The Wired Democracy

Information, it’s traditionally been said, leads to knowledge and consequently, power. As we head 



towards the next millennium, we’re heading towards a seamlessly integrated world where information is accessible at the touch of a button. What the Internet does, more effectively than any other invention in the history of human civilization, is democratize information sharing. The availability of information and knowledge invariably leads to wider choice for the customer, reinforcing his position as the key driver of business. All organizations, large or small, will need to integrate the Net and the business opportunities it creates into their daily operations. While this means that a huge amount of business will be transacted over the Web, viewing the Internet purely as a marketplace would be underestimating its potential. The Internet will also have a significant role in transforming business processes, as well as facilitating existing business processes and making them more efficient. 

The inevitable consequence of this is enhanced product and service quality, and greater importance to understanding the consumer’s needs and desires. For the IT community, this means an increasing focus on developing products and solutions that do one of the following:

Increase the multiplicity of choices for the customer by providing him with information that’s tangibly better–qualitatively and quantitatively. This also involves choices in delivery mechanisms, whether this means direct selling on the Net or a combination of direct selling with real world retail outlets, combining e-tailing and retailing. 

Internet scenarios will need to be developed for various kinds of interaction between clients and vendors, for example, to show customers–existing and prospective–all the required information like service offers, product catalogues, configuration of products, pricing, etc.

The key success factors for creating an environment where the Net integrates seamlessly with business are:

• An industry-specific framework that allows Web-enabling of business scenarios.

• Strong connection to an industry- specific back-end system to fulfill business transactions.

The other aspect that emerging IT products and solutions will address is improving service quality for consumers. Current buzzwords like Customer Relationship Management

(CRM) will cease to be mere buzzwords and become an essential part of any business’s approach to its customers. This will involve tracking and analyzing the customer’s likes and dislikes, and tailoring the services and products in a way that constantly adds value to the consumer’s purchase experience. Not only will the consumer’s choices improve, so will the speed and efficiency with which these are met. 

A CRM system will be required to bridge the gap between the client and the server–a connection to a strong back-end system being a key factor. For example, a

tele-sales or mobile order needs to connect to a back-end system to complete the business transaction via an order fulfillment system.



The democratization created by the Internet isn’t just limited to the consumer. It also helps small and medium-sized businesses to compete with larger organizations on a more equal footing. One of the biggest constraints that any small business faces is the inability to invest in infrastructure and business applications on a large scale. Large organizations with offices in multiple locations also have the ability to react faster to developments across diverse geographies, giving them a greater competitive edge. 


The Internet is a medium that’ll be used by organizations to conduct business transactions, without their size, location or application infrastructure being a constraint. The proliferation of “Apps on a Tap”–applications that run on the Net–help reduce the disparity between organizations. Application Service Providers
(ASPs) offer users the opportunity to conduct their business over the Net within a secure work environment. So, a small business needn’t invest large amounts of money in the day-to-day IT applications required to run an e-business, because those applications are available on the Net whenever needed. These could range from accounting and transactional software to an industry-focused virtual storefront, where the business can display its products and services. This could be on a “pay-per-use” basis or on a subscription fee. There’s also no need to worry about the back-end infrastructure needed to support this electronic marketplace, because the onus of keeping the systems running 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year falls on the ASP. The only area where the business needs to invest in back-end infrastructure is for product delivery, ensuring that transactions conducted over the Web are fulfilled and the product delivered. 

This also gives businesses greater flexibility in terms of geography. “Apps on a Tap” are accessible anytime, anywhere. All the user needs is a desktop with Internet connectivity, allowing him to conduct business in real time across geographically diverse markets. Thus, the Internet business environments created by ASPs act as a portal to merge marketplaces with the applications needed to conduct business transactions in these marketplaces. Regardless of size, two customers who want to deal with each other have a secure work environment for conducting business and a platform to showcase services. With the advantages of size and geography being negated, competitors will be differentiated on the basis of one thing and one thing only–quality.

Internet business environments will also significantly increase the efficiency of business processes by creating opportunities for collaboration between businesses through auctioning. In a traditional marketplace, a huge amount of time is taken up in identifying the right partners for any business transaction. This involves not only identifying partners who manufacture the products required, but also a long-drawn process of negotiation with every prospective vendor. Internet business environments allow companies the flexibility of studying all the goods and services on offer in a particular industry segment at the same time. But that’s not all. A company also has the option of conducting an online auction in a secure environment within the marketplace. So, a company announces the need for a certain product and a time frame for conducting the auction. Vendors or suppliers who’re interested in collaborating with the company then participate in the auction, where they showcase their bids and offers. The buyer has the opportunity to negotiate with multiple vendors or suppliers in real time, and close a transaction with the vendor offering the best bid. The whole process is completed in a matter of hours instead of days that it usually takes. This difference can be critical in case of products with a short life span, where existing technologies become increasingly irrelevant with every passing day and are replaced with new innovations.

However, mere transaction of goods isn’t enough. It’s important that the transaction be backed by logistical capability to deliver the product or service. This could mean either the integration of a company’s manufacturing and distribution, or a collaboration between two businesses where one company is involved in sales and manufacturing and the other takes care of distribution and delivery. A case in point is the automobile industry, which requires a high degree of collaboration between automobile manufacturers and their sales and distribution channels. This is true for almost every business, from a Web-based Amazon.com to an oil and gas company. 

So what does this translate into for large organizations? 

Well, the doomsday prophets who go about claiming that the days of large businesses are over can take a back seat. The products that are consumed won’t change. The industry segments that create these products won’t become obsolete. The only thing that’ll really change is the quality of products and services offered. For large organizations, the message is simple. If your product doesn’t measure up to the standards that the customer demands, the Internet offers him the opportunity of finding a product that does. And remember when it comes to quality in a democratic wired environment, a small business with the necessary supplier network may be as able to deliver the same level of quality and quantity as a large business. 

So what do companies need to do to compete in the digital age? The answer is simple. Integrate the Internet and the opportunities it creates into everyday business processes, making them a fundamental part of an organization’s daily operations. An enterprise’s fundamental business goals won’t change, but the manner in which those goals are achieved will. ERP solutions, far from becoming redundant and obsolete, will become even more critical. But they’ll have to go

beyond merely integrating ground processes like manufacturing, distribution and accounting, to integrating ground operations and traditional business scenarios with Web scenarios, allowing organizations to transact business and deliver results in real time. Employees need to be provided with an integrated workplace, with easy access to the company’s back-end functionality (ERP), customer information

(CRM), organizational knowledge base (Intranet), as well as the outside world via the Internet. Through the effective use of emerging Internet business processes like Sales Force Automation and Customer Relationship Management, companies can integrate their manufacturing, distribution, marketing, support, and administrative functions like never before.

So where does that leave us as consumers? We’ll have access to a degree of choice and quality that we’ve never had. The new Internet economy will deliver the best aspects of a competitive, free, quality-oriented market to people everywhere. However, with quality being the critical differentiator between organizations, and with knowledge about competitors and their quality being freely accessible, the days of monolithic bullies with absolute control over the market are on the way out.

The consumer will rule, and at the end of the day, all of us are consumers. Welcome to Utopia!