Being efficient....

I thought I might add to my post by talking about internet efficiency.

Over the past few years as the internet has grown into a widely used and respected medium for accessing information, the growth in web-based businesses has been tremendous.

Wall St has seen a flurry of internet IPO's, hoping to mimic the success of the huge success stories like yahoo.com, with many crashing down in the early part of last year.

The reason the internet is such an exciting thing is that, if used correctly, the internet is a brilliant ENABLING TECHNOLOGY that can be used to increase efficiency.

Let's take real estate as an example.

Let's say I'm a would-be property investor, looking for an investment property, and I've decided I want to limit myself to Australia.

Without the internet, I'd have to go to one real estate agent, look at their list, then to another, and so forth -- a very time-consuming process!

With the internet, such sites like www.realestate.com.au enable me to look at many properties at once, and cut down the list of potential investments quickly and correctly using advanced searches.

In short, I see a cost saving, and thus it is more efficient for me.

From the real estate agent's point of view, it is also more efficient. More people can view the properties they have for sale, without taking the time of sales people. Why is that important? Because sales people cost money, a lot more than a website does.

That's why there are so many call centres now. Technology often replaces people. Whether you view that as good or bad is another issue.

So, in my view, the very successful internet businesses will be ones that seek to increase the efficiency in a particular area over the offline counterpart.

This could be hooking up suppliers to retailers efficiently. Or perhaps offering directory services for your area, so overseas people can more easily look for them. The possibilites are endless.

Regards,

Thomas. :)