What It Means to be An
Internet Company – Part 1 (Page 2 of 6)

1. What It Means to be an Internet Company
2. Structural
3. Psychological
4. Organizational
5. Technological
6. What Does It All Mean?

Structural

• Identify the fundamental transaction between the organization and its members/customers. Dissect and understand how to apply the Internet to this basic transaction. Consider all the intersections of the organization and the Internet. Is there an underlying assumption that those transactions are initiated and consummated by humans, or is there some portion of those transactions that do not involve human interaction?
  
  
• Leverage the speed of light. Avoid converting bits into atoms (printing) and embrace sharing information, or, more importantly, links to information, via the Internet in general, specifically via email.
  
  
• Build the organization around the idea of communicating using a common surface - the intranet. Recognize that the contributions to and content of an intranet need to be user driven and enacted. You cannot have an intranet that has placed an information mediary between the user and the posting place. Disintermediate anyone placing themselves between users and their intranets.
  
  
• Access is more important than possession. Recognize the difference between information and links to information. Physical ownership and control of information is generally less important than access to the information. When sharing information, communicate the information access mechanisms rather than copies of the information. Not only is this far more efficient, it makes it easier to keep information timely.
  
  
• The Internet is not just the Web. There are numerous applications of IP² that may not actually have a Web-based user interface component. Some applications could simply push information to users via the Internet. Some could exchange information and pleasantries with other applications and services without ever surfacing as a Web application.