Whether it is the UK government with their shift towards their Government Digital Service (GDS), Digital Jersey pushing ahead with their strategy or apps being developed by school children (password app) the pace of digitisation is increasing rapidly.
Consumers, businesses, and entire industries are becoming increasingly connected at home, in the office, and on the move. For more than a decade, powerful new digital approaches to business, and life in general, have burst onto the scene, but we are now entering an even more rapid and dramatic period of change. The digital phenomenon is reaching a critical point with three key elements at the forefront of this significant period of change: consumer demand, the push for new technologies, and the potential of even greater economic benefits.
Every industry will be impacted and affected, and it will be the responsibility of leaders to ensure that their business or organisation realise the benefits of operating in a digital environment. Those that deploy and embrace the digitisation will see social and economic benefits as a result of doing so.
The effects of an increasingly digital world are now reaching into every area of our lives, for example, fans of Disney movies can now buy cinema tickets on Facebook and invite their friends to join them at the cinema, the show. Shoppers at certain stores can ask Facebook friends their opinions about specific items they see on the shelf, in real time, right in the store. Farmers are embedding sensors into their cattle that send back data on location and health for analysis (and action as required) and engineers at Thames Water Utilities in London have installed thousands of sensors to monitor its water pipe network, reducing leakage by 25 percent.
Digitisation and the correct adoption of technology offers the potential for industries to make great strides in pushing efficiency and customer service.
It is no surprise that those industries that are digitising and adopting technology correctly and the fastest are starting to see the highest growth rates.
The Eurostat figures on e-commerce consumer activity indicate that individuals are becoming more and more comfortable with digital and online environments with online purchases increasing by 17% between 2006 and 2011 (In 2011, 43 % of individuals in the EU-27 reported that they had made online purchases (within the 12 months prior to the survey date); this figure had grown from 40 % in 2010 and from 26 % in 2006.)
Here is an extract from the Digital Europe 2011 – 2015 Framework:
A new strategy for the European Information Society will shortly follow the current i2010 initiative. Nevertheless, the 2011-2015 Benchmarking Framework needs to be designed well in advance to allow sufficient time for the design of the surveys by the NSIs. It is built on the existing one and will be further developed to give a coherent and exhaustive picture of the information society in the EU.
Overall, the development of ICT and its impact can be described through a supply, use and impact framework:
- efficiency gains in the production of ICTs translate into a growing contribution of the sector to economic growth and into falling prices of ICT goods and services (supply);
- decreasing prices stimulate investment prompting the take-up of ICTs by individuals, businesses and the public sector: take-up can further be described through readiness and use of ICT services and content applications (use);
- diffusion of ICT contributes to the sustainable growth of the economy and to jobs, the efficiency of the public sector and the well-being of the population (impact).
We really like the summary of their framework, three simple words, supply; use; impact.
The framework provides individuals and organisations (both private and public) the opportunity to benefit from digitisation and technology.
It is a message we have shared before and one we will continue to talk about, don’t be a digital doubter, be a digital leader.
And for those doubters, spend a few minutes watching this video: The Digital Revolution Has Been Over-Hyped