Electronic signatures are already affecting the pervasiveness of online transactions, and firms must take time now to understand and weigh their options. Through the Scan process, SRI Consulting Business Intelligence alerts companies to early signals of change and provides insight into the potential implications. In the November 2000 Scan meeting in Europe, the ideas that emerged ranged from the new possibilities of networked games to e-payment schemes for children to increasing conflicts in intellectual property rights. This study looks at the possibilities of Internet-enabled games, including new opportunities in games for advertising, for sales and merchandising, and for learning applications. The potential is for conflict between parents and e-tailers as children's and adult's finances begin to blur and consumer debt begins at an earlier age.
Wild cards are ideas and events well off the current trend lines in the business environment.
Advertising opportunities are turning up in the workplace and in the school environment, but risks come with them. The infoglut is taxing consumers' patience, and choice overload can threaten their satisfaction. The scarcest commodity in the attention economy is consumer attention, and some companies are developing strategies to share the consumer's attention rather than steal it from other media. Companies are going to surprising lengths to attract the workers they need in a tight talent market. The boundaries between the university and the corporation, between home and the workplace, and between advertising and information continue to blur as the Internet makes its inroads in all these theaters of operation.