Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Latest News
    • Mobile

    Bits, Bytes & Rewrites

    By
    eWEEK EDITORS
    -
    September 10, 2001
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Name: Don Tapscott

      Title: Author, consultant

      Web Info: www.dontapscott.com

      Claim to Fame: Digital economy documenter

      If he had it to do over, Don Tapscott might make a few minor changes in his third and latest book, Digital Capital, co-authored with David Ticoll and Alex Lowy. For example, Tapscott might have been a tad less effusive in describing Cisco Systems, which began experiencing inventory migraines just weeks after the book was completed in February 2000.

      But the author insists that the fundamental premise of the book—that five distinct types of partner networks, or “b-webs,” are changing the nature of the corporation and how it creates wealth—is in no way tarnished by the dot-bomb debacle and the subsequent collapse of the high-tech market.

      “The real meaning of the Internet is not creating Web sites or dot-coms, or about eyeballs, clicks or stickiness,” argues Tapscott, who like a lot of consultants is supremely confident in his own opinions. “It actually turns out that eyeballs are the wrong body part. Its the heart that counts—partner relationships. What we said in the book is that the Internet, as a universal communications medium, has turned the traditional vertically integrated corporation into toast. And that has been going on since before the crash and is going on now.”

      Indeed, continues Tapscott, the awesome transformation outlined in the book is well under way in the steel, gas distribution, chemical, banking, software and furniture manufacturing industries, to name just a few. In revisiting some 19 months later the specific b-web examples cited in the book, Tapscott says the vast majority of them, like Enron, Schwab, E*Trade and Linux, hold up very well on reexamination. Even Cisco, the poster child for the b-web known as the “Web-enabled value chain,” remains a great company that simply got carried away and failed to heed the warnings in its own sales data.

      All this is not to say, however, that the industry meltdown is a nonevent.

      Tapscott warns against the “new fundamentalism” that is taking root throughout the economy. Pundits are making a living preaching a new orthodoxy—that e-biz was a silly concept to begin with, and that all you need to succeed in business is to turn the clock back 20 years and rely on the tried-and-true concepts.

      Moreover, Tapscott laments that in the current market environment, many viable technology companies that cant get second- or third-round funding are disappearing down the drain along with the neer-do-wells. This is never a good thing for the industry, he says.

      Generally speaking, Tapscott is high on providers of third-party services and solutions, because customers increasingly will focus on their core competencies and use their partner b-webs to handle everything else. IBM represents a classic case. The company mothballed its CRM product because it didnt measure up to the competition, and now Big Blue generates a whopping $2 billion in sales through its CRM partnership with Siebel.

      Nevertheless, says Tapscott, a healthy outlook for service providers doesnt mean a new generation of dinosaurs. “In this new environment, its too much to start from scratch and create something huge, so you wont see anymore EDSes and Accentures. But there will be tremendous opportunities for smaller companies that are good at designing secure systems, architecting new business models and implementing CRM.”

      eWEEK EDITORS
      eWeek editors publish top thought leaders and leading experts in emerging technology across a wide variety of Enterprise B2B sectors. Our focus is providing actionable information for today’s technology decision makers.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×