Steven, my impression is that although this sector has run up well lately, it's still at the beginning of a multiyear move. Web database development is not something which is going to go away anytime soon. As more and more people get hooked to the net, the importance of how your site looks and feels will be more and more critical. Similar to television advertisement agencies, Web database development will be the key to the success of a company selling products over the net.
There is one big difference which I believe is key to why we should be investing in REGI now. Neoglyphics is one of a handful of companies with a huge lead in contracts with fortune 500 companies. In Television advertisement, switching agencies is not that big of a deal. With Web development, switching web-data base developers is akin to shooting yourself in the foot. I hate to bring up the dark side of this business, but it's a reality that pissing off some of the best HTML wizards in the business could be a very destructive move. Besides, the cost of completely starting web designs with a new company, would probably not be a financially smart move. So the large guys like Microsoft, Oracle, and others are pretty much shut out of this business for quite a while.
That is one of the main reasons I believe USWEB has elected to buy all these small development companies vs trying to lure their customers away.
If you believe in the growth of the Internet, and would like to participate in a segment which has as close to proprietary protection as you can get. Web database development is the place to be. IMHO. :-)
Sorry so long but now I'm on a roll....
The other reason is that corporations are trying their best to use the Intranet as a technological advantage to lesson costs in training.
I recently visited a Boeing manufacturing facility and the way they have integrated training via the Intranet is really fascinating. "Just in time training" is becoming as common as "Just in time Inventory". Prior to a worker on a 777 doing a specific task that he/she may have not done recently, they simply click on their computer terminal and access the task via the Intranet. Then they review the procedure for say, 10 minutes, and then complete the task. The development time for this type of curriculum is astoundingly inexpensive vs say all the paperwork and analysis of the past. It's a trend which is only at the very beginning stages IMO.
Regards, Michael |
