The information technology nuts-and-bolts of the Internet, the bits and bytes, software and servers are relatively easy to get right, the real challenges are personal and cultural. Three significant characteristics have emerged during the Internet’s 25 year history. First, the Internet is a decentralising centrifugal force, second, it is a user-driven democratising force and third, it is a force for openness and transparency. These characteristics are inherent in the very structure of the switch packet topology that forms the intricate interconnectedness that is the Internet. They percolate up from the lowest level of routers and transmission protocols through various layers to seep out into wider society as a force for transformational change and personal empowerment.

Citizens and consumers alike increasingly expect autonomy, openness and transparency of information as well as fully digitised self-serve services with as many transactions conducted online as possible. This requires profound personal and cultural change for producers, service providers and consumers alike. For example, a new term, prosumer, is indicative of the trend towards consumers being able to participate in the creation of the products or services they consume. These characteristics will continue to define and influence our digital future in the coming decades.

Contrast this with the pre-digital industrial age where centripetal forces drew power, influence, command and control to the centre and required an extensive hierarchy of regimented managers and workers to get things done. Many of the colleagues and managers with whom I have worked over the last ten years remain wedded to a 20th (if not 19th) century centralised command and control management ethic.

Such individuals may conduct business on the Internet but are, at best, uncomfortable with or, at worst, ideologically opposed to what the Internet represents. The Internet augers a transformation that is fundamentally at odds with their ethos and personal approach at it challenges their personal preference for hierarchical command and control structures and processes. Seeing themselves as front and centre, they fail to think digitally enough to make the most of what the Internet has to offer. They have yet to make the necessary adjustments to network and collaborate rather than to own and dictate, to participate and share rather than command and control. The centripetal imperative of the 19th and 20th century is finally giving way to a 21st century centrifugal imperative and, in an era of digital transformation, making the necessary personal and cultural adjustments are prerequisites for success. The Internet is not just about technology, people and organisations have to change too.