If Businesses Knew Then…What We Know Now…
An email circulated this morning from a friend saying “Lets go back….way back…to a simpler time…known as the early internet days. Here’s a clip from 1994 of Katie Couric and Bryant Gumble trying to wrap their heads around this crazy thing called the internet. I can only wonder what we’ll be trying to figure out in another 17 years. Enjoy!” After which he included a link to the following youtube video clip of the Today Show in 1994 – and while watching it…I couldn’t help but chuckle.
Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t chuckling at Couric or Gumble and their confusion around how the Internet worked…or what it did…I was chuckling at the fact that this once mysterious “super computer” as they called it back then – is now paving the way we do everything today.
In fact, if we are NOT doing it with some level of integration with the online world today…we aren’t doing it well at all or we are losing opportunity.
My elementary aged children are using Internet Technology to collect, share and collaborate on school projects and homework – where I once had to arrange study dates for myself and my fellow students to get the same done. They are no longer interested in boardgames, or simple one player video games…they are using the internet to play with friends in other houses now. They are chatting and socializing through technology. If they are not, they do not have social capital on their side.
Parents are pre-diagnosing what illnesses they or their children have before making medical appointments to save time, money or reduce waiting it out in the 4 hour emergency rooms. The medical society is also using the internet to collect and share data.
Coupon “clipping” is being replaced by Daily Deals sites and phone applications. Store purchases can now be scanned and paid for via our mobile devices…
AND: Baby Boomers and Retiree’s are finding new opportunities to create retirement income without having to learn about investing, look for work or go to an office…now they are starting Internet Based Businesses. Many are also succeeding in their businesses beyond even their wildest expectations. From niche websites to catalogue websites and a little bit of search optimization training they are good to go!
All of this (and so much more) is made possible because of the Internet.
The Internet has dramatically altered the way humans function, we can no longer deny it – and from a business perspective we must adapt to it and take back the lead!
Today, Online Commerce an absolute necessity for businesses everywhere. If you cannot be found in a search engine, you lose business. If you cannot keep people on your website, you lose business. If you cannot capture names and data from visitors or turn them into buyers…you lost business.
This makes “testing” and “tracking” of Internet Technologies that much more important for businesses today as well.
- If you are an ebusiness owner and you have not made room for integration and testing in your annual budget your competition will.
- If you do not actively seek out ebusiness growth opportunities – you lose ground, fall back, leave money on the table and let your competition beat you.
It’s that simple.
Sure…someone, someday (many, many years from now) will create something more innovative than the Internet making it as obsolete as 8 tracks or Cassette Tapes (hard to believe — I know)…but until that happens you have MORE MONEY TO MAKE and it is worth the investment to get it while you CAN!
The fact of the matter is however…if you are an EARLY ADOPTER of tomorrows future you will come out on top!
You owe it to yourself to ask an ebusiness expert today how you can tap into some of the ebusiness growth opportunities that are prime for your business! Cijaye Creative is a great place to start! Please contact us today.
