If you own a company, the chances are that you are spending a lot of money and manpower marketing your products. In the connected world, your customer will do it for you for free. If something is popular, word will spread through e-mail and the chat rooms. Role reversals Kevin Kelly, the editor of Wired magazine says the connected world is blurring the line between consumers and employees. But it comes at a price.
Companies can no longer control the information about their product.
It used to be that companies guarded information jealously, but in a connected world, that proves to be counterproductive. The more you share with your customers, and even your competitors, the more successful you will be, according to Tim Oren, an economist with the Institute for the Future. The most obvious and immediate impact is doing things like simply showing your inventory in real-time. As the network mentality takes hold, many companies are starting to look very different. Old divisions between employee and employer, consumer and provider are beginning to blur.