Introduction
An information revolution is taking place.
It demands the critical attention of all businesses.
The revolution is driving the integration of the global economy. The speed, convenience and ease of reproduction, transformation, and movement of information are profoundly reshaping the scope and distribution of economic activity as well as informing consumer tastes.
This revolution is fostering an increased mobility of people and firms in a global setting. Geography and jurisdictions matter today much less than they have in the past.
The technological and innovative capability of New Zealand's businesses and citizens will be the keys to ensuring our ability to compete in world markets, as will be our enthusiasm and capacity to exploit the opportunities offered by the 24-hour a day 7-day a week global economy.
Information technology is generating new products, driving new production processes, new forms of business organisation, new scope for consumers, and new market opportunities. Not only is information an input in the production of high-value products, but it has also become a high-value product in its own right.
Our performance at the national, business, and individual level will increasingly be determined by our ability to collect, apply, create, and transmit information. Advanced technologies have lowered the cost of these processes and now enable them to take place at much greater speed. More importantly, they have made information more easily available and in a form that is highly adaptable for multiple and innovative use. These developments are shaping the way we do business and the choices we make about managing our lives.
We need to recognise the strategic implications of these developments. We must build our capability to respond and to maintain a safe electronic commerce environment if we are to ensure New Zealand's competitiveness and support our sustained economic development in a networked world.
| Building our awareness and capability to participate in an electronic world is a matter for immediate attention by all New Zealanders. |
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