Amongst the hype generated by the Internet gurus, as I call them, is this notion of a "seamless" web. You can look back as far as 1994, when many daily newspapers first began covering the Internet in earnest, and you will see this word pop up repeatedly. I am always skeptical of the latest buzzwords used in business jargon because they are too often misleading. However, as a veteran user of the Internet, I do understand what this term "seamless" is supposed to convey when used in its proper context. Simply stated, "seamless" means inter-connected. Most Internet proponents see this aspect of the Internet as its most compelling feature. Some would go so far as to argue that the web has evolved and is now capable of solving its own problems. With the dissemination of the Internet to the world outside of the United States' borders, however, there are new and different problems and they have proven to be extremely difficult to resolve. Most of us use the Internet for two tasks: finding information and communications. Internet pundits, the so-called gurus, are always quick to point out that in the future transactions will be the most compelling feature of the web and that this is one reason why business use of the web has exploded in the past five years. While the research companies are gleefully making predictions about e-commerce and churning out meaningless reports, there is a general sense of reluctance to really talk about transactions. This is especially true in the global context. Talking about b2b, business-to-business, is all the rage right now, but clearly transactions remain a serious concern for one on one retail purchases. Two recent events in my own life might possibly indicate the severity of this dilemma. I have just returned from a nine-day business trip to France. This trip might not have happened without the persistence of one of my clients. He wanted to purchase an airline ticket for me and asked me to find appropriate flights and set up dates. He would then purchase the tickets for me and I would be ready to go. Seems simple enough, but hold on. I wanted to take a flight direct from Philadelphia to Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris that was offered by a European airline. Since this European carrier has a co-share agreement with a U.S. based carrier, I spoke to the U.S. airline first. Their office in Paris refused to sell my client the ticket via telephone or the Internet because he was an American living in western France and an American bank issued his credit card. My client then contacted the European carrier in France who also refused to sell him the ticket over the phone or via the Internet. My client was finally forced to use a local travel agent for this transaction. The ticket was actually sold by the U.S. carrier that we both contacted first. Does any of this make sense? While I was in France, one of my smaller clients, a startup in fact, wrote me a check denominated in francs. Pas de problem as the French would say. In other words, no problem. Just take it to my U.S. bank and let their international department handle the transaction. My banker looked at the check, smiled and grabbed a telephone directory to find the location of the nearest Thomas Cook office. "We don't fool around with this stuff here. We send our clients directly to Thomas Cook." Had I known this beforehand, I would have had my French client use Thomas Cook Virtual Trading Desk at http://www.fx4business.com/ and saved myself time and made it easier for my foreign client to pay our fees in francs as stipulated in our prior agreement. But hold on, it gets worse. My wife, the shopaholic (truth be told, I actually do more real shopping than she does but I am not very talented), made me clear some additional credit on one of my credit cards. I wondered why this was necessary because I had a separate bankcard that was also a credit card. So I thought. "You can't go overseas without a plain old credit card because many places here in the U.S. will refuse the debit card. I doubt that it is any different in France." As some eastern European tourists painfully discovered in Paris upon arrival, my wife was right. Seamless web? If it is a notion, it is certainly a foolish notion. In the case of the airline tickets it is important to realize that the European carrier would have been more than happy to sell the tickets to him in person at their Paris office. The only problem with this being that my client lives near Rennes, which is three hours away by TGV. (Tren gran vitesse or high-speed train) In the case of the check, I really do feel that my bank should have been able to handle this transaction. I am therefore grateful to Thomas Cook for making my life easier. Needless to say, had the check been for substantially more than 10,000 francs (about $1400 U.S.) the bank would have found a way to handle it and to charge me a hefty fee for so doing. My wife's astute observation about debit cards, however, is not only startling. It is the proverbial wake up call. If banks and major airlines have not yet adopted common standards for online transactions, we are a long way from realizing the dream of a seamless web. That check cards are being commonly refused for purchases is at best troublesome. At worse, it foretells dire circumstances. Consumers are already reluctant to give up their credit card information as it is. Now, this basic tool seems almost powerless to do the things that basic web transactions require. If the gurus are to realize their dream of a truly seamless web, there needs to be some adoption of standards that is multinational. As for b2b and the web, there is a long journey ahead. Traditional channels of distribution are changing worldwide and this means that the structure of international transactions will inevitably change as well. There are software packages now available that help a company to manage its internal document processing and that are also capable of correctly preparing international packing and shipping documents as well as bills of lading and other documents required by law. However, with relatively few exceptions and only in some instances, most of the procedures associated with the above mentioned electronic documents are manually executed. That is to say that humans and not computers carry them out. Given that many of these transactions involve letters of credit and/or documentary drafts, it is hard for me to see how the web is going to set up mechanisms to handle them. Certainly, if a credit card transaction is a problem, legally executing a documentary draft will be a nightmare. As I said before, we are beginning a long journey to realize the dream of a seamless web. Recognizing and understanding the load that we must carry along the way is the all important first step.