Where Is the Money?

In 2002, somewhere in East Europe I was watching TV, and a young guy was walking in a local studio for being interviewed about the future of the Internet. Our guy has been presented as an expert in the subject matter, and with all the self-confidence of his age group he has explained that the big money won't be in the public-facing Internet anymore, but in solutions for private networks.

I've felt stunned, because his reasoning has opened me a window to a different world. A couple of years ago I've felt in the same way when starting to work on a project for an ISO 9001 company - those people are living in a universe where it's natural to think in the long run.

But in 2002 the Internet penetration in East-Europe was low, and the dot-com bubble hasn't affected us. The expert guy was building his reasoning on facts like the high costs of securing virtual places, and the fundamental human need of safety.

And he was right.

During the next decade we've gotten mobile devices, cheap broadband Internet, social networks, cloud solutions, and IoT has teamed up with Big Data. After experiencing the advent of Web 2.0 - the world of interactive, rapid Internet applications - we've gotten wrapped in our personalized information bubbles shaped by Web 3.0 tools, and we've learned that security, reliability and usability are not for free.

Nowadays there is a killer competition between digital agencies serving the need for public-facing company websites. On Freelancer and similar sites it's simple to find the job offers of such agencies operating on the soho market: they are looking for students from non-industrialized countries, who accept to work for $1-$2 per hour.

On the other side of the IT&C service palette are the consulting companies specializing in complete cloud solutions: hardware & software selection, tuning, monitoring and scripting. These shops are relying on certified domestic employees, and represent a safe option for the middle market.