If you look at how ‘wired’ the Aussie economy is then you may understand my concern. May I pose a few questions that I keep bumping into in all my consulting right now?

Firstly, if your sales are slowing down [or plateauing] have you analysed why? I don’t mean looking inside your box – I mean looking at the big picture. Worldwide book sales are rocketing – but the local guys aren’t seeing much of it. Amazon [and similar easy access, fast delivery, always in stock, knowledgeable, we-can-recommend-similar-books internet shops] is taking these sales.

Similarly, analyse how much money you’re spending on new communications technologies today vs. 5 years ago. How much money flows out each month on Internet access, cell phones, internet support services, website hosting fees – to say nothing of the cacophony of PC kit needed to stay in touch? We’re adopting these technologies fast – even if we don’t want to – because we’re being forced into it by our clients and suppliers.

Right now I have the technology in my laptop to allow me to communicate with you by email, to send faxes to your fax machine via email, to receive your faxes to me via email, to send you voice messages [explanations, answers, queries] via email, and even to listen to your voice messages via email. Of course, I can pretty much do all of that live anyway!

But the thing that excites me is that I now need just a single conduit to the world – that single internet link. The world is changing so fast it scares me – and I am an ardent technophile. [That means I love new stuff!] But being based in South Africa remains a huge opportunity in this new world.

For a change I’d like to give you some powerful reasons for living here. Firstly, technology is not expensive here – despite Telkom’s monopolistic efforts! It costs pretty much the same to gain access here as it does anywhere else – and even the PC stuff is not much more expensive.

The cost of living here remains extremely low relative to our 1st world partners. That gives us a huge edge in any activity. One of my main reasons for returning was the realisation that I could fulfil my goals more quickly and economically from South Africa than from anywhere else.

Simple email allows me to share ideas with folk who are important to me – small business owners like you. And if you pose a question that I can’t answer – simply forwarding that email to someone with the answers allows me to add value to your life. And it doesn’t matter whether the ‘expert’ I refer you to is in the next office, the next building, the next town, the next country, or the next continent. Nor does it matter whether he is at an airport, or on a yacht. All that matters is that you get an intelligent answer quickly!

To get to the point – the fact that life costs in South Africa are so low allows me to be very competitive when offering services overseas. For example, R300/hour as a consulting fee in SA is nudging the upper limit. But an equivalent consulting fee in the UK would be R1000/hr, while the USA would go to about R1400 – for the same services!

The internet and email allows me to be anywhere and everywhere at once. That’s so incredibly empowering. The other big advantage that we have in SA is that we’re slap bang in the middle of the planet – that means that we can work while it’s dark in the USA and in Australia.

We can get work out much faster [and cheaper] than their local guys. A few examples that don’t involve me might better illustrate where we’re going.

A transcription firm here in Cape Town transcribes mediation meetings recorded between folk fighting to reach agreement. Nothing unusual about that – except that the meetings are recorded in the USA! The voice recordings are sent via the internet to SA at the end of each US day, transcribed during their night, and available to them the next morning! And they’re saving huge money while our local firm is charging them more than they could charge in SA for a similar service. A local firm handles a Brazilian website under contract – formatting the content and generating the site each week and then posting the site to the Brazilian ISP. This firm is nominally based in Johannesburg, although their artistic fellow lives in Knysna. All this happens via email. Everybody scores – the Brazilian multinational saves money, our local guys earn solid money – and all this without understanding a word of Spanish.

So why is this important to you? Let me share a few thoughts because it doesn’t matter what you do to earn a living – it’s changing.

I no longer use a travel agent – it’s easier and quicker to use the web to identify my flights and call/email the airline directly. Same with hotel bookings – even if it’s a place I’ve never been to before. Where I used to use my doctor as a source of diabetic information – I can now get more, better info on 5 international websites – either for free or at a nominal charge. Where my local chamber of commerce used to help find overseas information – a simple free ‘search’ gives me more, quicker.

Most of my overseas communication happens via the web – no longer via phone. Most of my technical support [hardware and software] comes courtesy of a range of free manufacturers sites – so I no longer need my local PC guys nearly as much.

Much of the software I’ve bought in the last year came direct over the internet – which means a local fellow lost the sale. In each of the above cases – someone who used to earn money offering a service has been eased out of the loop. Not only do I not miss them – but I’m happier now because the service I get is so much better!

The point is – it doesn’t matter whether you’re selling pigs in Czechoslovakia [have a look at www.prase.cz to see how a real, honest to God, Czech pig farmer upped sales 300% via a simple site – and yes it is in a foreign language], fruit in Elgin, tours in Tzaneen, or air-conditioning in Durban – this internet thing is moving faster than we are.

© Peter Carruthers, www.petesweekly.co.za

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