The Dot-Consequences

Nonetheless there are sharks circling the waters. For one, the effect of dotcom collapse, and the resulting cynicism bred in many executives, is still rumbling through many a corporate boardroom and executive suite. In some quarters, the hype, combined with the whole Y2K hysteria, have left a nasty taste in the mouth that CIOs have been hard pressed to erase. That time is thankfully passing, but no one can discount its damaging impact.

But who can seriously argue the Internet has not transformed the way we do business, and not always automatically for the best? Sure, e-commerce may not yet have become the standard way of working, as some might once have believed, but the Internet is enabling globalization to the nth degree, and some of its more insidious effects will play out in coming years in ways no one can yet anticipate.

Some companies now routinely outsource R&D, IT functions and manufacturing to foreign shores, leading to a loss in local jobs, and organizations have yet to come to terms with many of the new vulnerabilities in global supply chains. Indian call centre workers routinely cop abuse from Westerners resentful of them for "stealing our jobs". Now, according to some analysts, those who have benefited most from offshoring in places like India are also under threat from cheaper competition elsewhere. Meanwhile popular sentiment in many corners of the globe is hardening against globalization, and workers everywhere are in revolt. At that level, the world is in turmoil, and no one can see where it will all end.

Putting it all together, I think "alchemist" remains a fair analogy.