has sold just 29,000 subscriptions, at $6 a month; Britannica, at $7.95, has sold 30,000.
Financial news providers, though, are following The Wall Street Journal's lead, and making readers pay for online access, and getting results. TheStreet.com, which launched a new paid site in 2000, got two-thirds of its $3.5 million third-quarter 2001 revenue from 76,000 subscribers. About 80% of revenue for EDGAR Online, which provides Securities & Exchange Commission filings, now comes from corporate subscribers. And research firm Economy.com says it broke even on its paid site in December, just weeks after it began charging $16.95 a month. "We would have given it two years," says CEO Paul Getman.
At Image Analytics, we believe that the boom, the “Bigga, bigga BOOM!,” will happen when broadband applications become mainstream. According to the AP, 21.3 million people now have high-speed Internet connections, a 90 percent increase over last year. Research firms are saying that between 12 and 13 Million more will join them this year. (This, despite a trashed economy.) When film and video are available online, the way music “sort-of” is now, acceptance will change dramatically.
How far off is broadband? To give you an idea, it’s now “capable” on your cellphone. Wireless networks based on the IEEE 802.11a (or Wi-Fi5) specification--a sibling to today's 802.11b (or Wi-Fi) spec--promise throughput of up to 54 megabits per second. That's not as speedy as modern-day 100-mbps ethernet, but it's fast enough to manage such tasks as streaming DVD-quality video.
"OK! Shut up! If all this is true, why aren’t more companies doing better?"
Answer A: When companies stop goofing around with their online experience and treat it seriously like the storefront that it is?
Answer B: When companies start behaving over the Internet, the way they behave in real life.
Answer C: When companies throw out “Internet experts” who attempt to generalize the experience, the applications behind it, and the information it conveys.
Answer D: When companies get serious about the online experience, when executives take ownership for it and integrate it into their company, and when they begin to articulate their online information the same way they create PR, advertising and direct mail.
Answer D is close, but at Image Analytics, we have a simpler answer: “When you do anything at all online, don’t do a damn thing you don’t intend to do or aren’t willing to do with all your heart.”
And remember, the things you can do with your heart are “human” things, active things, heroic things, the things we describe in our Strategic Audits: relate to people, go one-on-one, talk softly, speak plainly, don’t tell fibs, overcome concerns, hold people’s hands, don’t keep people guessing, anticipate people’s needs, guarantee your work, give better service, give people a reason to come back, make people smile, and — the very most important thing you can do of all — stand apart from everyone else.
When the Internet becomes as much a part of your organization as your handshake, it will come into its own.
Peter C. Newman, writing in Canada’s MacClean’s Magazine, summed up his recent article by saying, “...The New, New Economy will be driven by the Internet, the identical power-source of the original e-commerce revolution. It didn't maximize its impact mainly because few of its users could figure out how to make the Web profitable. Once the Net becomes recognized as the ultimate expression of convergence, few will be able to avoid investing in its future, or paying hard cash for its services. "The Internet will eventually absorb radio, TV, personal computers, telephones, cameras and rap singers," according to U.S. futurist George Gilder. "More value will move across its Web pages daily than will be carried by all of the world's supertankers, pipelines, 18-wheel trucks and cargo aircraft."