The Impact of the Internet

The Impact of the Internet

Since we are approaching the end of year, I was thinking back to the end of the 20th century. The year was 1999 and at the time I worked as an Internet strategy consultant at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. I lectured and advised a range of senior executives about the consequences the Internet was going to have for their businesses and organizations.

I remember telling retailers that according to IDC global e-commerce revenue was going to reach several billion dollars within five years. I told people from the record industry they should move to completely new business models (for the younger people amongst you, at the time people were still buying music on CDs; iTunes and YouTube didn't exist yet). I told people from the banking industry that the Internet was going to revolutionize the relationship with their customers, required a total redesign of their back office systems, and was going to change their organizations (banking retail networks). Just to mention a few things ☺.

Hardly anyone believed me. People were responding: "... but Mr. de Jonge, we have been in this business for over 100 years and now you're telling us that all of this is going to change real soon, come on, surely you can't be serious, ha ha".
Obviously these people were wrong. But so was I, because the impact of the Internet turned out to be a lot bigger than even I imagined. A big part of that was caused by combining Internet with mobile technology into user-friendly smart phones (thanks to the creative genius of Steve Jobs).

Does that mean that we now more or less understand the future impact of the Internet? My 2 cents is that we do not, because we have just seen the beginning. There is more, much more yet to come. I believe most of that will be caused by combining internet technology with all kinds of other technologies. Google Glass and Apple Watch are just initial, obvious consumer examples.
Such combinations of the internet with other technologies will make things easier for people and completely change the way we communicate, live, learn, work, and manage our organizations and businesses. The impact of the Internet beyond 2015 will be a lot bigger than its impact until now. Do you agree?

		Comments Sort by date Sort by rating Rating
		3 Majed Lecturer, United Kingdom
	The Question is 'Flexible Business Model' True, everything now predicts that technology will keep moving fast. Frankly we are addicted to our ... Sign up

		1 Emmanuel Daniel. Student (University), Tanzania
	It's Hard to Keep Up with Technology Changes Technology improvement is so rapidly growing, faster than we can anticipate. And who (business entit... Sign up

		2 Scott Schaffer Partner, United States
	Future Impact of Combinations of Technologies Agree, that we are not even close to the end of the beginning. I also agree that we are currently in... Sign up

		1 Sandy Szilage United States
	Impact of Internet Beyond 2015 Indeed, the Internet and technology in general have changed the world and will continue changing eve... Sign up

		0 Augustine Manyau, Zimbabwe
	Impact of Internet Beyond 2015 It is at one's peril to deny that internet now dictates business and the way we live in even in a th... Sign up

		2 P S Grover Director, India
	Internet: Greatest Change Agent Ever It is true that internet technology is the greatest change agent ever seen. It is changing our lives... Sign up

		2 Sachin Narayan Nagle Manager, India
	Influence of Internet on our Personal Lives Hi, currently everyone is getting dependent on the internet as the medium to connect to each other; ... Sign up

		1 Molokanova Professor, Ukraine
	The Price of the Internet on Humanity Yes, it's true, Internet has brought many good things in our lives. But it is a very huge danger. Fo... Sign up

		2 Martijn van der Werf Business Consultant, Netherlands
	Internet Will Bring Businesses Down I believe that the internet has shifted from being a satisfier or additional service to becoming the... Sign up

		2 Martin Lekoski, Slovakia
	The Positive and Negative Impact of the Internet Indeed, the technology may have improved. The internet helped people connect from all around the wor... Sign up

		2 Hafiz Hamza Abuelyamen Strategy Consultant, Sudan
	The Gap Between Modern and Traditional People and Businesses Will Increase Persistently The gap between modern (using internet) and traditional (non-internet) people and businesses is goin... Sign up

		1 MOHD.NAZRIE ABDULLAHJOSRIN BIN AMBAN Student (University), Malaysia
	Impact of Internet Beyond 2015 The internet is disseminating any kind of insights to share them with other people and can change th... Sign up

		0 M Johnson Management Consultant, Australia
	Impact of the Internet Beyond 2015 The internet will have an increasing impact on our lives for many years to come, until it is superse... Sign up

		0 Andrew Blaine Business Consultant, South Africa
	Internet Future and Free Choice @M Johnson: God forbid that your predictions come true - it would be more dreadful than the picture... Sign up

		1 Sandy Szilage United States
	Internet Beyond 2015 @Andrew Blaine: Andrew, there will always be a human backup behind any technology. Without humans te... Sign up

		0 Bill Boynton Teacher, United States
	'Wow' what an Opportunity to Learn and Grow The concepts of the internet's effect on our lives in general is mind boggling, and thank you Jaap d... Sign up

		0 Hafiz Hamza Abuelyamen Strategy Consultant, Sudan
	Wow what an Opportunity @Bill Boynton: It is an opportunity that brought OBAMA the chance of being the President of USA. Oba... Sign up

		2 Gary Wong Consultant, Canada
	BigHistoryProject Says Yes I agree with Jaap, even if we may be calling it something else than the Internet. Followers of BigH... Sign up

		0 Andrew Blaine Business Consultant, South Africa
	Humans and Technology @Sandy Musallam: And in your answer lies the problem. Once you involve humans you include emotions, ... Sign up

		1 Jaap de Jonge Editor, Netherlands
	The Impact of the Internet on the Human Species Timeline Thanks all for your excellent contributions so far to our discussion on the impact of the internet b... Sign up