The potential of the digital economy suddenly has a lot of people getting very excited. If Bill Gates takes it seriously (which he does ‐ see his Business @ the Speed of Thought, Warner Books, 1999) then perhaps Asia’s librarians and information managers should know why major businesses want to do business on the Web, and what may be in it for information service providers. The key argument from Martin is that the old rules no longer apply when you are doing business on the Web. As an example, the old method of patiently developing a product or service through lengthy trialling before putting it on the market no longer works, according to this author. The most successful tactic is to “launch and learn” even before the product is ready. Even if you do not have it right by the time you go public, you nevertheless stake your claim to the territory and start to build up customer allegiance. The author provides some pretty good examples of successful e‐commerce companies in support of his claim.
Another intriguing point he makes is that the Web not only allows for massive marketing, simply because of the huge reach of the Web, but it also, seemingly perversely, allows for specific targeting of individuals based on knowledge of their previously shown interests and preferences, e.g. this can be done by using “cookies”. He makes many other pertinent points: that businesses must listen to young customers in a way they have never done before, that making business alliances is crucial to future success, and that Web sites must give in order to get ‐ it is the context that is more important than the content.
What does this mean for librarians and information managers? Perhaps for the traditionalists among us it means nothing. No doubt some libraries will continue to survive without acknowledging the phenomenon of the Web. For many, though, it is not only necessary to use the Web as an ancillary resource, it is necessary to get on the Web with an active presence, offering products and services to customers in ways not previously done. Perhaps Martin’s points about context above content are important for library Web developers. For those of us who have learned that competition is not just inevitable, but that it can also be good for us, there are also valuable lessons in Martin’s book. Equally, we must accept that we are no longer in full control of our destinies, at least not unless librarians can become complete masters of the Web. Partnerships and alliances must develop in ways not seen before. Old resource sharing relationships will not work, simply because the old partners will not have any more access to the technology than we do. We have to seek out partners with access to Web technologies that we do not have, and then convince them of our value in a balanced relationship. It will take marketing sense not common among librarians to achieve that.
In one of his more telling moments Martin points out that the Web is unlike other media familiar in the library world, for it is primarily a communications medium, yet one that has a huge information content. The challenge for librarians and information managers is to come to grips with such a dynamic medium, and one that can link the library with its customers in a highly individual manner never known before. There are now many titles on e‐commerce available. One that offers useful tips on marketing, and thus has some relevance to library work, is John Hagel and Arthur Armstrong’s Net Gain: Expanding Markets through Virtual Communities (Harvard Business School Press, 1997).
