Companies today have huge opportunities if they take digital transformation seriously. However, they need to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of the digital economy.
Otherwise, instead of using the opportunities of the digital era to grow, they risk becoming irrelevant or even disappearing.
Considering that the digital economy already represented almost a quarter of the global economy, according to a report by Accenture and Oxford Economics presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2016, transformation processes inside organizations need to be strengthened and accelerated.
Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, the Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G are changing our economies almost at the speed of light and at scale, according to Malcolm Johnson, deputy secretary-general of the ITU.
After the digital revolution driven by mobile technology, a study by Huawei and Oxford Economics projected that the global digital economy would grow from 19.9 trillion dollars in 2017 to 23 trillion dollars by 2025, with artificial intelligence as one of the main drivers.
Companies that take advantage of the opportunities of the digital economy will be able to reinvent themselves and keep generating value and sustainable growth.
Those that do not review their business models or assess their value propositions against consumer behavior and needs risk being forgotten.
Whatever the sector or industry, digital disruption is a must to compete with emerging businesses born with innovation in their DNA.
Still, even as 68% of CEOs report that their companies depend more and more on the internet, they acknowledge that their trust in internet security has fallen by 30%, and they expect it to fall further if nothing changes in the short term.
Let's look at some advantages and disadvantages of the digital economy.
In the private sector, companies were estimated to be at risk of losing 5.2 trillion dollars over five years (almost the size of the economies of France, Italy and Spain combined) due to cyberattacks, according to Accenture's report Securing the Digital Economy: Reinventing the Internet for Trust.
Data has become an invaluable resource. According to the UNCTAD Digital Economy Report 2019, in virtually every value chain the ability to collect, store, analyze and turn data into digital intelligence gives companies significant competitive advantages.
In the new economy, data is the new oil that lets companies capture and create value.
Digital transformation is not a one-off project; it is a continuous operating model. At Intelsa, we help companies build omnichannel service, automation and data analytics capabilities that speed up digital adoption without losing sight of the human experience. Learn more about our AI Transformation services.
