Internet impact just beginning, say cyber elite

The impact of the Internet on society and business is “only just beginning,” according to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs at the tenth Silicon Valley comes to Oxford event at Saïd Business School receantly.

From their vantage point as leaders of organisations like Google, lastminute.com and Twitter, they see a collective surge that is already moving faster than conventional knowledge sources in governments and academia can keep up with. Biz Stone, founder of Twitter, is surprised how fast information is being democratised: “We’re just at the beginning of hockey-stick growth.”

Investor Saul Klein said that the Internet has already had a profound effect on ephemeral parts of our lives like shopping: “But soon access will become so ubiquitous that we will see the Internet disrupting non-discretionary markets, which will have a much bigger impact.”

We haven’t seen the Twitter or eBay of the energy or healthcare market, but it’s coming, said Nick Hughes, whose M-PESA mobile banking tool has 20m users in Kenya.

Saïd Business School’s Professor David Upton agreed: “Banks should not be looking at traditional competitive threats like other banks, but at the disruptive players like Google.”

We could also see a new global balance, whereby the developed world learns from the less developed. Nick Hughes said: “Emerging markets will move straight away to these low-cost minimum impact technologies, because there is no infrastructure.”

It’s also the business models that are transforming.

Jorn Lyseggen, founder of Meltwater, finds it “spectacularly interesting” the way business models have changed. There is now a distinct business model called ‘figure it out as you go, and create value on the way’ which turns traditional business wisdom upside down.

Often the technology is not new, but the trajectory has changed, said Monique Maddy, founder of mobile payments firm eZuza: “There are five billion mobile handsets in the world now; 1.2 billion of these owned by people with poor literacy and no bank account.”

Google’s Megan Smith agreed: “The way technology is bringing inclusivity is incredible. We are getting into the humanity layer, way beyond the use of technology.”

Twitter may have lowered barriers to entry by bringing real-time information networks to people without internet access, but Biz Stone was clear about the drivers: “It’s not us at Twitter that are doing it, it’s what people themselves are doing with it. It’s not about users, or algorithms, I want Twitter to be a triumph of humanity.”

However access is not expanding in all markets, which Brent Hoberman, founder of lastminute.com feels is often to the detriment of the organisation placing barriers around the internet. He referred to Rupert Murdoch joining with Apple creating paywalls around media: “You take yourself out of the conversation by building walls. Openness, or mutualisation as some call it, is more powerful.”

Mike Malone, commentator and author, closed the conference with reflections on the Silicon Valley comes to Oxford event, which over the last 10 years has generated networks, companies, and created its own entrepreneurial ecosystem. He asked the panel about the future.

Saul Klein said: “Forget Apple v Microsoft, we’re gearing up for the greatest technology fist fight ever - Facebook versus Google.”

And what’s the hottest new company they’ve seen in the last few months? The results are: Tiny Speck, makers of the Glitch game; “I love Bob Goodson and Quid,” said Maria Sendra; Grameen Shakti, solar power that shows that microfinance methods could work for any business if you re-think how you deliver; Shuttle; Flipbook, an iPad application is ‘beautiful stuff’; Shopkick, Bluefin Lab coming out of MIT’s Medialab; in Ghana, the Retail Tower; Square, Jack Dorsey’s new company on mobile payments; DoSomething is ‘amazing’.