Introduction
The biggest impact that technology will have on business is how technology will be used to break the rules of the old game, and to create a new value proposition to the client that is based on a radically different financial and operational model. The technology per se will have a minimal impact on business unless it is used to change the business model in order to radically reduce cost or enhance the service provided to the client. The organisations that have the attitude towards change and the know-how to manage its consequences will be the first to reap the benefits in a world where business reformation will become a necessity.
Information abstraction
The first step towards understanding the possibilities of technology and the business models it can support is to understand the changing nature of information availability. In the traditional context, information is linked to the physical product. The bus driver does not know how many people will be waiting at the bus stop before he actually has established visual contact. The information surrounding a physical product such as unique identification & location is also limited to the physical world. Although an aggregated information set is normally available to describe a set of products, uniquely identifiable and addressable products in the real world was few and far between. The advent of the ubiquitous Internet and the proliferation in RFID tags and readers will change that notion forever. The availability of connectedness will rapidly enable the availability of information; immediately mapping the information of individual products onto the each and every inquiring internet connection in the world. Any source is immediately linked to a drain the moment it is linked and made part of the connected economy.
Each and every product, being uniquely addressable for the first time in history, now becomes part of the sphere of information abstraction. By simply linking the RFID address to the standard information sources linked to the products, a whole new realm of business value opens up. Figure 5.1 provides a brief insight into how the various information dimensions of a product becomes available for usage in the structuring of brand new business models and value propositions.
The Information Abstraction model has the following dimensions:
� Identification
� Location
� Description
� Relation
� Standarisation
� Valuation
� Constellation
Figure 5.1: The Information Abstraction model
These dimensions can be described as follows:
� Identification
� Identification entails the unique address of a product, either the unique IPv6 address or the unique
RFID tag.
Location
The specific position on earth, within a few meters or centimeters where the product is finding itself.
Description
The unique address links to an open or closed database that provides the description of the product. The description also gives access to all relevant technical information related to the product.
Relation
The unique address links in the details of the manufacturer, persons responsible for this unique product as well as the time, date and place of manufacturing.
Standarisation
The standardisation link provides information about the standard of the product’s interfaces and the links it has with other products. This information is used to get a substitute product to integrate seamlessly based on pre-determined standards.
Valuation
The economic valuation of the product, either open or protected, are linked to the product. This is a variable valuation depending on the party viewing the information.
Constellation
The constellation dimension refers to the economic constellation of players that play a role in enabling the product to provide various levels of economic benefit.
These dimensions are immediately made available to economic role-players via any one of the entry points into the Information Abstraction sphere. The ubiquitous availability of this information will enable the restructuring of value propositions and value clusters in order to provide a better match with the core needs of individuals.