The Internet is the single most powerful dynamic driving the Information Technology (IT) industry today. It is set to irrevocably change the way in which society plays, learns and does business, as its phenomenal daily growth confirms. According to recent research by Network Wizards (http://www.nw.com/), the number of Internet hosts grew from 213 in August 1981, to 1,313,000 in January 1993, and had leapt to 9,472,000 by January 1996.

For companies in the online information business, the Internet will increasingly dominate the way information is disseminated and used. This fascinating global phenomenon brings with it tremendous opportunities - and challenges - for companies such as SABINET.

2. COMPETITION

One of the primary changes incurred as a result of the Internet is the competitive environment in which online information companies operate. A powerful facilitator for the availability and distribution of information, the Internet has simultaneously fueled an awareness - and hence demand - for information on a massive scale. This has resulted in vastly increased competition. In addition, its ability to break down international boundaries means that competitors are no longer limited to companies based in South Africa.

Coupled with this, with product life cycles becoming shorter and shorter, it is becoming increasingly important for competitive companies to network with other suppliers - including each other - to address new, synchronous opportunities.

We, for example, recently entered into an agreement with a leading Internet Service Provider that will enable us to offer high bandwidth, high quality Internet access to meet the needs of the rapidly growing corporate market.

3. LOCAL CHALLENGES

Numerous challenges exist in the information arena at a local level. For the South African economy to remain competitive, researchers, business professionals, academics - indeed, all professional information consumers - will require access to up-to-date information, as well as keep up with leading technological developments from around the world.

South African companies like us will, by definition, have to take a leading role in this effort. Furthermore, serious attention has to be focused on meeting the needs of millions of information-deprived citizens who do not have access to the most basic information. This could encompass the development of appropriate, accessible information databases, either on a regional or national level, as well as the encouragement of Internet literacy.

Central to the drive to disseminate information on a broad scale, is affordability. Unfortunately, however, the poor performance of the South African rand against leading currencies makes access to information very expensive. The challenge rests with information facilitators to ensure the existence of highly efficient organizational management, while keeping the cost of information as low as possible, through negotiations with information providers.

Another issue of increasing concern, is the lack of competition in, and protection of, essential services like TELKOM. The unacceptable levels of service which arise as a result of these anomalies, serve to depress an otherwise highly buoyant industry.

4. FOCUS ON THE END-USER

As part of the fiercely increasing competition in this industry, the needs of end-users will need to be addressed by online information companies that want to survive in the future. One of the major challenges facing us, is to find ways of eliminating user frustration arising from the multitude of different interfaces required to access individual databases around the world.

The deployment of top-class information technology tools - both software and hardware - will be pivotal in finding a solution to assist end-users in their search for information.

Ideally, such a platform should provides users with a single, common interface to transparently link to document suppliers both locally and around the world, creating a unified, virtual library which is accessible from their desktop.

Locally mounted and remote resources - whether online catalogues, reference databases, electronic journals, images, full text or home pages - should be accessible using the same workstation and a single, powerful search process.

Recently, after months of investigation into the world's leading software solutions, we took the decision to install a system aimed at achieving this goal. The software will vastly improve the ease of access and searching procedures across the more than 200 million information items and over 300 databases to which we already provide access.

5. ADDING VALUE

Another vital element which online information companies will have to address, is the need for adding value to their services beyond the idea of a single, simple entry point providing seamless access to a world of information. One way in which we, for example, are achieving this, is through enabling users to complete the full cycle of their information need, from searching for and easily accessing any database on the system - irrespective of its location; to ordering and delivery of the full-text of documents online, via fax, mail or interlibrary loan. I believe this facility will increasingly become the norm as information consumers become increasingly demanding in this market.

Another unique aspect of our own service is the SACat database, the country's only listing of all books and periodicals held in South African libraries. It is updated by user institutions, while non-users' holdings are updated via the State Library (South Africa's national library), also a contributor to the system.

In the near future, references in all databases accessible via our company will also be linked to the Southern African holdings on the SACat database, which will be a powerful added value factor.

6. SUPPORT

Another fundamental future differentiating factor among companies in the business of providing online access to information, will be in the levels of support provided. As in any young industry, there will be a period of sifting and sorting the wheat from the chaff and users will quickly become disillusioned with lack of good quality service and support. The establishment of user groups, the provision of top-level user training and the existence of expert, available support will, I believe, characterize those companies that survive in this industry.

Our years of experience in this arena have given us an edge which we intend leveraging to the full as we enter this new, highly competitive era. During the past year, more than 1000 individuals attended our training courses and hundreds of users were assisted in overcoming problems, especially with their data communications links to our service.

Again, while it is in the best interest of companies such as ourselves to assist users in this regard wherever possible, it is a matter of grave concern that technical support from TELKOM has deteriorated significantly over the past year.

7. CHANGING ROLE OF LIBRARIES

The Internet contributes towards the trend of end-users conducting information searches themselves. We are actively promoting this by supporting our library clients in offering end-users access on their campuses or from the workplace.

Traditionally, information end-users have needed the assistance of a librarian when conducting an information search. Often, search words do not yield the required information in the first instance, which necessitates the librarian requesting alternative key words from the end-user in order to facilitate another search.

By enabling end-users to conduct searches themselves, the librarian is now empowered to become more of an information specialist, facilitating access to information in a faster and a more user-friendly way.

8. MARKETING ONLINE INFORMATION SERVICES ON THE INTERNET

The Internet is a perfect medium for promoting online information services, since the user finding himself on the Internet is already in an information retrieval mode. By alerting potential customers to their services, and cleverly using their Home Page on the World Wide Web for this purpose, the availability of organized and well-managed databases can be highlighted by information companies.

As a distribution channel, the Internet can be put to good use for procuring information documents, once these are traced via information searches. With the recent developments in the strife to ensure safer cyberspace money, the online ordering of and payment for documents will become the norm in the near future. Opportunities for adding value, here, also exist for alert online information companies. We, for example offer to manage deposit accounts for online ordering, on behalf of our clients.

9. CONCLUSION

More and more in the future, the online information business will have to offer clients not only connectivity, but also content; not only information but also intelligence. The companies that will remain in the run will do so, build on a solid foundation of support and added value. The needs of the user in an increasingly information-driven, time-constrained society will have to be met.