Web 2.0 Biz Outlook
Some things to take note before you think of setting up your WEB2.0 business blog…
#1: Web as alternative Platform
- Upside: Revenue scalability (1 billion users on the Web), rapid growth potential and reach through exploitation of network effects
- Downside: Competitionis only a URL away, often requiring significant investment in differentiation
#2: Software Above a Single Device
- Upside: More opportunities to deliver products and services to users in more situations
- Downside: Upfront costs, more infrastructure, more development/testing/support (costs) to deliver products across multiple devices
#3: Data is the Next “Intel Inside”
- Upside: Customer loyalty and even lock-in
- Downside: Lack of competitive pressure leading to complacency, long-term potential antitrust issues
#4: Lightweight Programming & Business Models
- Upside: Dramatically reduced production costs, easier integration with partners, suppliers, faster product cycles or more features
- Downside: Unexpected scalability demands, unpredictable capacity, potential security issues, lack of control
#5: Rich User Experiences
- Upside: More productive and satisfied users, competitive advantage
- Downside: Higher cost of development, potentially lower new user discoverability and adoption
#6: Harnessing Collective Intelligence
- Upside: Much lower costs of production, higher rate of innovation, dramatically larger overall content output
- Downside: Lower level of control, governance issues (increased dependance on user base), content management issues, and legal exposure over IP
- Upside: Cost-effectively reach thousands of small, previously unprofitable market segments resulting in overall customer growth
- Downside: Upfront investment costs can be very significant, managing costs of customer service long-term
