The fax will die, B2B portals will proliferate, and we will all rent software...Andrew Grill*, Telstra’s manager, eMarket development, delves into the future of ebusiness, in the second of his three-part guide to the internet for smaller businesses. This is an extract from a web cast broadcast on August 9, 2000. The first article appeared in issue 14 of BusinessGene
Soon we will see the availability of permanent internet access. Technologies such ADSL (short for asynchronous digital subscriber line) will mean that your existing telephone line can be turned into a permanent internet connection.
Telstra is running trials of this technology at the moment – and you hear more about this later in the year. Dialup access could be a thing of the past – and as our big pond cable customers know – being always connected has its advantages.
B2B will become the norm
The concept of electronic trading between businesses –
called business-to-business eCommerce or simply B2B -
will become the established way of trading online.
Just as the online consumer trading sites such as eBay and sold.com allow you to buy and sell goods on the internet, business grade trading hubs will emerge that will allow you to select from a huge catalogue of items, check their availability, and order them online.
The ability to issue electronic requests for information, or respond to electronic tenders from larger companies will be facilitated through these hubs.
As we are seeing in the USA, large multinational companies such as Ford, General Motors, and Boeing are moving the majority of their purchasing online. We can expect this to flow through to Australian businesses, and it may be the only way to trade with these larger companies in the future.
Small businesses will also be able to buy and sell goods and services between each other – streamlining this activity.
Virtual communities
You may have heard recently about the concept of portals
or virtual communities. Sites such as telstra.com are
just that – a virtual community or portal.
Simply they provide a gateway into the rich services and content telstra.com has to offer. In the future we will see the development of portals or communities for specific vertical markets – such as mining, construction, and even small business.
You would access a portal via the internet and be linked to services and information relevant to you and your business.
As a small business, you would expect to see news relevant to you (such as GST and cash-flow advice), you would be able to trade online utilising a B2B trading hub, and access some of the tools I have already outlined.
It may be that a particular industry drives the development of specific portals to suit their needs or larger organisations develop portals through which they provide a link to their business.
Portals will drive the development of online communities as similar businesses will all access the one site. This area is relevant for businesses of all sizes, and you can expect to see a lot of activity in this area over the next few months.
Collaborative ecommerce
Collaboration tools will become more popular, as eTeams
form. Sharing of documents, ideas, information and even
appointments will be done online.
If you are always connected, another member of your team can see if you are available for a meeting and book you online! That design you have been up all night working on can be reviewed and approved by your European client or team as you sleep, and be waiting for you the next morning.
In our own group at Telstra we work collaboratively with each other, other teams and our customers and suppliers.
We can provide secure access to documents, news, appointments and presentations so that Project teams can be assembled online in a matter of moments, and the whole team has access to all of the documents, no matter where they are.
Rent your software
One of the most exciting new developments just around
the corner is that of rentable software applications. We
are used to renting a car, a ladder, or a house. You may
ask, why would you want to rent software?
It may be that you don’t wish to outlay a large expense on buying software that you may use occasionally, so you can opt to rent the software for a particular project or purpose. It may be more cost effective to rent all of your software and let someone else worry about software upgrades and maintenance.
Telstra is establishing an Application Service Provider or ASP capability that will allow you to rent applications online.
At the moment we are running trials of Microsoft Office applications such as Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
The way it works is that you would simply rent these applications (say on a monthly basis) and you would only need an internet connection and a browser.
All of the processing is performed in Telstra’s ASP network, and only the screen changes are sent to your PC. It’s just like having your keyboard and monitor plugged into a supercharged PC online.
You will hear more about rentable applications and ASP thought the year. You can also expect that rentable applications relevant to a particular industry will be hosted on relevant industry portals.
Faster wireless access
Finally in the mobile world, the slow data rates
available will increase dramatically through
technologies such as General Packet Radio Service or
GPRS.
Simply speaking, GPRS will provide a permanent internet connection at greatly increased speeds. Mobility will become an attractive option when you want to take your business on the road and stay in touch.
My predictions for what we might see just around the corner are….
- More businesses are permanently connected to the
internet;
- Fax numbers will disappear from business cards;
- Email addresses will replace them;
- All businesses will have a web address; and
- Much more information will be available while mobile.
*Andrew Grill is manager, eMarket development,
eWorks, Telstra Convergent Business. His team manages
the development of vertical market opportunities across
all market segments and drives the future direction for
the group in terms of technology and solutions
development.