How will all this change the company and the economy as we know it? For reasons that will become clear later on in this survey, IT will probably not spell the death of big firms, as is often forecast. But real-time technology will have a huge impact on the inner workings of companies. It is also likely to make economies more fluid, and perhaps more volatile, as last year's abrupt American downturn suggests. The financial markets have already shown that putting even parts of the economy on autopilot can lead to accidents. A crash in 1987 was caused in large part by automated program trading. Perhaps, one day, the "now economy" will have to have circuit breakers installed.
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