Most manufacturers now use software that monitors what's happening on the production line, keeps track of parts inventory and orders parts when needed. But it is no longer enough, he explains, for a company to know what's going on within itself. Managers must know the status of suppliers and, in turn, of the businesses they supply. The Y2K problem highlighted these dependencies, McAdams said, and new Internet-ready software makes this kind of sharing possible. The spider sits in the center and knows instantly if an insect lands anywhere on his web.
Information lands on the value web with the same impact.
What Y2K did was move it forward in time. One of the most important things to come to the fore was just how dependent businesses are on their suppliers. Many businesses, he points out, realized that even though they had fixed their own Y2K problems, they would still be in trouble if suppliers hadn't done the same, and this forged closer ties between companies, which led to more sharing of information. McAdams sees a downside as well, but not a conspiratorial one. When company A develops such a networking relationship with company B, he said, it may be locked into using just that supplier.