The fact is that we have entered the "second half of the chessboard," where the scale and speed of change are indelibly altering industry structures and the way that companies do business. Farsighted companies, even ones in traditional industries, can separate the signals from the noise and create new sources of advantage by going digital.

The "new" Internet is different in many ways from the old Internet.

• Its center of gravity is shifting. The internet has become interactive and participatory. It is moving from fixed access to ubiquitous access. No longer limited to developed markets, it is growing by leaps and bounds in emerging markets, as well. And these countries are increasingly driving innovation.

• It is now an "internet of everything." IBM predicts that 1 trillion devices will be connected to the internet by 2015. The internet of everything can radically change the ways companies interact with customers and run their supply chains. It also allows new entrants to attack the foundations of traditional industries.

• It is about ecosystems. The internet is increasingly being shaped by ecosystems orchestrated by companies such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google, but also by companies such as Baidu and Tencent in China and Yandex in Russia.

• It is generating tremendous economic value. Across the G-20 nations, the internet economy amounted to 4.1 percent of GDP, or $2.3 trillion, in 2010, larger than the economies of Italy or Brazil. In some leading economies, it is contributing up to 8 percent of GDP, powering economic growth and creating jobs.

• It has gone local. The internet experience has become an ingrained feature of everyday life, reflecting national characteristics as well as economic, political, and social influences specific to individual countries.

• A new generation has grown up on the Internet. The "Millennials" have vastly different expectations as employees, consumers, and citizens.

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Keywords: retail supply chain, supply chain management IT, value chain IT, logistics IT solutions, internet of things, world of interconnected commerce, e-commerce