Don’t underestimate the Internet

By Jim Carroll

As the Grateful Dead once sang, “What a long, strange trip it’s been.” Just more than 11 years ago this column made its debut, closing with what now seems a most appropriate comment: “Internet time takes a long time.”

That piece appeared in the summer of 2001, in the midst of the post-dot-com era of doom-and-gloom. With dot-com stocks having crashed to Earth, many people wondered if the Internet was but a flash in the pan and its importance to society and business vastly overstated. Given the frenetic pace of change today, such attitudes look, shall we say, rather silly in retrospect?

A few months later, my long-running technology column in the Globe and Mail was cancelled; some brilliant editor was convinced technology had run its course. But it wasn’t long before we saw the appearance of YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and technology platforms that would provide the basis for national revolutions, political upheaval and more change than we could have ever imagined.

So it is with this technology, which has a history of being undervalued. As a new CA in the Halifax office of Thorne Riddell in 1982, I had just discovered email and other systems — all of which would soon morph into the Internet. Back then, no one wanted to hear about this strange new world, particularly my fellow CAs. I was often advised to quit fretting about this “computer stuff” and stop “throwing away a perfectly good accounting career.” Then in 1993, a friend and I happened to write a little book called the Canadian Internet Handbook. When it became a national bestseller, I found myself spending a great deal of time at conferences throughout North America, putting into perspective the business, social and personal impact of this new technology.

Today, I’m not focused on the Internet itself — instead, I’ve journeyed into a fascinating career as a global futurist and innovation expert. I marvel at a client list that includes the PGA, Disney and NASA. (I’m still in shock about the time I was asked to motivate a room of astronauts, mission-control experts and launch directors to return to thinking aggressively about the future.)

My chameleon-like career as a CA has continued to evolve as I have learned to relentlessly adjust my skills, roles and capabilities. That’s why, after more than 100 Netwatch columns for CAmagazine, it’s time to move on. Having experienced the Internet revolution for 20-plus years, though, I suspect many people will continue to discount its influence into the future. So let me leave you with three points I’ve stated in the past that still bear relevance:

1. The impact of the Internet will continue to be bigger than anyone imagines. Ten years from now, we’ll marvel that we didn’t foresee the effect that the Net would have throughout the period 2012-2022.
2. The technology of the Internet will continue to evolve at a furious pace and will continue to destroy and reinvent entire industries. Today, the entertainment and telecom industries are undergoing a substantial shift; tomorrow countless other sectors, ranging from automotive to resources to healthcare, will be completely transformed as a wave of hyperconnectivity envelops our planet.
3. The next generation changes everything. My sons, now 17 and 19, have never known a world without the Internet. As they and every member of their generation enter the workforce, they will re-engineer and reshape the world according to the globally collaborative mindset they’ve grown up with.

I don’t think any of us truly appreciates the depth of the impact of the Internet that is yet to come. At the end of the day, it is never a good idea to discount the significance of this little tool we have.

Jim Carroll, FCA, is a well-known speaker, author and columnist.