The Future of Business

In the past, business could rely on methods, rules, and practices that they have used and improved upon since the early days of the industrial revolution. Now, all the rules have suddenly changed.

Every year brings new internet advances and technologies, and every year businesses must decide which of these technologies will bring the most benefit to their business.

Unfortunately, these decisions are often being made using pre-internet business processes and rules, where people with little or no ownership of or interest in the website are required to make crucial decisions about it. For example, this can be seen in the vast number of businesses who seem to have websites simply because their main competitor has a website.

On the other hand, some businesses have spent an incredible amount of money, time, and energy to make websites that look great, have copious amounts of information, and incorporate the latest technologies like web 2.0 social web applications. However, when it comes down to hard numbers, often the effort put into these websites was largely wasted. Why? What can we do to fix this?

I believe that the root of the problem is this: Businesses have been asking the wrong questions of the wrong people. The harsh reality is that most websites are designed for the business, not the customer. This is backward thinking.

The truth is, if the website does not offer something that meets a customer's real or perceived need, it does not matter how pretty the site is, the number of shiny web 2.0 features it has, or how cleanly it displays on a cell phone. People simply won't use it.

What does this mean to businesses and website owners?

In my opinion, it means that in the future, businesses are going to be forced to be far more flexible in how they make decisions. Business rules and best practices must be examined and modified to reflect the very real changes the internet has made in customer expectations.

For example, instead of asking the web committee to determine the content the website should contain and then focusing on what color scheme it should use, businesses will ask their customers and potential customers what they actually need from a website, and provide it.

Instead of simply tacking more features onto an existing website in order to one-up a competitor's site, businesses will determine how their visitors are actually using their website, and then choose features that enhance the way visitors are already using the site.

In other words, businesses are going to be forced to allow their customers to drive their website offerings, from content to features. If the website doesn't offer what people need, they will look elsewhere. Businesses that learn to take the time to understand what their customers really need out of a website will be much more successful than those that cling to the old rules.