ComputerLink articles by Brian Pitre

Executive Bootcamp On The Internet

"To Realize the Potential Impact of the Internet on Business, Managers Must Take a Dive in it Themselves."

The Web continually disrupts industries and transforms business models, yet many senior executives still do not have firsthand experience or understanding of the new medium.

The other day, I spoke with the CEO of a company about the Internet, and he said that his wife uses it, but he does not. Too often such is the case, and many senior managers who remain Internet illiterate tell similar stories. These senior managers rely on others to provide them with advice about the new communication medium, when they really need firsthand, direct experience. As companies begin to embrace the Internet, people at all levels of responsibility and across all departments will need to understand how the Web impacts not only their position, but also the entire corporation’s bottom line.

Many executives need to experience the basics of the Internet to fully understand e-commerce. By completing the basic Web literacy activities outlined in this column, you will gain insight into the medium and be better prepared to understand how the Web is changing all business models.

The following is an outline of an executive boot camp, allowing senior executives to personally experience the usefulness and vitality of the Internet. With the following ten steps, discover the Web and its basic building blocks that include finding information, surfing, downloading a file, installing a plug-in, viewing multimedia, buying something on the Web, experiencing an auction, understanding how pricing is impacted by the Internet, and how transactions work in this new medium.

The program begins with simple activities, and progresses to more complex and involved processes. It’s important to note that these activities are not intended to be rushed through in an hour, or managed by a trainer hovering over the student’s shoulder. Those leading the training should offer assistance when needed and guidance when necessary, but allow the process of discovering the Web to proceed unfettered.

Discovering the web in 10 easy steps:

1. Experience the Informational Value of the Web

In the browser, type in one of the URL or Addresses as follows: www.cnn.com, www.nytimes.com, www.weather.com. It’s important to note that anything you would like to know about can be found on the World Wide Web – including more information about the Internet itself.

2. Find Something of Interest on the Internet Using a Search Engine

The most widely used search engine is Yahoo! In your browser, type in http://www.yahoo.com. In the search box, type in a topic of interest such as baseball, fishing, bicycling, etc. and click the search button. For baseball, I found 3019 sites listed. Because there is so much information now available, it is important to use some of the "advanced search" capabilities of Yahoo. Review the "advanced search capabilities" section at Yahoo and try them to better qualify what you’re looking for.

About the only thing common to all search engines is that none of them works the same way. Experience a number of others and note their strengths and weaknesses: www.infoseek.com, www.webcrawler.com, www.altavista.com, www.lycos.com.

3. Surf the Web

The practice of moving from one site to another is known as surfing. As you find topics of interest, you will typically discover hyperlinks to other Websites. You should find hyperlinks referencing other sites in the site content. You may also find a site links page, or an advertising banner that links to another site.

4. Experience an Auction Site

Visit www.ebay.com. eBay is the best known Internet Auction Site and has close to 2 million items for sale from all types of people. I like to refer to this as the largest garage sale in the world. The greatest value of this site is that it is a marketplace on the Web.

5. Experience the New Consumer Education

The Internet is creating new, more educated consumers through "Infomedaries" who provide them with valuable information. Visit these sites to learn just how much information consumers have at their fingertips: www.computers.com and www.pricewatch.com.

These sites will provide all types of information on where to buy and the pricing of products from various sellers. This type of information permeates the Internet, and the level of information about competing sellers can make pricing schemes extremely favorable to consumers.

6. The Stock Market

Online stock trading has become extremely popular on the Web. Traders have access to information about stocks, bonds, commodities, and can even set up real personal portfolios that can be used to trade securities, options, mutual funds, and more over the Internet.

These sites offer news, free real-time stock quotes, and access to Online trading: www.cnnfn.com, www.etrade.com

7. Go Shopping and Buy Something

Go to www.amazon.com. Look at the books, audio CD’s and videotapes available. The best experience can be accomplished by actually purchasing something. Learn about secure transactions and do not be afraid to use your credit card over the net.

Other interesting shopping sites include (but are not limited to): www.llbean.com and www.landsend.com.

8. Download a File

Surf to www.realnetworks.com, then download and install the Real Player and install it on your computer. Go to Products, then Players, and download the "free" version of the Real player. All types of software can be delivered over the Internet. In fact, not just software but anything that is digital such as text, graphics, and information.

9. Experience Streaming Audio and Video

Go to real guide at http://realguide.real.com. The Web is a multimedia smorgasbord and has an enormous potential beyond simple text and graphics. As bandwidth (the amount of data that can be transmitted at once on the same carrier) continues to increase, the use of multimedia will expand.

10. Get an Adobe Acrobat Reader

Acrobat Reader (by Adobe) will give you the ability to view and download documents that are saved in the Portable Document Format (pdf), such as brochures, tax forms, college applications, etc. These files are viewable on all computers that have the reader installed, regardless of the brand of hardware or operating system.

Go to http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html, and go to the Case Study section of the Adobe Website for additional information at http://www.adobe.com/studio/casestudies/acrobat.html. The case studies are in the PDF format and show a great example of printing on demand.

After completing these ten steps, you should have a good idea of the power and potential of the Internet.

Some of these steps are fairly rudimentary, but there is really no limit to the number of new and unique experiences awaiting companies and consumers on the ‘Net. Those who allow themselves to become complaisant in their understanding of the Internet run the risk of falling behind the times more quickly than ever before. For businesses, "Internet literacy for all!" should be a primary initiative.