Well you just can't beat a good article about how to make some easy money online. The only problem is that this isn't as easy as simply coughing up your checking account and routing number for a group of foreign investors to funnel millions into their offshore account. This article discusses the future of M-Commerce and the opportunities associated given its rapid growth. M-Commerce is simply mobile / cell phone based sales and the growth is fueled by how integrated our phones have become to our daily lives. Couple that with the fact that more people own a mobile phone than a computer and you get the idea. Mobile phones have basically become portable computers that we use for checking email or surfing the internet for the latest stock prices or the score to last nights game. That is, of course, if we're not watching streaming video of the game live on our phone because the local watering hole would rather cater to obnoxious NASCAR fans than let me watch my beloved Tarheels.
An increasingly popular trend is in the form of Micro payments. The American Idol voting format is a great example of this. I mean how many times have we heard Ryan Seacrest say, "text your vote to" blah, blah, blah while some desperate contestant make silly hand gestures to simulate his or her number. They were charged a small premium on top of the SMS charge and probably didn't even notice it. The revenue generated from the millions of voters on the other hand was surely noticed. And that's the beauty of Micro payments - we don't feel like we're being charged because it's simple, we're not forced to pull out our wallet or a credit cards, and the cost is usually nominal.
So how do you make money? As a consumer, you probably won't - that just got my attention. But as a business there certainly are opportunities. It's real time information, easy and accessible that provides a cost effective alternative existing subscription-type services. Our role as consumers is to continue to download ringtones, wallpaper, and various other applications. And we will because it's easy, it's cheap, and the cost is buried in with all those taxes and regulatory charges that we don't just understand....
Technology is a resource and what makes any resource truly strategic is not the availability or accessibility but its scarcity. Simply put, a competitive advantage is only gained when you can do or offer something that your competitors can’t. At this point data storage, data processing, and data transport are available and affordable to all and have essentially become commodities in the form of a cost of doing business. IT is no longer viewed as a strategic tool but as an essential component of the infrastructure to doing business and little more than a cost of doing business. Something paid by everyone that provides uniqueness to none. From a strategic standpoint, IT doesn’t matter much anymore. It’s widely understood and accepted that IT is a seamless and nearly invisibly part of our daily business operations.
Technological advantages still exist, thus ‘mattering’ with proprietary technologies when such technology is effectively owned by one company in the form of a patent or some other process that is difficult to replicate. IT used in this capacity can provide significant competitive advantages for as long as the technology remains protected. The cost of developing proprietary technology can be extremely high and is only as valuable as the long-term strategic advantage it provides. Therefore, the advantage provided by IT has become marginal and isolated to companies with resources available to dedicate to the research and development of new technology.
Another factor affecting the ‘does-it-matter-ness’ of IT is the process of standardization. The way technology is used has a tendency to become perfected and emulated to the point that eventually they become ‘built-in’ products. This further supports the notion of IT becoming a commodity which largely takes away from the ability to capitalize on strategic advantage. Cost advantage remains a consideration but with competition and availability even the cost advantages are beginning to reach a marginal point. The point being that IT is no longer the differentiating factor is once was and will continue to lose its strategic potential as it becomes even more accessible and affordable.
Because of the rapid advances in technology, delaying IT investments can often be as advantageous as being one of the first to incorporate the newest technology. Oftentimes these pioneers make significant investments to be the first to offer new technology and capture those first to transition. Ultimately many of these companies find themselves making a considerable investment with issues stemming from the new technology including integration / compatibility issues and ultimately dated equipment as newer and more refined technology is introduced. History has shown that the smartest technology users patiently wait until the best practices are developed before making their purchases and in doing so spend less and gain more. Studies have also consistently shown that greater IT spending rarely translates into superior financial results.
Information Technology is increasingly moving towards protecting against system failures, security breaches, and data loss which many argue is a function of defense rather than offense. IT has become such an instrument essential to competition that the potential risks associated losses related to those risks pose a far greater threat than the advantage it provides. Electricity for example, is critical to business success with power outages and energy crises creating devastating consequences to the affected businesses. Despite this critical component of business, no company builds their strategy around electricity usage. An IT disruption can have the same devastating effect on a business as a major power outage. As a result, in theory identifying and tempering vulnerabilities could provide more of a strategic advantage than the technology itself.
This might come as a shock to some but I have no idea what I'm doing. I guess my biggest fear is that I'll hit save, or submit, or publish post at the wrong time and my ignorance will be permanently displayed for the world to see. I know, suggesting that the 'world' is going to read my blog might be a bit presumptious of me but who knows. I mean it's got to be somewhat intriguing to find out what goes through a person's mind as they're composing their first blog with no rhyme or reason to the design of their page, their thoughts, no target audience - nothing. Just a man up well past his bedtime trying to figure this mess out. I've already missed Nancy Grace, Fantasy Football ended long ago, the retail real estate market is in the toilet, my kids are asleep (for now) and my wife finally stopped looking over my shoulder so now I'm left alone with my thoughts and frankly, I'm getting lonely. I guess the worst part is that if I go back and read the sylabus or navigate through the class links I would probably find spelled out in plain English exactly what I'm supposed to be doing here. And when I get to that point I'll come back and do what was supposed to be done the first time. I've heard there's something to be said for practice so we'll call this practice. I could always tell you all about me, who I am, how I got here, what my goals are and all that mess but we've got 2 years to look forward to so I'm sure at some point it'll be an assignment so for now I'll spare you the details. For the sake of conversation, with myself, I'll tell you that I'm a native of Hickory and have lived here my whole life. I did spend about 6 years at Western Carolina in Cullowhee, NC about 2.5 hours west but I came back and I'm still here. I graduated with degree in Criminal Justice and just didn't find that job market too appealing so I went back to Lenoir Rhyne to pursue an accounting degree. I spent about 6 years working for a local venture capital firm then accepted an offer to go to work at IFH as controller. Institution Food House is a local food distributor for those of you not local to Hickory (I keep forgetting I have a global audience). After a couple years there and way too many 70-80 hour work weeks I was recruited by a wholly owned subsidiary of the firm I started with to come work exclusively for them in commercial real estate. Now I make my living working with primarily national retailers and developers on acquisitions and dispositions in addition to the normal financial reporting associated with our company. We do a lot of site selection work for Walgreen's and Bojangle's so if you've recently been negatively affected by either of them locally, it's probably my fault. I would get into the market, where it's been and where it's going but at this point that might even put me to sleep - or maybe just depress me into a coma. Thanks for reading and I do apologize if you've continued reading in an effort to find some substance or maybe even learn something you didn't know. If nothing else, at least you can take comfort in knowing that this is my very first blog and there is considerable room for improvement so watch out ;o)
