The digital economy involves small business owners having access to finance on a mobile device without having to go to a bank.
The digital economy has gotten a lot of attention, with increasingly powerful titles offering overwhelming and exciting exciting scenarios. Some warn of job losses due to automation, some questions about the things that digital technology can do. And then there’s real skepticism about whether this will translate into traditions to people who need it most.
However, with all this debate there is rarely an explanation of what the digital economy really is. What makes it different from the traditional economy? Why should we pay attention?
The digital economy is a term that captures the impact of digital technology on production and consumption patterns. This includes how to market, market and pay for goods and services.
The term has evolved since the 1990s, when it focused on the impact of the Internet on the economy. This has been expanded to include the emergence of new types of digital-driven businesses and the production of new technologies.
Today the term includes a dizzying array of technologies and their application. This includes artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, Augmented and Virtual Reality, cloud computing, blockchain, robotics and self-driving vehicles.
The digital economy is now recognized as embracing all segments of the economy that are taking advantage of technological change leading to changes in markets, business models, and day-to-day operations. It covers everything from traditional technology, media and telecommunications to new digital sectors. These include e-commerce, digital banking and even the “traditional” sectors such as agriculture or mining or processing affected by the application of emerging technologies.
Understanding this dynamic has become non-negotiable. The digital economy will soon become a simple economy as the absorption and application of digital technologies in all areas of the world grows.
I have joined a team of researchers looking at what this means for a society such as South Africa. Specifically, we focused on examining what the spread of the digital economy means for integration – ensuring that everyone can access it – and financial opportunities.
But the first step was to get absolutely clear about what this multifaceted phenomenon is.
The digital kernel
At the heart of the digital economy is a “digital core”. This includes providers of physical technologies such as semiconductors and processors, devices that enable them, such as computers and smartphones, software and algorithms that operate on them, and infrastructure that enables such devices as the Internet and telecommunications. networks.
This is followed by “digital providers”. These are the places that use these technologies to deliver digital products and services such as mobile payments, e-commerce platforms, or machine learning solutions.
Finally, there are the “digital applications”. This covers organizations that use the products and services of digital providers to transform the way they run their business. Examples include virtual banks, digital media and e-government services.
A specific example helps paint pictures. Consider a typical value chain of agriculture: a smallholder needs inputs (such as financing) to produce and then sell crops, for example, to processors or directly to consumers. Today, small farmers can get financing through their mobile phones from digital financial service providers instead of visiting a bank naturally. These digital financial services are able to assess the risk of lending to the farmer by creating a profile using AI algorithms in combination with alternative data sets such as mobile phone use or satellite farm imagery.
Then there are mobile applications that can help farmers produce better crops. They can provide advice on the best time for planting, soil quality and pest management. It means that a farmer no longer has to rely on face-to-face advice from friends or farmers.
Another example in rural areas is the ability of farmers to rent tractors. Known as asset allocation platforms, they allow farmers to access a tractor they would not normally be able to afford.
Digital and traditional
So, what makes the digital economy different from the traditional economy?
First, digital technologies allow businesses to conduct their business differently, as well as in a more efficient and cost-effective way. They are also opening up a number of new possibilities. Download Navigation Applications. No group of people could ever provide real-time, traffic-driven navigation the way smartphone apps do.
This means that products and services can be offered to more consumers, especially those who could not be served before.
Secondly, these results create entirely new market structures that eliminate, inter alia, the cost of trading in traditional markets. The best example is the rise of digital platforms such as Amazon, Uber and Airbnb. These companies connect market participants in a virtual world. They reveal the best values and build trust between strangers in new ways.
Finally, the digital economy is powering – and generating – huge amounts of data. Traditionally, when we were shopping at a brick-and-mortar store, no one held account for our personal consumption or large-scale financial transactions. Now, online ordering and payment means that many of our consumer and financial transactions produce electronic data that is recorded and held by someone.
Classifying and analyzing this data provides tremendous opportunities – and risks – to transform the way a series of financial activities are conducted.
The digital economy is with us. However, the boundaries between digital and traditional are blurred as technological change permeates every aspect of modern life. We all need to understand the nature of this change in order to be able to respond to all levels: society, corporate and personal.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): John Haas
Quelle/Source: The Media Hq, 25.01.2020
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