12.6 Email and the Net
The use of email has changed the way international business is conducted. Email does not, of course, involve the use of the voice, yet it is so instant and flexible that, as well as its more formal uses, it is often used as if it were the equivalent of a telephone. Email is, in fact, developing an etiquette that reflects its relationship to the telephone; for example, not writing in all caps because it seems that you are SHOUTING and the inclusion of keyboard symbols to indicate the writer's mood since the voice cannot be physically heard. You have all seen these: J smiley face L sad face - and of course, there are others.
So, will the Net kill the phone? What do you think?
Reading 12.3
Richard, D. 2002, "Will the Net kill the phone?".
We note with some surprise the limited prediction of future usage of the Net and wonder what more recent statistics would demonstrate. Such discussion is speculative: what do you think the future will hold for communications in your industry?
An aside:
The most important corporate asset weighs about three pounds and is invisible.
Flesh, blood and brains - not buildings, turbines, or file servers - determine success.
The most advanced technology can't invest new products, generate innovative competitive strategies, or make customers feel welcome or served. In our post-industrial world, it is not capital assets or the number of employees that will determine a company's fate, but rather the intensity of motivation and innovation of its workforce.
The most important corporate asset weights only three pounds and is invisible to the unaided eye - the brain in every employee's head.
Blohowiak, D. 1995.
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