
Back in the dot-com days, IDC published a variety of reports forecasting huge growth in markets like consumer ecommerce, B2B, and so on. Many business plans got funding based on these numbers. Unfortunately, the forecasts turned out to be bad jokes by 2001 when the Nasdaq collapsed.
Well, IDC is still around and, of course, still making big projections. The latest is "The Google Effect: How Web 2.0, Long Tail Marketing, Buzz and eCommerce Accelerate the Digital Marketplace."
With a mouthful like that the news must be good, right?
It is. And it brings back some bad memories from the late 1990s.
The report talks about a "digital marketplace" that represents a "new economy." And, yes, Google is credited with creating this Brave New World. It's the "Google Effect" and for businesses, it's not evil.
Basically, if you want a successful business, you will need to be Web savvy. This is awesome news for the infrastructure players such as software developers, hardware builders, and service providers. There will be demand for things like storage, Web2.0 applications, collaboration tools, data centers, wireless devices, and on and on.
Who, in particular, will the winners be? There will be a few, as well as many losers. But I know one clear winner: IDC. Hey, as things heat up one of things about the "Google Effect" is that companies will likely buy more IDC reports, attend IDC events, and buy more IDC consulting services.