Ubiquitous Commerce.

The transformation from the industrial to the digital economy is complex as we try to figure out what's happening and what top executives should take out of it. Technology has a tendency in the early stages to slow on a performance curve, and then it becomes very steep. We're on one of those S-curves with the Internet.

We're also at the bottom of a new curve, affected by two technological trends. One is broadband, where instead of sending one signal through a traditional wire, you simultaneously send multiple signals, hundreds of times faster. Broadband networks can eliminate the Internet bottlenecks that prevent rapid content distribution.

The other new technology is third-generation wireless communications, or 3G, a global trend underlying mobile commerce. We're getting to the point where a cell phone or a PDA will be able to provide full-motion video. Wireless networks will be a fundamental piece of the digital economy.

Yet it's not about cell phones and streaming video. It's about anytime, anyplace access to information. Applications that we can barely envision today will be taking place.

A Palm VII can access the Web. So can my Sprint phone, and at home I have the TiVo device, which provides programming via a phone line. By 2004, estimates say, wireless devices will outnumber PCs on the Internet. In Japan, 20 percent of Internet access is already through cell phones. Investors are retreating from PC stocks and looking at companies in wireless, the device area and related businesses.

The combination of wireless devices, 3G and broadband is enabling what we call ubiquitous commerce, or u-commerce -- anytime, anyplace access to the Internet, from a car, boat, train, cell phone or PDA. For example, cell phones will have location-based capabilities, so that a caller's where-abouts can be pinpointed. Say you're in New York and want information on the nearest restaurant that has a reservation available. Or where to buy a certain wine. Or what Broadway shows are avail able. The wireless Web will be able to deliver that type of information.

Teenagers will carry mobile devices, allowing their parents to track and access them via a home computer. Wireless devices will deliver alerts, such as stock quotes and instant messages.

Next-generation portals and Web sites such as Yahoo! Digital offer four frames that simultaneously provide diverse information. One might carry financial news, another sports scores, another national news and finally a videoconference with your family. These digital content networks offer a substantial business potential.

Netsourcing of business applications is another fundamental long-term trend. For instance, Exodus, a provider of hosting services, runs a data center for about 20 cents on the dollar of what an average corporation runs one. Add low-cost broadband, and new IP networks are dramatically efficient. Industry-specific online exchanges also lower the costs of inter-enterprise by establishing standardization between customers and suppliers. This enormous shift of infrastructure spending will simplify most executives' lives, letting them focus on other competitive aspects of the job.

Is the wireless Web relevant to your organization? Does it affect your customers? Does it affect your product? Can it improve the efficiency of your business?

We believe that every executive should understand this emerging technology and openly experiment with it. If they don't, they could be left hopelessly behind.

Accenture has been a leader in the management and technology consulting arena for more than a decade.