The Internet
is a Great Tool
The Internet originated at the same time as the development of the electronic computer in the
1950s. These were initially created for use by the US Defense department. In the late 1980s the term
‘network’ originated when ARPANET was interlinked with NSFNET. From here, the road to
development led to the creation of the World Wide Web (www), search engines, dot coms, mobile
internet, eventually leading to what we see today in the form of apps which run on smart phones,
tablets and mobile devices, and which can be easily downloaded from app stores.
In recent years these technological advances have changed the world and led to people and
businesses bridging the gap that stands between them, with everyone transforming themselves into
residents of a global village.
The mobile health care industry is also booming thanks to the internet as diagnosis and reporting via
the internet especially in rural areas is playing a big role. Imagine a situation where an x-ray machine
or a CT/MRI scan can run without a qualified doctor purely using a remote operator that sends the
digital version of scans to a doctor sitting 1000 miles away. The doctors comment and patients
receive the final report within an hour. Some companies are already developing apps integrated for
blood pressure and pulse monitoring which can be a form of great medical support for certain
people.
The other positive aspects of internet is mobile money, some great examples are Nepal mobile
money which is taking the responsibility of supporting small business through small money transfers
in rural areas.
The Internet helps businesses save time and money. It is a powerful tool that can make your
business more productive and profitable. Business Link states that when the Internet and email are
used effectively, business activities are streamlined, communication with customers is more
effective and the internet even helps generate new customers or clients, all the while helping to
reduce business expenses.
Using Internet resources for your business can almost entirely eliminate the need for traditional
postal mailing and all of the costs associated with that contact method. The Internet makes it easy to
stay in contact with your customers via email and online networking tools such as discussion boards,
chat rooms, and social networking sites such as Facebook.
The Internet provides a variety of ready-made applications to help run any day-to-day operations
that your business may face. These Internet services help with finance management, inventory
control and human resources, allowing you to lower costs while reducing the time and labor force
needed to run the business. A great example of this is when an American business hires a support
staff from Bangalore in India for activities such as lead generation, online research and online
marketing.
Certain applications related to customer relationship and feedback, enable your customers to get
support 24 hours a day without having to engage a customer service representative. When an
employee's help is needed, Internet tools can help route the service request to the appropriate
department and log the progress of the resolved or unresolved issue for future reference.
Setting up your business on the Internet can be a lucrative way to attract customers, expand your
market and increase sales. Even local coffee shops and dry cleaning operations can create
inexpensive online advertisements aimed at targeting local audiences. These advertisements can
announce special events that are being sponsored by your company and special sales or discounts.
Creating a small website and promotion of products and online sales can be a good idea as lots of
people opening up small stores online increases the choice available to customer in the form of
products and designs. Most people today use social media to promote their small businesses and it
is common to find a company blog on every official website as well.
Some good example for blogging platforms aimed at professionals and individuals include blogger,
WordPress and Weebly. These are also known as blog hosting services. These platforms also come
with ready to use templates to help users create websites by themselves. It is a simple and quick
method to get online with a small website and start marketing immediately. The independence that
the internet has created has even allowed people to use flexi hours and be able to work from home.
A friend of mine created a small ecommerce store to help people sell used clothing items and
exchange vintage pieces as well.
Another example of the uses of the internet can be seen in the rising business of e-classifieds. This
could include real estate, rental spaces, used goods, job classifieds and anything else. This has
completely changed the traditional market landscape; one can find everything with the click of a
mouse, even go as far as choosing a life partner on the increasingly popular matrimonial websites.
A great success story of the internet involved Jack Ma who founded Alibaba Group. The Alibaba
group was started in 1999 by a group of 19 people that were led by Jack Ma, a former English
teacher from Hangzhou, China. The founders started the company to support small businesses,
hoping that the Internet would open the scope of the market available to their small business. They
hoped to leverage innovation and technology to grow and compete more effectively in the domestic
and global economies. Their idea proved to be a huge success and today Alibaba is one of the most
valuable tech companies in the world after raising $25 billion from its U.S. IPO. It is also one of the
most valuable Chinese public companies, ranking among some of the country’s state-owned
enterprises.