One of the joys of having been an IT journalist for more than five minutes, is that you get a sense of perspective on the industry, and get to have a really good chuckle watching things come around, and around, and around again.
As some of you will know, I`ve recently joined Brainstorm as features editor. My first few features - particularly supply chain management, e-billing and e-procurement - have been cause for much misty-eyed nostalgia.
Interviews have been spent reminiscing about the good old days of the Internet boom, when e-commerce and e-everything else ruled the roost. Companies were founded on nothing more than a whim and whiff of hype. "Business case? What do we need one of those for? Of course it`ll make money, it`s a Web site..." Optimism was the order of the day, the markets were flying, everyone and everything was into IT.
And then it all crashed. Hugely, spectacularly, and, in many cases, permanently. Remember all of those online exchanges? Gone. The companies doing e-marketing, e-billing, e-procurement? Gone. Remember when people actually had faith in IT? Gone, but perhaps not forgotten.
Of the great Internet-era entrepreneurs, many are still around in one guise or other, but the days of big men with big talk and big budgets - huge personalities that dominated their companies and the news - are over.
Even the days of big lunches are gone. You know the sort - start at noon on Friday (or any other day) and finish in the early hours of Saturday after lunch, drinks, dinner and a club or two. And therein perhaps lies the biggest clue that the IT sector has grown up.
We survived the dot-bomb, lived through Y2K, and the MCSE debacle (remember that?) and as an industry have spent the last six years trying to re-establish our credibility. We`ve been privy to more jargon than anyone should ever be subjected to. We`ve watched TLA (three-letter acronym) after TLA be punted by budget-heavy marketing drones, and hopefully had the sense not to fall for too much of the waffle.
The upshot of all of this is that we`ve grown up, become more focused, learnt to speak `business` and not `tech`. And we don`t have time for long lunches anymore. Heck, I consider it a good day if I get to eat at all, let alone go out for a long, boozy repast at a wonderfully expensive restaurant. Along with the rest of us, the Internet has grown up too. E-everything is coming back, but not the way it did first time around.
And then it all crashed. Hugely, spectacularly, and, in many cases, permanently.
Samantha Perry
E-procurement is finally clawing its way back, and there`s talk of exchanges again, aside from the few successful private ones and Salesforce.com, which wasn`t an e-victim anyway. E-billing, having kept a relatively low profile, is still toodling along under its own steam, making friends and influencing IT systems.
E-mail has become ubiquitous. It sidled under the door, almost unnoticed given the time it took, and then bang! One day it was everywhere and we can`t live without it. Web sites today are making money, and not just because they`re Web sites, but because they offer things people are willing to pay for (this little fact being something the Internet boom boys should have considered). The network is becoming as ubiquitous as e-mail. It`s everywhere you are.
The Internet has spread and mutated way beyond what its creators could ever have dreamed of. They`re even talking about the demise, the demise I tell you, of the PC! Like the paperless office (and if I hear that paperless toilet quote again things are going to go very hard for somebody), the death of the PC will also prove to be hype, in my not necessarily humble opinion anyway. PC means personal computer, for those about to argue. Think about it - personal computer. No mention made of form-factor.
But I digress; that`s probably a discussion for another column. In the meantime, all of you who remember the boom and bust heydays can pat yourselves on the back, and probably raise a glass or two, because we`re still here. Those who don`t remember - read, listen and learn. Things really do come around, again and again, and when they do, you want to be one of those in a position to have a good chuckle about it.
Share