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GeT On The Web

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DQI Bureau
New Update

Everyone

can see the fire burning, expertise lies in smelling the smoke. Translate that

into the business world and it sounds similar to–‘I should have bought the

Infosys stock in 1995’ versus ‘I bought the Infosys stock in 1995’!

Needless to say the future depends a lot on the ability to spot emerging trends

and translate them into business opportunities.

Sometimes

it makes sense to take the leadership position and start a trend where a gap

exists and change the paradigm altogether! Based on what I see in the market

today and on some of the gaps and emerging trends–GeT, here is my betting

list.

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Thin client is no more thin

Have you noticed

how bloated the so-called ‘thin client’ has lately become? The browser

itself takes more than 25Mb and this does not include helper apps or other

plug-ins that you may have to install. The browser is good enough for reading

documents or sharing text-based information, but it severely limits the kind of

user experience you can provide. On top of that, developing applications rich in

functionality to run within the browser is not only a pain in the neck but is

overly restrictive.

So, the time has come to ‘think

outside the browser’! In fact, the trend had already started with helper apps,

like RealAudio. Now it makes a lot of sense to provide ‘software agents’ to

users so that they can download and configure for their own use rather than

force the user to go to your website every time to perform a function. One of

the upsides of ‘software agents’ would be that the user is less likely to

‘click away’ to another site–so there is no question of losing eyeballs.

The ‘software agent’ will use

the power of web technology for data collection and transactions and the power

of the PC for delivering excellent user interface. For example, today one

usually goes to a couple of different sites or ‘price comparison sites’,

like ‘mySimon.com or pricewatch.com’ to find out where one can get the best

deal. Then one may end up going to multiple sites to get the cheapest price on

each of the items wanted or end up buying everything from one site even though

one will be paying a few extra just for the sake of convenience.

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Now consider this–I have a ‘shopping

agent’ that resides on my PC. All I have to do is to start up this application

and set up my decision factors to decide if I had to perform all these tasks by

myself. So, I could define rules like–‘Buy books and CDs from the site that

is cheaper’. The ‘agent’ will work on its own without any intervention

from my side and I can go off and do something better with my time. The power of

the web will be realized when the software starts working for me rather than I

working with the software.

Merging ecommerce with old commerce

You may know of

someone who goes to the local bookshop and browses the aisles to see which books

she likes and then comes home and orders them over the web from the same shop’s

website! It makes a lot of sense to do that because now you have the best of

both worlds–you can sample the books in person and get the rock-bottom price

too.

Sooner or later this is where a

paradigm shift will happen. Old commerce will start taking advantage of new

commerce. For example, you could walk into the local bookstore and when you have

browsed the aisles you walk up to a kiosk and order the same book from the store’s

website for less. Or, when you walk up to the cash register the clerk asks you–‘would

you like to order them through our web store or would you like to buy them now?’

You may decide to buy one or two at that time and order the rest via the web and

pay for all of them then and there. That way the store does not lose a customer

and you do not have to send your credit card information over the web along with

having other payment options, like cash. A win-win situation for everyone except

for the competitors who are stuck in e-space.

Portals emerging everywhere

Now thatecommerce is not the leading edge and b2B

(business-to-business) commerce has become an old term, where does one go next?

Current trends belong to information or content management and portals in every

shape and form. A lot of companies have already started positioning themselves

as leaders in ‘corporate portals’, ‘information portals’ or ‘personal

portals’. If this idea is combined with what I mentioned earlier–software

agents–one will finally be able to use the web. Imagine your desktop being

your portal, where you have search agents, shopping agents and local or

international news scroll based on your configured parameters. Microsoft started

with the idea of the active desktop but did not take it far enough. If we can

download, for free, a personal portal from Yahoo or Excite or Alta Vista or a

third party that combines information, search, ecommerce, messaging and

collaboration–that would truly make the underlying OS irrelevant. Why do I

have to start the browser or another application every time I need to do any of

these functions? The desktop is going to become the point of convergence for all

of the power that the web has to provide. This becomes especially easier with

‘always on’ connections like DSL or cable modem.

Global trade with e-currency

Today, majority

of ecommerce is targeted at North America. Even if many organizations would like

to expand beyond, one of the prohibitive problems–the very reason for doing

commerce–is money, as not all currencies are convertible. On top of that, many

people do not use credit cards or will not want to enter the credit card

information into a website.

What needs to emerge is a common

e-currency. This is easier said than done, as there will be legislative and

political hurdles that will have to be crossed. Consider there is only an e-card

that is accepted on the net. You buy this card which is pre-paid in local

currency and are allocated ‘e-points’ for that amount. Ecommerce sites that

honor this e-card will not only show the price in a particular currency but also

in e-points. That way all you have to do is make sure you bought enough points

to cover your purchases and then re-charge the card only when you need to

purchase something.

Endless possibilities

Possibilities are

endless and I have highlighted some of the trends that will emerge on the web

and how it will be assimilated into people’s lives. Organizations and people

who are courageous enough to think fast and outside of the box–not to mention

the browser–are going to be winners. Then one can truly say–’the web has

arrived

Rajeev Nanda

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