What is the big picture?

As we have been developing HammerKit I have been studying the mega-trends underpinning the way the web is used, how services emerge and what is driving the development of new business ideas. What is becoming clear is that these mega-trends are changing the business of the internet, not just the technology that drives it. For me, it is this business aspect that is most interesting, because I want to know why today we do not speak about the internet industry (we tend to refer to technology, or digital media) and why the way this industry works has not changed since its inception.

The stark reality is that while the white heat of technology burns at the heart of the internet, the internet industry is still a cottage industry, in its infancy in terms of the development of operating methods and production systems. It still relies on person-to-person contact to get almost anything done, and still uses the same basic tools that were developed in the mid-90s.

Now, I know that there will be many of you that say, “**bullshit**” to this statement, but just stop and think how difficult it is to get any new web site built. Sure, I can whip one up from a template generator in a few minutes, much like I can go to one of those machines in the shopping mall and print out 50 business cards - but no self-respecting business person is going to drive their business forward based on one of those. So, usually, the only other alternative is to find a web developer and have something built.

If its not broken, don't fix it...

My background is actually in the real estate industry, so I know a little about how buildings get built. I think building websites is actually quite similar. It goes something like this:

First find a location (or domain)
then create a plan (or site layout)
then create a specification (or requirements)
then price (ah, yep same thing)
then build.

It takes a long time, involves a lot of people and costs a lot. The result - almost always a beautiful new building, most likely with some snags (or “bugs” in technology terms, but something I can accept and move into. When I need a change to the layout, I pretty much have to go through whole process again, with much sucking of teeth as the developer tells me that it is going to be expensive. Does it sound familiar?

Things are changing

So, back to my two original questions: why it is not the internet industry and why has the way the industry works not changed? Well, I think it is changing - and I think that our mega-trend discoveries can shed a little bit of light on what is changing and why:

• the mystery of web design is fading: new tools, the adoption of standards, open-source libraries, online tutorials, development environments, CMS systems, etc - they are all contributing to making it easier and easier to build web sites and services. There are whole movements devoted to the concept of creating great pieces of code and sharing them, and there is a growing realisation that by opening things up, service providers can make it easier for designers to incorporate great business ideas or processes without the need to know how to build everything.
  
  
• the web is evolving from a static state to a dynamic state: with all of the social media around, it is easy to believe that the whole internet is awash with dynamic, fast-moving, real-time, ever-changing online services. The reality is that 85% of websites are completely static, aside from a news update or a blog entry or two. The credit crunch, however, is making businesses think about how to cut costs, and moving processes online is becoming more critical to maintaining margins. The web in dynamic state is a place where everyday business is conducted online by everyday businesses - not just the web firms.
  
  
• efficiency requires making it easier to change: to react and stay competitive, everyday businesses need to be able to make changes to their online services, to implement new ideas, to react to customer demands and offer better service. To do this, their online services need to be flexible and capable of change quickly at reasonable cost. The reality here is that most of the functionality a business needs probably already exists somewhere else - and usually they see it and say, “Can you add this to my site?”. To make the customisation easier, means being able to plug in those functionalities and still create a unique experience for their customers.
  
  
• clients increasing fear of lock-ups and dead-ends: as we become more experienced with building sites and services, we learn that there are no short-cuts. Building sites requires time, energy, patience and skill. Anything that claims to be a quick fix or to get you online in minutes is a waste of energy. Its not going to suit your business requirements fully, and you are not going to be able to change it easily - think of them as Pez dispensers - they look pretty, fun to use, but you will quickly run out of candy. To grow and develop online services requires tools that can grow, expand and change in step with your business. There should be no need to throw something away and start again.
  
  
• we are heading for mass-customisation instead of massive projects: almost everybody in business (certainly in Gx countries) has been through two, perhaps three, site builds in the last 15 years. We know that, for the most part, our site has the same bits as the site next door. It might look different, have different messages - but fundamentally it functions the same. It is this fact that makes business people shake their head in disbelief when they hear the quote for a new website. “How can it cost so much? Why will it take that long? Why do I have to spend so much of my time on it?” they ask. The reason is that the industry has a ground zero approach to building sites, and engineers, being engineers want to solve problems. The problems they solve may be nothing to do with the client, but they are going to do it anyway for the sheer hell of it. Just imagine if you went to the BMW garage, wishing to buy a car and Jürgen the designer and Helmut the engineer appeared to ask you how you would like them to build it. It just wouldn’t work. What is beginning to appear, however, are more mature development practices that allow the core functionalities to be picked from libraries. Eventually, this will result in the sort of mass-customisation we see in industries like the car industry - where the client sits with the advisor (or web developer in the case of the internet) and chooses which features they would like, the style the site should adopt and the horsepower it needs. These are sent to the “factory” (I use this term loosely) and the site is assembled - not built. That would be progress.

You can add to this list that web design agencies are now actively looking to improve production methods, reduce cost and drive out inefficiency. It is this push/pull effective that I think is spurring the change. It is a sign of an industry maturing and looking to find better ways of working. Personally, I want to support that change - as the more we can produce, the better for everyone.

Where is it all heading?

I believe that the changes that are in the wind and the underlying trends are going to affect the business of the Internet profoundly. I am proud to be part of the Internet industry and I want to be an Internet professional, working with others to advance my industry.

I would love to know what you see as the trends affecting the business of the Internet and want to know what you think we should do to create a strong, vibrant, robust industry that prospers whether the bubble is full or burst.