NOVEMBER 1999 BROADSHEET - Latest developments in the use of the Internet
Our October meeting at the St John's Innovation Centre was a great success, addressing our concerns about the use of the internet for trade, or, as Karl Meyer, our first speaker dubbed it more succinctly, the e~conomy.
We were buoyed along by the enthusiasm of Karl, who is the Business Development Manager of UUNET, only to be dampened down by our barrister speaker, Stephen Mason, with warnings of the unknown hazards ahead. One couldn't help feeling that the Porsches would soon be changing hands as the lawyers started raking in their fees.
The rewards though are immense - FedEx have reduced the cost per enquiry from $5 to 5¢. A swimming pool company not only sells pools over the internet but follows up with timely e-mails offering their accessories and consumables as appropriate. Global growth, of course, is enormous - $1.4 trillion by 2003, only 10% of which will be retail. Big business is really cashing in. They can afford the £150K start up and use cryptographic 'user identification' instead of credit cards which carry much the same risks as ordering your theatre or flight tickets over the 'phone. The direct sales opportunities are also good and need not cost too much to set up, eg. the E-retail Mall at £1000, which can include a credit reference search at £1 per query, very important when you are selling anywhere in the world.
On the down side, Stephen listed the pitfalls with great glee as only a lawyer could! All existing law is 'terrestial'; how will it apply to this ethereal medium? Where is the message coming from - German company selling in England via an ISP in Bermuda? Whose laws apply? What about links to other sites; have you got permission? What about risks of defamation? Stephen covered such a lot of ground in so much detail that you really should get his e-book, over the internet of course. It's called The Year 2000: A guide to the legal issues for business, free to download from http://www.reachoutmedia.com
It was a great shame that our third speaker, Martin Ramsden of NetInvest could not come due to ill health. However, the lively discussion more than filled the gap and much valuable advice came from the audience, especially John Moore of Deloitte and Touche when it came to e-tax and E-VAT. Karl Meyer is in Cambridge, (01223 250100), Stephen Mason at Biggleswade, (01462 701098) and John Moore, (01223 259414). Our grateful thanks go to Ian Unwin for organizing such an interesting and stimulating evening.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
We are still looking for a Publicity Officer - please e-mail the secretary, nigel@nwallace.demon.co.uk if you feel inspired.
CHASE send us details of their fortnightly meetings, held at 8pm, invariably on a Tuesday, at the St John's Innovation Centre. E-mail caroline.swift@dial.pipex.com . CHASE has similar objectives to us with the emphasis on company presentations. We also get calendars of events from the Cambridge Network.
Cambridge is brimming over with events for small hi-tec companies and a good source of information about them is the newsletter distributed by Enterprise Link. They themselves also run networking meetings and the next one, which is on 8th December at their headquarters at the St John's Innovation Centre, has the intriguing title, "Dealing with sharks in a bowl of custard? The best ways of raising finance." Business Manager Dorcas Doolan can be contacted on 01223 422218, ddoolan@stjohns.co.uk, or www.enterprise-link.co.uk
Thank you all those who have given us their e-mail addresses; we will start getting information out to you early for the next meeting, including this broadsheet.
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