8 www . virtuallogistics . ca
Foreword
“ Much of the best work in the world has been done against seeming impossibilities .” - Dale Carnegie
Summer 1980 : Available on newsstands is the latest issue of Byte : Small Systems Journal . The futuristic cover illustrates several microcomputers interconnected via optical tubes . “ Intercomputer Communications ” the cover boldly pronounces . The editorial notes that the reality of the day was communication through the phone network at 300 bits per second ( meaning that this e-book would take about an hour to transfer !), but spoke of a future with speedy , always-on communications between computers that would facilitate the instantaneous exchange of information and goods . To most people the prospect of such technology becoming an everyday staple was thrilling , though somewhat inconceivable .
Summer 1995 : Netscape launches its IPO ; Amazon . com launches its website aiming at selling books ; eBay launches its user-to-user commerce site with a dream of accelerating Pez dispenser trading . The seeds of global adoption of the Internet , world-wide-web and e-commerce are planted .
Summer 2015 : The number of Internet users has grown to nearly 40 percent global penetration – close to three billion people across thousands of devices worldwide , including computers , smartphones , tablets , watches and other wireless technology . Commerce transacted over the Internet in the U . S . has grown to $ 250B . The future of 1980 has become a reality .
The data behind the commerce and supply chain of this computer web have come a long way in powering such growth fundamentally changing the world for both online and offline traditional brick and mortar retailers . Billions of Internet users research , buy and sell online ; seemingly unlimited data is analyzed and meaningful observations are extracted ; supply chains and delivery processes are optimized ; and our expectations from these experiences grow with each passing benchmark of excellence .
Competition in the commerce marketplace is fierce amongst all sectors , and this is a critical time for both B2B and B2C companies to adopt best practices and carefully analyze key metrics with considerable foresight . Success factors include : technology stack , supply chain and overall user experience with appropriate infrastructure , content , data , speed , consistency , and delivery .
Summer 20XX : What types of services and solutions will develop from increasingly sophisticated technology , networks , data , infrastructure and accessibility ? Which companies will be at the forefront of those advancements ? What will the future of sustainable omnichannel retailing look like ? What will the global impact be for both individuals and businesses alike , as IoT continues to disrupt the supply chain ? It is incredibly thrilling to imagine what the next phase of intercomputer communications will bring .
8 www . virtuallogistics . ca