Blessed Are The Tech Pioneers:Learning The Lessons Of The Telegraph

The Internet bubble was caused by a confluence of technological, financial and social factors.

We learned that the financial markets can be misleading and that Wall Street does not necessarily reflect Main Street.

We also learned that good ideas still need infrastructure to deliver on the vision. And that future success will come to those with feet squarely planted on the ground, sporting business models that can generate profits and/or reduce costs.

And if you think that this is the first time such an era has occurred, think again.

I just finished an interesting book (a quick read by the way) by Tom Standage, entitled: “The Victorian Internet” (Berkley Books, New York). He chronicles the invention of the telegraph in the 19th century and points to the similarities between the telegraph and the Internet.

And considering the fact that messages traveled by horse and boats in those days, a telegraph network that was able to send messages across long distances in minutes was indeed a revolution compared to what the Internet brings us today.

He closes his book by saying that if Victorians arrived today, they would be impressed by heavier-than-air flying machines and space travel (thought impossible in those days). But as for the Internet, they would say, “we had one of our own.”

Many of the current issues such as privacy, security, crime, pornography and fraud are similar to a few of the past technological and social advances.

The telegraph was widely seen as a panacea at the time. Curiously, the words used by people today to describe the “Internet Revolution” and the “New Economy” are strikingly similar to past events and reflect similar patterns of skepticism, exploitation and public hype as we all recently witnessed.

Perhaps the most revealing point of Mr. Standages book is something we all can understand–that people do not change as fast as technology.

We are not going to change human nature, but we can learn a few lessons from the past. And perhaps the first one is something that I have heard Bill Gates of Microsoft say repeatedly–that we tend to overestimate the short term but underestimate the long term.

The fact remains that the crude telegraph has had a profound effect upon us all through the years. It gave birth to many other inventions (such as the telephone, fax and Internet) and has inspired many new ways of doing business. The Internet will do the same and more.

But unlike the telegraph, every human on Earth can be connected today. And this requires the same agreement on standards as the telegraph did in the 19th century.

Without standard protocols and codes (like the one from Samuel Morse) or collaboration among the business partners, the advances would never have come about. Thanks to all who persevered.

Life on the other side of the Internet bubble might not be easier, but is certainly less crazy. Rather than seeking first-mover advantage and quick (and often illusive) profits by using the Internet as a revenue play, our members are now focusing on more fundamental changes to the business. And this bodes well for the future of e-business.

Yes, the stock markets went crazy, logic went out the window, and our 401k plans might be worth a bit less as a result.

But connected networks (with ACORD industry standards) offer promising potential for our business.

Competitive advantage will be based more on “open” systems, self-service applications, alliances and sharing information among suppliers, distributors and customers. Legacy, proprietary systems might not disappear overnight, but middleware and customer-facing applications will be open and standards-centric to be sure.

In fact, standards are no longer expedient, but crucial to that end. And like the telegraph, without them, the promise would never have been realized.

The good news is that we have dot-com survivors and a new and healthy respect for the Internet and what it can bring to our business. And in contrast to Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspans famous comment, we now have a more rational exuberance for what lies on the horizon.

I was on the program with Ray Thomas, chief executive officer of Zurich North America Small Business, at an insurance industry event a number of months ago and he said that “its not about e-business, its about business.” How right he was.

E-vision should not be separated from traditional business vision. The difference is in the tools we use to get there. And although we lost a number of forward thinking, innovative dot-coms in the recent storm, we will all be better off in the long run as a result of their voyage.

Blessed are the pioneers.

Gregory A. Maciag is president and chief executive officer of ACORD, the non-profit industry association based in Pearl River, N.Y., with offices in Belgium and the United Kingdom. ACORD develops and maintains standards for the insurance and related financial services industries and promotes effective use of technology to facilitate e-commerce and reduce costs worldwide.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, September 17, 2001. Copyright 2001 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.

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Blessed Are The Tech Pioneers: Learning The Lessons Of The Telegraph

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