Attaching to the network

The second of the two crucial elements of e-business and e-commerce Internet strategy is network connections. This involves creating a suitable hub of communication links from the node into the communication environment of the Internet.

As we have covered previously, the complexity of the Internet environment needs intelligent interfaces between nodes. Only humans can suitably fulfil this role, which means that a Web site cannot be considered a node in its own right, it must connect to the Internet via a human. This may not be obvious. Many people, even some Web site designers, seem to think that Web sites can create businesses merely by their existence. They give very little heed to the myriad of people interacting in the hidden background, who provide the all important dynamic interactions necessary to make Web sites successful.

In reality, a web site is nothing more than an elaborate catalogue or an automatic order taker. In some cases, it may dispense software or information, acting like a kiosk. It may serve as the front end to a database and a delivery service. It may provide chat rooms and e-mail discussion forums. Whatever automatic functions a Web site may provide in an e-commerce or e-business scenario, it should always be regarded as playing a passive role because the functions will be worthless unless human to human communication strategies can get the site working up to a point of critical mass. Even then, it will need a supporting network of human to human communication links to maintain that state of critical mass in the face of stiff competition.

Realising that all e-business and e-commerce are dependent upon human interactions, it becomes pertinent to start thinking about the different kinds of strategies that might be required for making contact with people. As every individual, business or Web identity would have to have an input (demand) set of contacts and quite a different set for the output (supple) side contacts, it would seem reasonable to expect that every situation should need at least two quite different kinds of communication strategy.

It would also seem reasonable that the choice of strategies would be dependent upon the kind of business or niche role that was being represented. Surely an expert programmer would need a different strategy to a middleman? Surely the service companies, the application program developers, the contractors, the graphic designers, the hardware manufacturers, the solution providers, etcetera, would all need different strategies tailored specifically to their individual needs.

And the core business strategists: the people who hire the contractors and the solution providers? What kind of strategy would they need? Surely their strategies would need to be different from those of the myriad of ancillary roles that are just a part of the system being put together?

Employees in managed teams might also use the Internet. They could enhance their roles in their organisations quite considerably by having network connections. Would the members of a team need to have a different strategy from their managers or team leaders? Would employees need to have a different strategy to their employers?

Surprisingly, the basic communication strategy for all these vast assortment of needs and purposes would be exactly the same. Whatever type of contact is needed and for whatever purpose, they would each need to employ a similar method of acquiring and maintaining a suitable network of contacts.

This only becomes obvious when it is understood that the true power of the Internet comes from its massive connectivity:. This gives rise to the unimaginable complexity of people being able to connect up to each other in a multitude of different ways. The whys and wherefores of communication then become insignificant details, compared to the vastly more difficult problem of coping with the complexity itself.