Every company needs to attend to the implications of a Real-Time world to be competitive. When a business ties together technology, speed and service, customers take notice. Companies can either compete, or be left behind. Real-Time technologies like the Internet offer individuals more freedom and control. The new infrastructure of technology currently being put in place is based on communications and networks of people and businesses.
Networks offer the constant flow of interactive, two-way information.
Traditional geographic, sovereign, and psychological boundaries collapse with the wireless and Internet-type technologies. Access replaces broadcast. In the interactive world, the individual controls the flow of information. At the very least, the individual becomes a participant in the ebb and flow of opinion, ideas, knowledge, and dissent. In a Real-Time environment, the concept of brand will change rapidly.