Looking Into The Future - Part I

10 years from now, I think the Internet is going to be everywhere. It's almost everywhere now, but not quite. And many of the places where it is available, it's slow and unreliable. Or you have to pay a premium to get at it. It seems to me that 10 years from now, the Internet will be like electricity. It will be a utility service (which it almost is now) and the price will be low enough that we won't even think about it. When that happens, you'll be able to get it for free in all these places where you have to pay for it now.

For instance, if you're at an airport, you can plug your laptop into the wall and charge the battery for free, but you have to pay (a ridiculous price!) for Internet access. It's the same story in the downtown Toronto core - there are lots of outlets around that you can use if you need quick power, but wireless Internet service is slow and expensive. Ditto for truckstops.

In ten years, I think that will be fixed. Anywhere that you can plug in for power now, you'll be able to get Internet with the same quality for free, and with much higher speed than we have now.

Once that happens, think about where technology can take us. If super-fast Internet is everywhere, then realtime connectivity to your fleets will be there as well. Realtime data being fed back from EOBRs. Realtime voice and video communication with your drivers (OnStar to the max), realtime GPS, traffic and weather data so you always know if your drivers are about to hit a traffic jam.

What else will you be able to do with that kind of communication power? How much would your business change if you truly had realtime connectivity with your fleet today?

Let me know your thoughts.