In the article "Up to Speed" [CEO User’s Guide, September/October 1999], Adam Gutstein lays out a simple but powerful checklist of rules for success in e-commerce businesses. As our company expands its efforts on the Internet, we are working to apply this checklist to everything we do. We would maintain, though, that one item deserves additional attention—partnering.

Gutstein refers to partnering as a way to tap a broader pool of Web talent and to augment a company’s own offerings. We believe partnering goes beyond this. We believe few companies have the skills or time to deliver all the e-commerce activities inherent in their base strategy themselves. Partnering allows a company to build on someone else’s expertise to get to market faster with more robust capability.

The speed of market development and ever-increasing thresholds for performance demand that companies be discriminating about what their core functions need to be. Executives must ask themselves: What particular aspects or capabilities of e-commerce will truly add value and create competitive advantage for the general contractor? All other functions, even if embedded within an e-commerce offering, are candidates for partnering. In most cases, the "general contractor" who excels at a few key elements of e-commerce will beat the vertically integrated company.

Having expanded on this one point, I believe Gutstein’s checklist should serve as a constant reminder of how differently a company may need to operate to succeed in the world of e-commerce. The new mantra should ring in our ears: "Think big. Start small. Test quickly. Scale rapidly."

—Lee Adrean
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
First Data Corp.

ALL'S WELL, OR ORWELL?

David Brin and Jason Catlett present divergent views on whether the spread of information technology threatens personal privacy and on whether the government needs to intervene [The Last Word, September/October 1999]. Both, however, seem to overlook the power of the market and the role it will play to protect privacy.

Privacy is, and will continue to be, good business. And good businesses will not only implement fair information practices, but they will also try to turn privacy into a competitive advantage. I’m not just talking about companies that use personal data as an integral part of their business. Companies of all kinds will increasingly develop new methods for protecting data and individual privacy—at least as long as the public demands privacy protection.

The privacy debate has been, in large part, two sides yelling at each other without trying to reach common ground. The answer is not simply government regulations and new bureaucracies. Nor is the solution to do nothing.

The solution is to allow the market to choose which products and protections it wants. In the end, this will work much better than any European-style bureaucracy that seeks to enforce some predetermined privacy rules.

A recent survey by Prof. Alan Westin [professor emeritus of Columbia University] reveals that Americans overwhelmingly expect e-commerce companies to adopt and follow strong privacy policies. They also overwhelmingly support not doing business with companies that do not protect privacy.

My bet is that, in the privacy debate, the consumers will prevail. Businesses that ignore consumers’ demands for privacy will run the risk of going out of business. In the end, this type of market regulation will protect privacy better than all the government bureaucracies and new regulations combined.

—Gary E. Clayton
President
Privacy Council

BASIC TRAINING

If you read between the lines in Marc Rosenberg’s article [Inner Game of Work, September/October 1999], you’ll see an important point: Although he describes ways in which training can be used in change management, most organizations—and vendors—don’t provide that sort of training. For years, I’ve tried to impress on trainers how important it is that they understand the strategic goals of their companies—and yet, such understanding is still very rare. How can a training department be a principal lever for use in change management if the trainers don’t understand where the organization is trying to go?

Rosenberg makes another important point: The training he is talking about must be part of a carefully articulated multidisciplinary strategy, which also involves careful examination and manipulation of organization structures, the workplace reward structure, tools, technologies, and information flow. How different this is from a training organization that is isolated from the rest of the organization and is focused on filling more classroom seats than last year. The sad truth is that many training organizations aren’t up to the challenge of an integrated approach.

I take issue with one point Rosenberg makes. He mentions in passing the importance of a learning culture and the potential of knowledge management, electronic-performance support, and computer-based training technologies as alternatives to conventional training in helping to bring about change. But he does not make explicit the difficulties most organizations have when trying to instill a learning culture. Putting software technologies in place is only the first of many steps in a change-management process that must be planned carefully and executed aggressively.

Though they are neither simple nor cheap to execute, Rosenberg’s seven points are strategically critical. In a knowledge-based economy, they will determine who wins.

—Rob Foshay
Vice President, Instructional Design & Cognitive Learning
TRO Learning

Rosenberg’s observations are all too true. The management of change is the most complex and pervasive challenge facing all organization leaders and human resource professionals.

—Pat Kelly
Vice President of People Planning and Development
AT&T Wireless Services

INSTANT INTERNET

Andy Lippman is making a very significant point [Man and Machine, September/October 1999]. Computers that offer immediate, "always-on" access to the Internet change everything about who uses the Web, why they use it, and how often they use it. Studies by MediaOne Labs report a fourfold rise in use of the Web in households that have an always-on cable modem connection.

Most of the increased use comes from family members other than the computer enthusiast (the alpha geek). Much of the use is occasional, prompted by a person walking by the machine. We see PCs moving into the heart of the family’s space: out of the den and into the kitchen and family room. When things are convenient and useful, they get used a lot. When things are complex and awkward, their use is severely limited.

—Bud Wonsiewicz
Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer
MediaOne Group

DISTANT THUNDER

I read the distance-learning discussion between Alan Kay and Neil Postman [The Last Word, July/August 1999,] with interest. I recently completed a program based largely on distance learning. It was one of the best educational experiences I’ve had.

I often find extensive social and classroom verbal interaction a learning distraction and would prefer to take that time to ponder well-formulated concepts. In fact, I would often rather work at my own pace, without a classroom schedule imposed. This way I can spend two weeks on a chapter if necessary, or do two chapters per week. Tell me the standard required, and I’ll meet it, contacting an instructor only if needed.

I’m not saying that distance learning is for everyone, just that it has a well-defined and prominent niche in the education market.

—Dr. Charlie B. Tichenor