The Future of e-Business. (In Review).

Increased awareness of the Internet is prevalent in today's society, regardless of age, race, or economic status. All one has to do to be convinced is simply spend time watching television or reading the paper. Society is constantly bombarded with references to dotcom this and dotcom that. One could look at the media explosion of dotcom references and think that the Internet is truly taking over everyone's lives. Statistically, though, that assumption could not be more untrue.

For years, there has been talk of a day when every daily task, from driving to cooking, will be managed by computers, and the Internet will be the tool for navigation. The references are so prevalent in the media that it could be assumed that the information superhighway has already arrived. The author of The Future of e-Business, however, believes that only the first peak has been seen.

In this video, Alan Naumann, president and CEO of Calico Commerce, gives an excellent overview of many of the key triggers that will affect the world of Internet development and usage. He assures the viewer that he is a person who really has his fingers on the pulse of the Internet industry. Although approximately 10 minutes of the 59-minute video is spent on providing an overview of his company, it sets the viewer's credibility scale to realize that he is personally involved in many of the cutting-edge applications in the e-commerce world today.

In a very engaging fashion, Naumann describes current Internet trends versus where things will be in the next three years. His examples span industry types, and he elaborates on the differences between business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) dynamics. Though taping likely occurred prior to the dotcom "bust" experienced in late 2000 and early 2001, his logical explanation of trends would easily show the viewer how this could in fact occur.

His 10 slides were not exciting and some too wordy or hard to follow, but his explanation of them made this less apparent. The most startling of all the statistics he uses could be that the current utilization of the Internet is only one percent. The varying methods he describes that will enable the business community and the individual consumer to utilize this Net market environment in the future are exciting and are already beginning to occur. These concepts are hard to imagine without understanding, first, that the way buying and selling is currently being done will change.

To date, the marketing of simple products over the Internet has been successful, but this represents only the beginning stages of e-commerce

marketing. What Naumann sees as the next stage is an evolution to a sales approach empowering the purchase of more complex goods. Examples of these are financial services and products requiring a thorough needs analysis prior to making recommendations. Customization at all levels will be the trend and may include products and services from multiple suppliers offered as a packaged solution to the customer. He cites many well-known companies as examples, including Best Buy, Merrill Lynch, and Cisco.

The Future of E-Business provides a good foundation for anyone, regardless of their industry and position, to be introduced to e-business. It is a topic that information management professionals should fully understand because they can play an important role in many aspects. This video, therefore, is recommended for viewing within an organization or as part of a chapter meeting discussion.

VIDEO TITLE: The Future of e-Business

PRODUCTION COMPANY: Stanford University Media Solutions

YEAR: 2000

LENGTH: 59 minutes, VHS format

PRICE: $95

SOURCE: Kantola Productions, 800-989-8273, 415-381-9363, or www.kantola.com

Wendy P. Shade is Area Manager of Account Development for Iron Mountain Inc., a leading supplier of records management services throughout the world. The author is based in Los Angeles and may be reached at [e-mail].