Editorial - Net benefits for readers

This month, we print a discussion held under the aegis of the Management Consultancies Association on the impact of the Internet on consultancy.

It proves that, while consultants are still uncertain as to the final shape the Internet will take, they are as active as anyone in imagining that future.

There are no Luddites here, but the experience of transformative technologies that consultants bring means that there is a reasonable level of caution when it comes to the Net. It is clear that the Net will develop as a complement to existing technologies, and a support to transformations whose main impact will be elsewhere. Television did not destroy the cinema, telephones didn’t shut down the Post Office and the motor car didn’t eliminate the house fly. Paradoxically enough, the real power of these technologies only emerged when they were freed from the straitjacket of expectations.

Paying your gas bill at four in the morning by telephone? It’s a miracle of the mundane.

So it will prove to be with the Internet, which by the time it has ceased to shock and amaze will smooth away a myriad of petty annoyances that we will soon forget ever existed. The question facing consultants now is if or when to connect. For the Internet has two faces: it can either be a cheap way of doing business – or an expensive toy.

Here at VNU we are attempting to minimise this dilemma in our readers’ minds by aggressively investing in Internet activities which add value for the readers in our paper products. Last month we told you of the launch of our Website at http://managementconsultancy.vnu.co.uk. This month we have augmented the site with a Web discussion for consultants which readers are cordially invited to join. Also launched this month is Jobnet, an on-line recruitment section which enhances our recruitment pages with an interrogable database of hundreds of jobs.(http://jobnet.vnu.co.uk).

Look out for more exciting developments next month.