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Will New Zealand Survive in the Internet Age The future is not something you are going to, it is something you create All around the world there are people creating the future and the question is asked: "Will New Zealand survive in the Internet Age". Has New Zealand the infrastructure, the knowledge or even the will to advance, for it is evident that New Zealand businesses are not prepared for the business world that is to come. In the history of mankind there are certain stages which are marked as significant The Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, the Middle Ages, the Age of Discovery the Renaissance, Industrial Age and the stage we are now moving on from, the Mass Media Age. These ages and stages did not just happen, they were a progression built on what went before, new ideas and each brought vast change We are at the beginning of a new era and we have no idea how our lives will change in the next 20 years. The Age we are moving to has been called many things, The Information Age, the Knowledge Economy. But these terms are misnomers. The knowledge economy arrived with the printing press, people had a reason to become literate, they had the means to learn and gain knowledge. The information age came with reading and writing, and with the invention of the compass, people could venture further than they had been before. They could explore and learn. Vast amounts of knowledge and learning were accumulated but the means to pass this information on was limited. In 1945 an eminent scientist and administrator Vannevar Bush published a paper entitled "As We May Think" In it he addressed this problem using examples of the scientific and medical advances lost to the world because our means of storing and passing this information on was inadequate. His words placed on paper echoed what many other academics, scientists, business and world leaders knew or wished or were working on. "We have the knowledge; we need the infrastructure to make it available to all" Development work was undertaken in the 60's and by the end of that decade the Internet we know today had taken its first steps. The Internet means inter-connected computers. Messages could be sent back and forth because of the protocols that enabled one computer or machine to understand what the other was sending. Academics, universities and leaders all over the world could communicate and access information. A scientist, working in Sweden could make a break through in research, place his findings in a file in Sweden and another scientist in Scotland could access this file and read the results. Medical advances could be communicated in an instant. At that time various networks were in use and programs which ran on one computer, could not run on another and the Internet with the introduction of TCP /IP in 1983 offered a workable solution as an all encompassing communication channel. But not until 1990 did the Web become a possibility when an Englishman Sir Tim Berners-Lee working in Geneva as a physics scientist wanted / needed to find a way to harness the information held on various non communicating computers and make the information available to all in his environment. He wrote a language called html, developed the protocol http and named it the World Wide Web. A basic browser was developed. From his computer the software could access the information, display it on screen, on a webpage. He could upload information to his computer, a server, and anyone with a browser and the URL address, (knowledge of the www.) could see what he wanted to advise. And because of the linking protocols of the web, various documents previously unreachable on other computers could be seen. The possibility that information could become universal was close to reality Then in 1995 the first commercially produced web browser came onto the market. Anyone with an Internet connection and a browser could obtain information on any subject from a webpage from anywhere in the world. And the world was changed for ever. People in business could advise in an instant what they had available for sale in their shop. They could advise anyone what their company does, what it sells, the contact information so the customer could call or visit. In total, all the information a potential customer may need if they wished to purchase from that business. Every business has the opportunity to be its own advertising agency, its own media. The Internet Age had arrived. 1945, 1970, 1995 it is now 2008. What has business in New Zealand done in the last sixty years to ready itself for the Internet Age. Increasingly customers are now in front of computers, but what are the businesses in New Zealand doing. Where are they advertising. Why are they not advertising on the Web, it is where customers are going. Current practices tend to re-enforce the perception that New Zealand business owners are lacking skills when it comes to doing business in the Internet Age. For a person in business, you never know where your next customer is coming from. How did they find you? What made them choose your business. The purpose of advertising Where did you advertise or did someone, a connector tell them. From the day a trader put up a shingle saying "open for business" to today with the myriad of channels, businesses have realized that if the customer doesn't know they cannot buy. For a person in business advertising is a commercial reality, a necessity, so it pays to advertise where the customers go and today customers are increasingly in front of computers. The Internet is not information; it is the facilitator of information. It is the 4th Media channel. It is the only media that is growing worldwide The Web is not about websites. The Web is about providing information, it is an application that sits on the Internet and because of the protocols, it allows a website and its contents to be viewed by many people. Information a customer needs before they make a buying