Author: Christopher Hamel-Smith
Standing at the brink of the 21st Century, we find ourselves in the midst of a social and business revolution. It is changing the ways in which we earn our living, as well as the ways that we actually live. These changes are as profound as those wrought by the earlier Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions.
The Industrial Revolution was powered by the steam engine. So too, today's revolution is being driven by new technology. We are experiencing the early effects of rapid developments in the fields of communications and information technology. This new technology is built on a digital foundation, in which all information known to man can be represented by combinations of 0's and 1's. This allows vast amounts of information to be rapidly transported along the so-called Information Highway (in its present incarnation the Internet) as well as stored, retrieved and processed in ever smaller and more powerful computers and other digital appliances.
In all revolutions there are winners and losers. As with the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions, much that we cherish is threatened by today's Digital Revolution. Our jobs, businesses and professions may disappear. Established social, political, legal and business institutions may also disappear or be transformed beyond all recognition. None shall survive unscathed! No society, business, profession, indeed no family will survive this revolution without casualties.
At the same time, such social and business upheaval produces space for positive action to create new value and to enhance our standards of living. Today's Digital Revolution is opening up many exciting opportunities. We are challenged to create new jobs, to develop new markets and to invent whole new ways of doing business in cyberspace. We will also need to create or reinvent many social, political, legal and business institutions. The survival and prosperity of our society, our businesses and our families demand that we rise to the challenge.
One critical feature of today's Digital Revolution is the extreme speed at which it is changing everything. Just 4 or 5 years ago, most people had never heard of the Internet yet, by the end of 1997 more than 100 million were using it. And it is estimated that traffic on the Internet is doubling every 100 days. Today, we are bombarded with information about "e-commerce" and mind-blowing valuations of Internet companies, many of which have few tangible assets and are yet to turn a profit. Yet even this much-hyped business-to-consumer e-commerce sector represents just the tip of the iceberg as, in fact, the value of business-to-business e-commerce is far larger.
The very title of Bill Gates' latest book "Business @ The Speed of Thought" focuses on the criticality of this aspect of the Digital Revolution. Indeed, so rapid are the changes being wrought by the Digital Revolution that truly it has been said, "Change itself has changed". Standing still is not an option. The business community must lead the way.
As we embark on our dangerous but exciting journey, our leaders must recognise that they cannot expect to be provided with a roadmap of cyberspace. The paths through this digital frontier are changing too rapidly for any map to assist. This type of environment calls for a more flexible system of navigation. We need our leaders to have a clear and true sense of direction, as well as a keen appreciation of "the lay of the land". We simply must know where we are going. (It has been said that if you do not know your destination, then any path will take you there!) We must also be able to recognise the key features of the new digital landscape and know how to use these features to adjust direction in order to keep on course.
As we lead our businesses into cyberspace, it is our ideas, knowledge and information (rather than tangible property) that are our most valuable assets. These provide our companies' most decisive competitive advantage. We need to know how to create, recognise, protect and exploit these intangible business assets in a digital world. Among other things, this means transforming our business culture and environment to foster the creativity of today's "knowledge worker". However, at the same time, we must do so in a way that ensures protection for our intangible property: its ideas, knowledge and information. We must also understand and be able to manage the significant range of other business and legal risks that arise from the profound changes being induced by new technology.
In previous articles, I identified a number of "hot" legal issues arising out of the Digital Revolution and examined the Y2K challenge in some detail. As we move forward, my focus shifts to a description of the new digital landscape, to sharing my perception of "the lay of the land". I also hope to offer a few ideas about cardinal principles that may guide our businesses' journey into e-commerce and help us to avoid the various legal and regulatory pitfalls that we shall inevitably encounter along the way.
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