Business uses information technology to gain commercial advantage. The easy low-hanging fruit have already been harvested with computing. Calculation has been automated and accelerated in all its many forms in business. Legions of staff operating ledgers have left the payrolls of our banks and insurance companies to be replaced by computers. So where now does the commercial advantage lie? The information technology industry itself is a good guide to the early adoption of new value computing in business. The industry of course has an advantage in that its practitioners are comfortable with technology, have the computing equipment, and the expertise in using it. However, when you consider that most of the university students starting university this year cannot remember life before the Internet, they are also comfortable with technology and will be making an impact in your market sooner or later.

I recently popped in to my local neighborhood computer store to pick up a component for my computer. It was just a stick of RAM, computer memory, common and readily available. What surprised me was the way the transaction progressed and in particular the way the product was priced - what I saw was a glimpse into the future and I suspect a huge threat for some businesses and the huge competitive advantage for others.

The product I wanted was in stock, it was the pricing that was interesting. My friendly retailer accessed the web site of the Asian manufacturer (who incidentally do their own wholesaling) and checked the current wholesale purchase price he would have to pay to replace the stock he was selling me. Based on the price that his wholesaler was charging at that moment, he calculated a retail price for me which I subsequently paid. While he was still on the wholesaler’s website, he ordered the replacement stock at the "right now" price, paid for it with his credit card, and had it held until he had sufficient volume to make the package large enough to be worth freighting. This is "now" at work in IT. This "Now IT" scenario is not surprising for large firms, global commodity traders and stock markets, but for a small suburban retailer it was an insight into the future.

In other parts of the IT industry, you can visit wholesale and retail websites for computers and components and find what is in stock now and at what price. In fact, for some of the major retailers, the easiest way to buy a computer from them is to pick what you want on their web site, put in your credit card details and then arrange a pick-up from the store of your choice. This way you know that at the time of purchase it is in stock and you know that their system will reserve the stock for you and not allow it to be sold to someone else over-the-counter or over the Web before you get in to pick it up. This is not too different from buying a seat on a flight online. Contrast this with major garden and general hardware retail outlets or major stationers who are selling line items with probably a similar or better profit margin with fewer dynamic changes on specification or pricing. Their web sites read like advertising junk mail out of the letterbox on a Sunday morning. In fact some of them are even exact electronic copies of their current brochure. There may be specifications for lawnmowers, or even do-it-yourself guides the garden fertilizers, but pricing information is limited and stock availability levels are completely missing. There is no ability to purchase online.

Those university students already know when they buy their computer parts or they buy on eBay, they are serviced online with "now" IT. It's safe to imagine that in 10 years when their attention turns to spouses and children; gardens and lawnmowers, they will expect the same "now" IT from their general hardware stores that they are used to in their computer stores.

I can only assume that the disparity between the timeliness of online information in the two industries is a result of the consumer demand based only on the ability of current consumers to access information electronically.

Some businesses are still struggling with fundamentals such as data security and integrity. Some are wondering where the payoff from their investment in technology is to be found. Some are harvesting the benefits having "stolen a march" on their competitors and revolutionized their industry niche.

In the airline business, online bookings were nonexistent 10 years ago. Airline websites back then contained copies of their printed flight schedules, information about holiday destinations, and unsubstantiated claims from their marketing departments about how good they were. In fact, they were a lot like today's hardware retailer's site. Enter Virgin Blue, a fast, easy-to-use web site with absolutely up-to-the-minute information and even a cash incentive for using their online booking engine. They have revolutionized the way Australians buy airline tickets. So powerful was the change that competitors scrambled to catch up and third-party resellers like travel agents found it difficult to justify their place in the supply chain. What was so revolutionary? It was the way that "now" was introduced to the online public as a business advantage.

Online banking is another example of this "now IT" at work. Australians have adopted online banking in huge numbers and I once heard a national banking manager say that the best thing about online banking was it didn't matter how long it took customers to try it, once they did they never went back to the branch. The power of online banking for customers is about having the correct information instantly available and being able to perform the transaction "right now".

I predict "now IT" will become such a common thing that we will ingest another computing term and "nowit" will enter the language. Customers will demand it, managers will anguish over it and programmers will profit from it. Nowit will be the next step for businesses looking to gain a competitive advantage from their IT investment and those that start first will finish best. The rest will play catch-up, not for advantage, but just to maintain their place in the supply chain.