The Internet - tool or toy?

Without a doubt, the Internet is the hottest topic around. But is it just a toy, or can it be a legitimate business tool? And if it is a business tool, what's the best way for CEOs in the metalcasting industry to respond to the expanding barrage of Internet hype?

For the majority of users today, the Net is a fun, high-tech toy. We use it to send electronic mail, learn more about our favorite television shows and to pre-listen to and purchase CDs. We can even chat with others about almost anything (no, on second thought, about anything). For some, the Internet is a useful research aid. Consumers can shop for anything imaginable; lawyers can connect with law school libraries to research Supreme Court cases; and market research firms can replace time-consuming trips to business libraries and government archives with on-line searches from their offices.

By contrast, the Internet today offers much potential but scant real value for foundries and other industrial businesses. For one thing, the Net is hugely complex and can be unfriendly, time consuming and frustrating to use. More important, there is actually little of commercial value out there. For example, if you search the Web using the key word "castings" you will find hundreds of listings about acting (casting calls), an equal number relating to fishing (you may not be a fisherman, but I'll assume you get the connection between casting and fishing) and only a handful of citations about metal castings.

For these reasons, the Net isn't widely used as a business information gathering tool or as a source of information for industrial purchasers about potential suppliers and their products. Therefore, in the short term, the payoff in developing a company Web site isn't worth the hassle and expense. Looking ahead, the real issue is whether the Internet can become a legitimate competitive weapon. The answer to that question is clearly yes. Here's how.

The Net as a Competitive Tool

For the metalcasting industry to realize the Net's full potential, two hurdles must be overcome. First, the actual contents of the Net - what's out there that's of value to us - must be expanded and improved. This hurdle is being addressed in a general way as the Net's commercial information content grows and more and better business-oriented products and services are developed. However, there is still a very long way to go in the development of information and services specific to our industry.

Second, as the Net grows, it is increasingly difficult for users to find and extract what they need. Thus, an easy way is needed through the Net's mind-boggling - and rapidly multiplying - depth, breadth and technical complexity.

Magnet Sites

To overcome these hurdles, commercial "magnet sites" are being developed to tame the technology and shape the Net's vast resources for specific purposes and/or industries. And yes, a magnet site for the metalcasting industry is already under construction (call TDC if you'd like to know more).

This easy-to-use and fully-interactive "common area" will allow the Internet's full potential to be realized, and will transform the World Wide Web from the planet's most bewildering maze to a convenient pipeline through which metalcasters and related businesses can communicate and access customized information and services.

In theory, magnet sites function much like shopping malls do in the retail world-by drawing attention, traffic and resources to a single geographic location. In fact, they draw so much more traffic than any one store could on its own, the location becomes highly attractive to both store owners and shoppers alike. Applying this analogy to the metalcasting industry, the magnet site will serve as a central clearinghouse for information for and about metalcasting, metalcasters and industry suppliers. It will also provide new communication tools and act as a powerful draw for casting users who are looking for information about cast metals and potential sources of supply.

Through the industry's magnet site, the Net will hit its stride as an essential business tool. It will provide instantaneous, global, fully interactive connectivity between any group of organizations for the purposes of communicating (via voice, graphics, still images or moving pictures), exchanging data and information, and transacting commerce. Further, it will do all this while saving users time and money through lower long distance telephone rates, replacing nonessential travel with video conferences, creating single-location indexes of key industry-specific information and much more.

Moreover, the Net magnet site will facilitate automation of the selling/buying process, as well as further streamlining the design and manufacturing processes. In so doing, it will effectively eliminate the need for single purpose company-to-company hardware and software connections; sales prospecting by searching through volumes of directories; traveling to traditional sales calls, conferences or meetings; and producing and mailing costly catalogs and brochures.

Unlike so many things, the Internet seems sure to actually live up to its hype, and despite the fact that the Net is not of much value to metalcasters today, it will be. Key is development of the industry's magnet site. Until it is completed, don't jump headlong into a Web site for your company. For many, a Web site will not be necessary or even desirable.

Like all things in business, it's best to approach the Internet with full knowledge and a long-term strategy. Thus, the right approach to the relatively new competitive weapons of information, communication and their respective technologies will yield a highly productive business tool and ultimately, a powerful competitive advantage for your company.