The Invisible Internet

Some pundits say that the net gold rush is over. Nothing could be further from the truth. "The web is not the ultimate game. In fact, it's probably not the ultimate scrimmage. It's probably the calisthenics before the scrimmage before the game," says George Colony, CEO of the influential consulting firm, Forrester Research. "As I like to say, we're sitting around campfires in loincloths and chewing on bones. It's very, very early."

The net was the first great inrush of interactive information technology into our lives, but it won't be the last. You may have read articles that predict the integration of the net into daily life. Well, cell phones that call you when an airline flight is delayed or thermostats that react to your body heat are just the beginning of the net's inroads into everyday activities. And that's great news for businesses that thought they missed the interactive technology boat. Wondering if your business has a place in the up and coming wave of seamless net integrations? Listen up to these prescient predictions from George Colony.

The Rise of Smart Ordering

Just getting customers to try your product or service is hard enough. How do you make sure they come back? Sending an e-mail is a gambit many companies have tried, but in the future, businesses will go even further.

Colony predicts many businesses will build systems that automate reorders. "Let's say you're Proctor & Gamble," he posits. "You mail a little box to consumers that they can attach to their wastebaskets. Every time consumers throw away Proctor & Gamble products, that little box scans the used up products as they go into the wastebasket. The box has a radio in it that goes back to the Internet and back to Proctor & Gamble and then to Federal Express. Tomorrow via Federal Express, you get toothpaste." The order is in the customer's hand - no muss, no fuss! See related interviews on the future of the Internet: CEO of Teledesic Internet World Chairman CEO of ViewSonic "They're essentially selling you brighter teeth toothpaste, but they're also selling you time, which is a very important commodity in our economy," Colony says. That's right. Today's net-savvy customers want convenience and smart ordering will provide that.

The Everywhere-You-Are Net

Right now getting online involves using an appliance like a PC or Palm Pilot. But soon that won't be the case.

"You're going to see a lot of the physical world being integrated with the Internet world. You may wear a badge in the future as you walk around your office and when you walk into a conference room, the screens will change to let you be able to look at your Internet e- mail," Colony predicts. "Within five years there will be a hundred different Internet sensors in that office you're in. When you sit down in your favorite chair, your favorite light will come on. When you're in a restaurant and your wineglass is half-empty, there's an Internet sensor on the wineglass that goes back to the waitress. She comes and fills your glass." The net will be everywhere, satisfying customer's needs perfectly without being obtrusive like a giant desktop PC.

"It's very invisible to you," Colony says. "It is the Internet all around you, in all aspects of your life, essentially making your life more convenient and making you more efficient and more productive at all times."

Even technophobes won't be able to resist the pull of technology. "As the Internet becomes more pervasive, even the people who didn't want to use the technology will in fact be using it. Their wineglass will be full. Their car will be more intelligent. There'll be computers in their clothing and they won't even know it," Colony says.

Does your business have a place in the future Colony sees? Maybe it's time you started planning for the future, not just the next six months but also the next few years. Because integrated information technology is on its way - and if you're not ready with a strategy, you may just get left behind.