By Ken Garen
The fourth generation Internet, also known as “The Grid,” is positioned to change everything about the speed and volume of business being done via the Internet. The Grid was built to instantly disseminate immense amounts of data globally for the research involving the Large Hadron Collider, in Geneva Switzerland. The Grid brings with it a true paradigm shift, a rare occurrence changing what was, to what is, and will forever be. This article will explore how the Grid will bring about this momentous change in how business gets done, and how accounting professionals can leverage this change to become the leading aggregators of data – the client’s first call for information.
On Friday, November 20, 2009, scientists and engineers flipped the switch on the Large Hadron Collider and sent two proton beams on a collision course in opposite directions close to the speed of light around the 17-mile circumference track. The collider accelerates protons and then slams them together in an attempt to recreate forces and particles that reigned during the first moments of the Big Bang. Expecting a collision in early December, scientists were ecstatic over the collision that came only three days later.
The events of the November 23, 2009 collision were immediately reconstructed and analyzed globally, thanks to the instant broadcast of information to scientists and engineers around the world via the vastly more powerful Grid Internet. The test collision has proven the collider was designed correctly and that enormous chucks of data can be collected and sent in very short time slices via the Grid. Subsequent more powerful collisions are anticipated to produce the Higgs Boson particle, the same particle that was theoretically present immediately following the “Big Bang” that created the Universe.
A momentous paradigm shift
In one’s lifetime, there may be one or two periods of time when paradigms truly shift, where inflection points of “the old way” of doing things change into “the new way.” These inflection points have been literally the passing of the baton from the buggy whip manufacturers to the automobile manufacturers. Consider how the shift from being an agrarian economy (the old way) to an industrialized economy (the new way) caused the mass migration of people moving away from rural settings and into cities. A whole new infrastructure to support this immigration had to be built. Shifts like these are momentous and can be life changing.
We now have the same situation occurring with the Internet, as it is taking over as the leading and preferred means of information gathering, storage, and transmission. The Grid will positively impact business professionals by allowing them to easily multiply their time by rapidly accelerating the transfer of data. This transformation will also negatively impact many industries that historically were the preferred service provider. For example, consider the position the post office is in today, and how they are being forced to change. The post office is the buggy whip manufacturer for letters of the previous century, and their only delivery of the future will be packages that cannot be transmitted and delivered electronically. Letters, much to the dismay of the postal industry, are rapidly becoming the old way, and will eventually join the vinyl albums and floppy disks of the not too distant past.
Transforming and “The disintermediation of the world”
The transformation that happens as the world embraces the Internet has been coined “the disintermediation of the world.” What is occurring is the traditional third or fourth party who tended to not add any value to a transaction—but bought and sold goods because perhaps they were local or had a storefront—no longer have any reason to be involved in the transaction. The Grid is speeding this disintermediation process.
Many industries have already been touched by this transformation. The news media organizations are being transformed (like it or not) and we will very likely see the collapse of many of the previously major players and major consolidations as they struggle to find a way to be profitable. This has already happened to the travel industry and travel agents, except with exotic locations, are no longer used. Soon, the insurance industry will also be similarly transformed, with the financial services arena in the wings. Accounting practices have the opportunity to participate in this transformation and become the winner of the clients’ business as the go-to place for information.
The value of becoming the aggregator of information
Becoming the aggregator of information, the clients’ go-to place for information, creates a tremendous value add for the accountant who becomes the facilitator of the one-to-one business relationship between the business or consumer and the party from which they are attaining products or services. All of the big banks, insurance companies and brokerage firms see the value of this and are trying to figure out how they can become that go-to place for clients—the aggregator of information. This will be very hotly contested because there can only be one “go-to” place.
It is imperative for the accounting practices to re-think their interaction with their clients and to partner with technology, software and service providers that will allow them to become that aggregator. Additionally, if cap and trade restrictions come to fruition, it will accelerate the trend, because energy efficiency will become king.
Either prepare to take advantage of the situation or choose to ignore it, in which case the competitors’ rapid advancements will become perhaps glaringly apparent. This transformation is happening, and with the right technology and software in place, becoming the leading aggregator of information is possible. For the accounting professional, this means being able to store, gather, and access huge amounts of data such as payroll information, invoicing, payables and PDFs of file cabinet information. Learn more about how to make the right choices in technology and software now. Ultimately, your firm will gain strong positioning and added long-term client loyalty.