If you have any interest in business or technology, or if you just spend too much time on Twitter, you might have stumbled across this meme last week. 

Two images of Jeff Bezos, the Amazon CEO, side by side, showing a remarkable transformation from Nineties-era bookish computer nerd, to the muscular, Patagonia vest clad, aviator-wearing mogul of today. 

It was an amusing little snippet of internet culture. But the meme was also a perfect illustration, not just of Amazon's astonishing corporate rise over the past two decades from online bookseller to e-commerce colossus, but also of the metamorphosis the technology industry has undergone during that period. 

It wasn't that long ago - in the scheme of things - that technology, in a business context, to many (misguided people) meant 'IT department'.

Now tech permeates absolutely everything in business, to the point where distinctions between the two terms are becoming meaningless. 

Every company - big banks, accounting firms and even mining giants - is championing its tech credentials these days, because those with the best technology and the best data will win.

Meanwhile, tech CEOs like Bezos, who were once dismissed as geeks, are now among the coolest figures on the planet.

It's not just Bezos, who is on the brink of becoming the world's richest man, who is being lionised lately. Tesla CEO Elon Musk also has legions of devoted followers, and since he is trying to usher in an era of electric cars and clean energy, it's not hard to understand why.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also inspires awe for his business feats, although he is more prone to coming across as creepy. 

For investors, technology is utterly impossible to ignore. The four most valuable companies on the world's biggest stockmarket (Apple, Google, Facebook and yes, Amazon) all have their roots in the sector. Seismic shifts such as machine learning and artificial intelligence are poised to make the havoc the internet wrought on established companies look tame. 

Daniel Petre, a former top Microsoft executive who now helps run Australia's biggest tech start-up investment fund, AirTree Ventures, this week expressed sentiments that many veterans of his industry would sympathise with, as tech entrenches itself into mainstream business consciousness. 

He described Magellan CEO Hamish Douglas, one of Australia's most successful investors, who has recently embraced tech stocks with the zeal of a convert, as being "like a reformed alcoholic" or "like the last virgin to the party, going wow this thing is fantastic!"

'Late to the party'

"I think it's hilarious listening to Hamish," Petre said at an event hosted by Livewire, an investment publication. "He's discovered technology late in life and now he's this huge evangelist. You know, we've been saying this stuff for ten years, Hamish. You're a late guy to the party, but good on you."

Petre warned that Australia"s retail sector is going to get "smacked terribly" by Amazon, which has reportedly secured warehouse space in Melbourne, and reports results in the US on Friday morning. 

There are reasons to be guarded and sceptical towards the technology sector, which is home to some of the most powerful businesses the world has ever seen, doesn't have a great record when it comes to paying tax, and also has serious cultural problems.

Still, the case can be made that corporate Australia really needs its own version of Bezos or Musk. 

Anything is possible

The local stockmarket is still dominated by domestic oligopolies (banks ,supermarkets, telcos) and mining companies, who - fairly or not - are perceived as being predisposed towards ripping off their customers, or hurting the environment, and have no stated ambitions to colonise Mars. 

Australia's corporate giants are also largely run by CEOs who have climbed up through the ranks - not by founders - and by relatively anonymous board directors. None of this is particularly inspiring. And its hard to imagine any of our business leaders featuring in a viral meme. 

Over the next few years, it's safe to assume the cult of the tech CEO will be tested in the US. 

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