With the end of summer comes the end of vacations and loose business climates. The autumn weather should bring serious new attitudes to the internet. All of those companies that have been mulling over what to do for an internet strategy are finally ready to put up the bucks to finance the cyber-construction.
Budgets for 1997 should be approved by late September, including the new internet/advertising/information technologies budget. The Fortune 1000 companies haven’t all jumped on the bandwagon yet, mostly due to the lack of internal funding.
I predict that all Fortune 1000 companies will be online by the first quarter of 1997. And I also predict that the companies already on the web will revamp in the same time frame. Artwork and interactivity will spice up the text based web sites so popular last year.
How to make money on the web will certainly still be a riddle for many companies but more and more companies will see the light. The light for anyone who didn’t know is that the internet doesn’t have to make you money, but rather it can cut costs and lower overhead.
I hope (not predict) that this year will mark the beginnings of using the internet for useful purposes rather than plain vanilla advertising or ‘just because’ rationality. The internet can be used internally and externally to give freedom of movement to a host of corporate non-techies.
Information. No walls. That’s what it’s all about. Let’s hope this fall is the start.
Whatya think?