This country is poised for a wealthy new era as the Venice of the information age, argues Simon Moores More net news Sunday January 28, 2001 The year is 2010. In the first decade of the twenty-first century the face of the global economy has been transformed by the internet. This is tomorrow's business, e-business, and it is dominated by a relatively small number of successful service economies, themselves centred on hub or 'smart' cities, such as Singapore or Dubai. They sit astride the vital infrastructure of the communications network in much the same way that ports, such as Venice, once dominated the trade of the Mediterranean. It is with such predictions in mind that the Government has set itself the task of making Britain an information superpower or, in the words of Tony Blair, 'the best place in the world for e-business'. Is this ambitious policy initiative realistic? As a nation, we may love to be disappointed but according to a survey of European executives, Britain is viewed as the preferred location to start an internet-related business, with Germany and France in second and third places respectively. A third of European business managers perceive the UK as the leading European information economy, followed closely again by Germany. Professor Jim Norton, head of e-business at the Institute of Directors and author of government e-commerce policy, would argue that the UK is already the world leader in businesses trading online. However, he advises that the criteria supporting this claim should be viewed with caution for two reasons. First, the definition of trading online is too broad. Second, the quoted percentages of businesses are weighted by employment, so larger companies dominate. 'Where we need to do better in the UK is for many businesses to overcome their instinctive aversion to new technology, looking beyond to the potential impact on their business models. 'This is not a "new economy"; it is a new set of tools and freedoms, which are complementary and can be usefully deployed in almost any "Old Economy" company. Last year's dotcom collapse is now focusing attention on strategies which leverage existing brands, focusing on traditional values, customers, creativity, charging and collaboration.' The real winners, he believes, will be those companies which deal with their customers consistently and through a 'clicks and mortar' mix of electronic and physical channels. Oliver Roll, director of enterprise marketing at Microsoft, suggests one area where the UK has advantages because of government efforts. 'This,' he says, 'is visible through its support for universal access, a reduction in bureaucracy and through the creation of a digital framework capable of offering public services and transactional services, such as VAT returns over the internet. 'As a nation of random entrepreneurs, I don't think that Britain has any inherent advantage in turning smart ideas into business successes. The great challenge lies in matching our existing industry and management skills with such new ideas and methods of doing business over the internet.' A report by Growth Plus Europe, the entrepreneurs' group, and Arthur Andersen illustrates the lead that the UK has over the rest of Europe in the entrepreneur contest. Behind Britain lies Spain, followed by Italy and the Netherlands. The two largest continental economies, Germany and France, rank near the bottom of the 10-nation survey. In addition, the UK and the US are considered equal in the business environment segment, which includes corporate and individual taxes, new business formation, and capital gains tax rates. The report concludes that governments in Europe have long tended to award grants and subsidies in an attempt to foster growth and entrepre neurial spirit, but that this is not enough. The authors view the whole environment - legislation and regulation - as fundamental. 'Disregarding the needs or potential of entrepreneurs and growth companies, with their inherent impact on the economy as job creators, could severely limit the development of national economies,' they say. A rapid public sector acceptance of e-business and 'joined-up government' principles has quickly established the UK as an example that many other countries are starting to follow. More than 40 per cent of UK government services are now available online, and this is set to rise to nearly 75 per cent by 2002. New research has revealed that nearly one in five adults - 18 per cent - who use the internet do so to access web- based Government services or information. As a nation, the UK is unique in having an e-Envoy, Andrew Pinder, the Government's 'information age evangelist', responsible for coordinating the evolution and the delivery schedule for the many 'joined-up government' services and websites. These include the new citizens' portal, UK-Online, as well as the Government Gateway and UK-Online for Business. Pinder, who also has a broader responsibility for driving forward the digital revolution, may be encouraged by the December figures from NetValue, which show more than 11.5 million home internet users in the UK. The Government, according to the e-Envoy, has also achieved its 2002 target of a million businesses online a year early, and it is this critical mass of small business use of the internet that makes Britain remarkable. Pinder believes the key elements for a successful internet economy are found in a strong national infrastructure: 'a good telecoms infrastructure so that people can have access to the Internet through one source or another, whether that be digital television or personal computers at home or at work'. Bandwidth is, he believes, a critical issue: 'We need to ensure that people have the opportunity to take advantage of the bandwidth. If there is a key point, it is that the country needs to have in place all the infrastructure that allows those who wish to join in the information economy to do so.' Government is so convinced that websites accelerate the process of change within the public sector, that next week, in London, Lucian Hudson, the Cabinet Office's director of e-communications, will bring together Ministers, senior civil servants and those with frontline responsibility for producing sites and their content. 'The Government,' says Hudson, 'already has a significant web presence. The challenge is to ensure that whatever we do with our websites not only reflects accurately what government can deliver but holds up the promise that government is becoming increasingly more responsive and approachable.' The Victorians might have recognised the chemistry at work here. Britain has always enjoyed a unique form of public- and private-sector partnership, one which fuelled the commercial and legislative foundation of an entrepreneurial and aggressive merchant economy. Times may change, but the principles and lessons of the past remain much the same, even in this early post-industrial period of our history. Sound policy, deregulation and inward investment offer Britain an advantage and an opportunity to benefit from the new wealth that will come from being the leading 'smart' economy in Europe. Meanwhile, nations unable or unwilling to respond to the social and political challenges that accompany the information age may discover, to their cost, that equally rapid forces of economic disadvantage can also work at internet speeds. _______________________________________________ Crashlist website: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base