decision. Sure people buy online but many more people view online, make their decisions and then go into the shop to buy. But before the website can be found by the customer who uses a search engine, it has to be found by the Search Engines, (Google Yahoo MSN and the other entities with searchable databases) The Search Engines send out bots, spiders and crawlers to find the information, to find the websites / webpages and extract and collect the information for storage in their databases so when a customer makes an enquiry, they can call up the relevant information for display. Therefore if a business wants to be found it is incumbent upon them to provide the correct and relevant information to the Search Engines. And to assist the businesses engage in good practices the Search Engines publish their guidelines and policies, detailing what they require and pointing out what is considered bad practices. But after all these years we still find that New Zealand businesses with websites are not only ignoring the policies and guidelines, they are actively engaging in deceptive practices. Good practices are considered to be accurate, relevant and individual "Title Tags" for each page of the Website and a concise description about the webpage in the "Meta Description Tag" Google's Guidelines for Webmasters www.google.com/support/webmasters Yahoo's Policies http://help.yahoo.com and from MSN ( now Bing) http://webmaster.live.com Bad practices are considered (include but not limited to) hidden text, keyword stuffing, the use of several different domain names with the websites all having the same information. Practices which are frowned upon by the Search Engines. It is the responsibility of the Website owner, not the designer, to ensure that their website is of an acceptable standard. Repeat it is the responsibility of the website owner, you paid the money, you want the information on your website to be found and don't believe any designer that says guidelines and policies are not important. More about the Title Tags, Description Meta Tags and how to check can be found on Make your website search friendly If businesses want their websites to be visible, to be seen by the customers they must obey the rules. Far too many NZ businesses put up a website, tick the box and say we have a website, we are in the 21st century: when in fact, all they have paid for are pieces of paper that no one can find. And if the customer cannot find they cannot buy. The Search Engines have found your website, they have your webpages in their databases but if the signposts, as to what the page is about, are not present in the webpage code, the search engine cannot display the required pages to the searching customer If you are in business and wish to stay in business in the Internet Age make your Website friendly to the Search Engines and you will go along way to reaching the customers who are increasingly in front of computers. The world has changed and to succeed businesses will have to adjust their marketing and sales strategies in order to survive in the Internet Age So how did we get to this sad state of affairs in New Zealand What cultural influences, how we perceive things, how we think, believe and act have brought us to this situation. To quote from the text book "Fundamentals of Marketing" by William J Stratton , A culture may be defined as the complex of symbols and artifacts created by a given society and handed down from generation to generation. A culture implies a totally learned and handed down way of life. Has the business culture changed as the culture of the people it serves changed? Do businesses consider that advertising consists of only placing advertisements in the newspapers, on the radio, Television or in the back of a telephone book? Are they aware of the concept of Web 2, of Search or the Social Media As a business owner your business depends on attracting customers but how many New Zealand businesses dismiss the Web and if they do why. Have they been influenced by a reference group such as the NZ Retailers Association who where very vocal in advising caution to their members about the Internet and the Web. This Industry advisor also stated people will always buy retail. I agree; people will always buy retail; this fact is borne out with substantial research. But I think this Industry Leader missed the point. The Web is a media which operates on the Internet. It is a media used by people who are potential customers and by suggesting New Zealand businesses use only the traditional media, they do their members a dis-service. Even as recently as December 2007 when figures from overseas noted a large increase in web traffic due to Thanksgiving and Xmas buying, a spokesperson said this will not happen in New Zealand as New Zealanders are too conservative. The success of TradeMe should have been a wake up call to all in business in New Zealand, people with money go on-line to find what is available for purchase. This does not suggest that New Zealand public is conservative. To pick only on the Retailers Association is not fair. New Zealand has many committees and industry leaders, all appointed to look after the interests of their members and no doubt they take their responsibilities seriously but what guidance and knowledge can they offer for the Internet Age. Do they know what is happening. The world is changing. Update: A newsletter received from the NZ retailers association in mid 2009 contained suggestions and links as how to improve web site visibility in the search engines, a hat tip to them Why are New Zealand businesses internationally recognized as not the brightest things on two wheels when it comes to business in the Internet Age. Did the political statement of seventy plus years ago "we will look after you from the cradle to the grave" stifle any initiative. We certainly have the tall poppy syndrome and a hierarchical business structure. New Zealand is known as an immature market. The Web started for every society, every