The paradox of the good middle man

One common goal of ICT strategies is to eliminate the "evil" middle man, failing to see that he is an integral part of an economic and social process that should not be disrupted so lightly. The middle men are members of the community, providers of services and enablers of processes.

Substituting the middle men with technology, although almost always saves money, not only can generate resistance and align forces against change, but often means translating their "business" to outsiders of the local process (even if by outsiders we mean providers of ICT services and/or information). This increases the vulnerability of local economies.

Any strategy that looks into improving the efficiency of local business process should consider roles for the middle men and allow them to grow with the community and should be very careful about bringing foreign components into vulnerable economic and social processes.

There is even a role for middle men in Market Information Systems. If sophisticated, highly educated people use brokers to engage in commodity markets, why would we expect farmers to engage directly in global markets? Granted, we are talking about a different kind of middle man, in this case a telecenter or a community organization, but a middle man (or middle woman, or middle thing for that matter) nonetheless.

Middle men in Market Information Systems Click here to enlarge picture