Website technology continues to commoditise

One of the wonderful things about software (which essentially underpins the web and everything on it) is that its ease of duplication leads to commoditisation. With commoditisation comes lower prices that over time make it available to pretty much everyone.

This explains why the same software that was beyond us only a few years ago is now cheaply and sometimes freely available.

Of course the same software has since been improved and upgraded so as to retain its original price, but older versions of software are later pretty much given away.

This approach also makes the newer release of the software seem so much sexier, increasing perceptions of its worth when of course around 95% of it is identical from version to version – at least to the ordinary user.

That explains why most time-bereft smaller business operators use software that is often more than 10 years old. They simply don’t perceive the need for the new features and even if they did, don’t have time to understand or learn how to use them.

Little software escapes this phenomenon because in many ways it is a self-serving paradigm as developers charge top dollar for their new fangled version of the same old software.

And little wonder Microsoft is the cash cow it is.

If it’s digital, it will commoditise

Now the same patterns are occurring with website and eMarketing technologies. Capabilities that not that long ago were well beyond the reach of smaller organisations are now really affordable.

What’s more, recent Software as a Service business models allow such technology to be “rented” instead of bought, reducing upfront costs even further.

Take a pretty basic Content Management System (a fancy name for website editing tools) for example. It wasn’t that long ago that a half decent CMS would cost you well into six figures.

Spelling is correct! Tools you can now get for free (notwithstanding their quality) were being flogged for over $100,000 and for some “enterprise” level technologies still are.

And the same goes for many of the eBusiness tools we once dreamed about.

Fully featured secure shopping carts, email marketing systems, extranets, survey builders, blogs, intra-site search, Web 2.0 tools and many others now cost a fraction of their hitherto out of reach prices.

I’d go so far as to say that if you haven’t obtained a price on a website or website development in say three years, you are likely to be very pleasantly surprised.

Of course this trend does not mean that all websites look the same – their public faces as determined by design and content will be completely customisable – its the hidden underlying technology which is impacted – leading to the savings.

Will pre-built software kill the developer?

This commoditisation of technology makes the role of the web developer – a professional who ‘hand codes’ your web solution at an hourly rate, highly contentious for smaller organisations whose needs have already been “built” thousands of times previously.

After all, would you hire an expensive developer to build your bookkeeping software from scratch or would you simply purchase a copy of MYOB or Quicken for a fraction of the price?

Nowadays the focus from the smaller business operator is not so much “Can I afford it?” to “Which solution is best for my specific requirements?”

Independence becomes critical

As with all kinds of products and services, non-independent vendors and their sales teams can often sully the facts in their enthusiasm to sell you their glittering new model.

But don’t be fooled. All solutions have their pros and cons and often it’s not until well after their often pricey implementation that expensive or time-consuming flaws can become apparent.

That’s the topic of another blog, suffice to say that genuine independent advice can transform a bewildering maze into a comparative stroll in the park.

While you still will need to pay for help with design (although there are some quite serviceable design templates out there for very small businesses), writing, coordination, search engine optimisation, support etc, the commoditisation of the previously expensive technology component completely levels the playing field, making it difficult to tell the difference between business monolith and minnow.

As for recent technology that seems completely out of your reach, just wait a bit. Before you know it, it will be coming to a price near you.

Craig Reardon is a leading eBusiness educator and founder and director of independent web services firm The E Team which provide the gamut of ‘pre-built’ website solutions, technologies and services to SMEs in Melbourne and beyond. www.theeteam.com.au

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