town and city, every country at the same time and New Zealand is already at the bottom. We are classified as a developed nation, not a third world country, but if you are at the bottom how long before you fall off. Mark the changes in history, the societies, the countries that did not change as the world changed, do they have power, influence. The Web started for every society, every country at the same time. Look, what large pre-eminent, dominant, influential web sites are owned by New Zealanders? Find any. The sites may say .co.nz but they are run from overseas, some do not have staff in New Zealand There may be some among us who adopt a xenophobic attitude and blame foreigners for our problems but to paraphrase a quote from Julius Caesar. "The fault is not in our stars, it is in us. We are the underlings" Are we suffering from a legacy of central government control and is this determining our future. Has the culture which has been learned over the past years given us a business structure, a culture incapable of going forward? To suggest that Telecom is responsible has some merit, but is Telecom the cause or a symptom and is it their responsibility, is it their problem. From the very early days, to access the Internet a device was required which connected a computer to the network. This is called a modem; slow speed 14.4 doubling to 28.8, advancing to 33.2 and 56kps. Then Broadband, allowing data to be transmitted at a greater speed. Business in New Zealand did not embrace the Web as a business tool when the transmission rates were low or medium, so they cannot use Telecom as an excuse for not participating now. After all why would a business such as Telecom or others who are in the same market or who wish to enter, spend billions of dollars trying to get NZ into the 21st century when New Zealand business people are happy to do things the way they have always done things in the past A better faster Internet would probably be wasted in New Zealand because those that would benefit most (the NZ businesses) have no idea what is going on. The Internet and the Web are two different things. We could have the fastest, the best, the greatest Internet in the world but if the people who stand to benefit the most in New Zealand are not interested in the Web all would have vain. The traffic will go elsewhere, the customers will look overseas. In our research we were continually struck by the fact that as individuals New Zealanders embraced the Web and this included business owners CEOs and managers of large and smaller businesses but these same individuals when placed back in their business environments did not use the Web as a business tool. There is a "disconnect" So what is it in the business structure? Business owners, operators and managers are not stupid or less able than their counterparts else where in the world so what is the problem. The best answer we can give is the size of the business. In the order of things there are big businesses, mid size businesses, small businesses and mom and pop stores. We have in New Zealand predominantly small businesses; the correct terms should be mom and pop stores, or as someone once said "traders on the side of the road with better premises". Mum, Dad one, two or several staff all working away in the business they know, but having little or no knowledge about advertising or about the promotion their wares. And why should they have any in-depth knowledge of advertising. They open their doors at nine, close them at five and if they wish to advertise, they contact the mass media or wait until a sales rep arrives who says "have I got a deal for you". I have no intention of "knocking" these business people for they are in business, working for themselves, trying to put bread on the table. It is just that they have been brought up on a diet that has ill equipped them to cope with the Internet Age. And the bigger businesses who should know better, they may have a marketing department or someone charged with the task of promotion but traditionally they have outsourced the work to Advertising Agencies. An Advertising agency produces pretty pictures and fancy fonts for print, writes radio jingles and makes advertisements for television, to be blasted everywhere, commonly known as shotgun advertising. What do they know about advertising on the Web, it is a different advertising environment No longer can the mass media and their agencies say to the business people, we know it all, advertise with us, we have captive and passive audience who read, listen or watch. That was the zero sum game of yesterday. The customer is now free and on the Web searching for the information, who has what I can buy and where are they. People with money are on-line, then what is stopping the local retailer from putting up a web page saying we have this for sale in our shop, change the wording, advise the specials, advise more products. People can view online and walk into the store and purchase. What is stopping the bigger businesses from advertising on the Web after all they have a large advertising budget. Should not they advertise where the customers are. The traditional media can no longer guarantee a captive audience. If you are a small business, the web allows you to compete head to head with the big stores. For on the Web no one knows whether you are a big or small business. And how long before a big business becomes a small business if they ignore their customers on the Web. The customer only wants to know, can you assist them with their purchasing decision, which is a good reason to build your website according to the rules and undertake your advertising on the web correctly Is it serious, well that depends on your view of the world? The Internet or (lack of it in NZ) is a good reason to emigrate. We send our kids to school to learn, they have access to the Internet, the Web, the Social Media, this is what they are growing up with and when they leave school and enter the world they are confronted with a