How to use the Internet for business and professional success

Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven. I don’t think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without the talking about the other. — Bill Gates

I have been quoted saying that, in the future, all companies will be Internet companies. I still believe that. More than ever, really. — Andrew Grove

There are managers so preoccupied with their e-mail messages that they never look up from their screens to see what’s happening in the non-digital world. — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

On August 3, 1915, the talented and idealistic poet Rupert Brooke was born in England. He died at only age 27 on his way to the Battle of Gallipoli in World War I. Also on this date in 1936, black American athlete Jesse Owens won the 100-meter dash by defeating German Ralph Metcalfe at the Berlin Olympics and puncturing Adolf Hitler’s arrogance. He went on to win a record total of four track-and-field Olympic golds.

Like Rupert Brooke and Jesse Owens, whether in business, the literary arts, sports, other professional work or in any endeavor, we should all aspire for excellence!

* * *

Thanks to Carmella Tuazon, Jacqueline Ong, Belinda Ortiz and Linda Toledo for your various e-mails inquiring about how to maximize the profit potential of your respective businesses using the Internet. I’m not a techie, but have talked to various experts and I’m devoting this whole column to online issues.

First of all, I wish to express ultimate sadness at that funny TV ad of Bayantel about a grandmother named Lola Techie using the Internet to talk to her grandson or play computer games. One of the college classes I teach is advertising, and one of my students said she likes this TV commercial, but is it effective in gaining more actual business?

That Bayantel TV ad reminds me of a disturbing trend in our ultra-modern world of so many high-tech businesses flooding us with new gizmos and making our lifestyles not necessarily better in quality. That TV ad also points to the sad irony of our 21st-century reality of more people being wired and connected to the seemingly boundless cyberworld but who are often tragically alone in the real world.

Worse, how many kids and young people nowadays no longer read books or play regular children’s games or sports in the playgrounds but are excessively addicted to the Internet and computer games? It’s not the Internet per se but the addiction that is harmful.

* * *

In our increasingly Internet-savvy and digitally interconnected world, entrepreneurs, professionals, students and others can and should harness the power of the web to aspire for world-class success.

• If you are in business or working, use the Internet to sell goods and services beyond your community, your city, beyond the Philippines and ASEAN. Make the whole world your market! Global success is just a few clicks away.

• Other ways the Internet can and is changing the way we do business and work include customer relationship management and supply chain management; how much more efficient and faster can we accomplish more tasks and more businesses?

• Whatever business or profession you are in, the Internet is a great source of information, of market data and other knowledge that could be crucial to your success.

• Another very powerful way businesses — most especially small businesses without advertising or marketing budgets — can profit from the Internet is via reviews of one’s products or services online. Word-of-mouth buzz via the Internet is increasing in importance, and business owners or managers should be aware of the online reputation of their business, engage clients, respond to customer reviews and complaints, but never argue with those who post negative reviews.

In the US today, a surprisingly huge number of consumers — 84 percent, according to The New York Times — say that online reviews influence the way they buy or patronize businesses. The Internet is the new 21st-century Yellow Pages.

• One other way businesses can benefit from online customer reviews and even complaints is there’s no more need to hire secret or mystery shoppers to check on the quality of one’s products or services. Listen to your customers and improve your business.

* * *

Nowadays, even a Third World society like the Philippines is no longer disadvantaged by lack of capital, resources or the size of our economy when it comes to the countless possibilities for new businesses powered by the inexpensive Internet.

One example of Internet entrepreneurship is the couple Tintin Bersola and husband, ABS-CBN 2 host Julius Babao, who recently launched her ParenTIN.tv last July 21. Marketing officer Corrine Alphen Y. Cordero of Lancaster Hotel in Mandaluyong, where the event was held, told me she believes ParenTIN.tv will be a success due to its innovative business concept. I agree!

The three-month pregnant Tintin told The Philippine STAR that ParenTIN is a combination of web TV and website content where you can watch all the episodes 24/7 and get new ideas every two days. It is also an interactive website where parents can communicate with other parents online. With a personal computer, cell phone or laptop and Internet connection, one can view Parentin.tv shows anytime, anywhere and everywhere.

* * *

Recently, one of the most shocking pieces of news for many of us Facebook fans was the announcement by Microsoft founder Bill Gates that he has stopped using Facebook due to too many friend requests. He will be sorely missed by 250 million of us folks worldwide who are on Facebook. Gates said that he was forced to quit the site due to it being “just way too much trouble” to deal with. Sayang!

Gates revealed that he is not “a 24-hour-a-day tech person,” further asserting that “all these tools of tech waste our time if we’re not careful.” I agree that an addiction to the Internet can be unhealthy to our health (lack of sleep, fatigue or lack of physical exercise), while addiction to Internet social networking can be detrimental to our real-life social relationships! Everything in moderation!

We should be masters of the Internet in order to use it for occasional leisurely fun, for professional or business success, not allowing addiction to the Internet to enslave us!

Not only will I not quit Facebook, I even plan to sign up with the photo-sharing Multiply for fun and even to help my real estate business. I also plan to start a blog and am now looking for a web designer for a personal website.

In developed economies, many small business owners are increasingly using the micro-blogging site Twitter and also the wide reach of Facebook to improve and virally promote their enterprises. We should, too!

* * *

Thanks for your letters, all will be answered. Comments and suggestions are welcome at willsoonflourish@gmail.com or at my Facebook account.