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In October 1999, 139 million text (SMS) messages were sent in the UK. By October 2003, the figure had reached 1,816 million. Now that is growth! Yet the phenomenon was not predicted, not planned – it just happened. It took its providers by surprise. Now, of course, they are looking for the “next big thing”, but seem unable to create it. (How many MMS messages have yousent?). Instant messaging is similar. It has become a youth phenomenon, and is now passing into the business world. Environmental scanning may not pick up such phenomena at source, but it might allow you to pick up the trend just before your competitors.