society jammed in the past. Our children, they are our future, they have the knowledge, the learning, the awareness of a different world, what is there to keep them in New Zealand New Zealand ranks at the lower scale in many OECD statistics. A senior researcher recently said "The only OECD chart he has seen where New Zealand is number one, is the share of its population living overseas". We wonder what is being taught in places of higher learning when we come across marketing graduates who know how to contact an agency to place an advertisement in the back of a telephone book or arrange with an agency for a radio jingle or a large full colour advertisement in a newspaper, but mention Google Adwords, Yahoo Panama or MSN's Adcentre, advertising that their clients view and they are lost, they have no idea about the power of the Web. Your future customers don't use the back of a telephone book. Telecom NZ knew five or more years ago they would have to sell the Yellow Pages but in the meantime the cash cow was worth milking because businesses as a group were staying with the back of a Telephone book. New Zealand was one of the last countries in the world for a Telecommunications company to divest itself of the yellow pages. The traditional media companies are going online, the printed yellow pages are in decline. Customers are online. Australia is at this present time light years ahead of New Zealand and the Australian Government recently agreed to support with up to two billion dollars a program which will give 98% of its population broadband speed. Europe, USA, Asia the politicians, the business leaders overseas all recognize the need for the Internet and the Web. What is the commitment in New Zealand? China, a world leader in supplying the world. Take a look at the business to business website for their exporters, 3.6 million registered users in 200 countries, you want it, it is on display, available for purchase. They have informed the world what they have for sale. Have a look at the website of / for the exporters in New Zealand, New Zealand who. The millions being spent internally in NZ, getting people to Buy New Zealand Products, would have been better spent telling the people of the world via the Internet to Buy New Zealand products. We still tend to think geographically in terms of land mass, of countries but the Internet with its ability to reach around the world is changing our concept of what is a geographical area. Just as states bind together for a common advantage and countries form a common market so does the Internet constitute a club with members who can source and share information. New Zealand is in danger of falling out of the world club. Business on the Web is a multi billion dollar industry. Meetings, seminars, conferences, top level discussions are held worldwide from China to Japan, Sweden to Russia, Brazil to Singapore, UK, Europe, USA and Australia but not New Zealand. We are bypassed and not without reason, we do not have the will to become an equal. Are we doomed in the future to be just another Pacific Island? In less than forty years time it will be the 100th anniversary of the realization that something like the Internet / Web had to exist. Look back and ask what in the last 60 years have we done to prepare ourselves and our children for the future If we want to New Zealand to succeed, New Zealand businesses will have to change their way of thinking and in this we have a problem. How do you change the culture of businesses who for the most part are sellers on the side of the road albeit with better premises. Early on, I touched on the subject of New Zealand businesses having a hierarchical structure, which may or may not give rise to what we know as the tall poppy syndrome. Expanding this, if we have a structure where nothing can be done without permission from a higher authority and if the higher authority does not know or wish to know, how can we progress from the Mass Media Age to the Internet Age. In 2003 the results of a survey were published. The survey had investigated the websites of the top 100 New Zealand companies. In all areas, across the board, the New Zealand sites failed. Today, as more businesses go online with their company or small business websites we see the same errors being committed. Why. Google and Yahoo the major search engines publish their requirements and there are many articles and discussion groups advising the right way to do things. Don't businesses care if customers cannot find what they have for sale. Don't businesses care if the practices they engage in are classed as deceptive. Following the Industrial Age, the mass media controlled because the masses did not know until they were told, but today the masses can search for what they require, they are aware they have choices and they are in front of computers, on cellphones and engaging in and with the social media. Those that built and controlled the mass media have not been slow in seeing where the future lies. They are frantically trying to find a way to tap into the market. They may still publish Newspapers but they know what has and is happening overseas and they operate many websites. They may tell you Radio is the place to be but they are placing text ads online. The Television channels advise viewers to visit their websites. They are all trying to protect their territory, their investments, they are trying to re invent the wheel, but today they cannot control the information. Those days are gone, today every business has the opportunity to control its own advertising destiny. Then Maybe It Is Too Late New Zealand may have already fallen; the Tipping Point has been reached. The future of New Zealand is heading overseas; sure they may tell you it is for better jobs, better pay, a better lifestyle. But are they stating, they see no future for New Zealand in the Internet Age. Are we destined to be just a couple of islands in the South Pacific and so not survive the Internet Age. Any comments Contact Us