In the current very scary economic environment, every company is examining its business model for ways to streamline operations and find new revenue streams without sacrificing employees or quality of service. For many, the web, perhaps up to now an unthinkable alternative, or one believed to be incompatible with the company’s brand or business methodologies, has become worthy of a second look.

A prime example lies in the newspaper industry. For years print media has struggled to keep up with the explosion in information technology provided by the internet and all of its associated applications. Blogs, social networks, online information sites, and thousands of chat rooms have all undermined the long-established newspaper and broadcast media lock on news and information. Embarrassed by bloggers who scooped their stories or provided facts overlooked by or edited from mainstream media, newspapers such as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Rocky Mountain News have either folded outright, found themselves fighting for survival-or moved online. The unthinkable-ceasing to provide a printed edition-has suddenly become the only means to survival. Both the Christian Science Monitor and the Post Intelligencer exist now only online. No doubt other venerable brands will follow. All major newspapers and most local media outlets provide all or part of their content online, succumbing to the reality that a majority of readers now seek their daily news on the internet.

Businesses of all types would do well to re-examine the possibilities the web offers for their own operations. Ten years ago, companies that refused to spend the money on a website for advertising purposes found themselves left behind by their more progressive rivals. Now, businesses that refuse to consider business-to-business sites, online file-sharing, remote workforces, social networking, and other ways of connecting with employees, suppliers, and customers also risk becoming dinosaurs. From being unable to attract technically-savvy employees to losing increasingly sophisticated customers, “tried and true” might prove a deathtrap in the end. And fretting that “now is not the time” to make that initial investment overlooks the fact that the long-term savings far outweigh the short-term costs. Successful companies understand that investments which boost consumer confidence in your ability to understand their changing needs can only be a smarter, and less-risky, strategy than clinging to existing processes in the hope that “soon” things will improve.

Just ask the newspapers, one of the most hide-bound of all industries. Pushed to the wall, they are discovering that survival in cyberspace beats the heck out of the alternative.

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