Thriving with Information in the Digital Economy

1 | P a g e M a r k A l b a l a

Thriving with Information in the Digital Economy

By Mark Albala

With Information With Information Welcome to the Early Stages of the Digital Era

Thriving with Information in the Digital Economy

2 | P a g e M a r k A l b a l a

ABSTRACT We are witnessing the shepherding in of the digital age, one where machines and information can do

things faster and more accurately than people for select tasks, particularly those that don’t require inge-

nuity to innovate something that has never previously existed. It is up to those who run organizations to

gain a quick appreciation to which tasks benefit from the wisdom, empathy and creativity of the human

spirit and which ones are repetitive with minor variations to a theme and best orchestrated through

software. It is exactly those organizations that put every task to the whim of a machine that will enjoy

an uneasy competitive disadvantage because their finest moments will be those they can be performed

by every other business with a machine at the helm for that decision. However, those decisions which

are somewhat repetitive and can be taught through software to adjust for the nuances of a decision will

be able to react to these activities faster and more accurately than those not benefitting from software,

of course without human intuition, empathy and ingenuity. A keen understanding of the processes of

an organization, the information supporting that information and how that information potentially

makes a difference is at the heart of the discussion of thriving with information in the digital economy.

There are a number of very timely, complex fraught with error tasks that people cringe at performing or

tasks which need to be performed at such a blistering pace in the digital age that if they were to wait for

people to perform they would either need to be verified carefully for errors or be too late to make a

difference in the digital economy. The one thing that is consistent is that the life blood of the digital

economy is information delivered at a blistering speed at all hours of the day.

The purpose of this writing is to illuminate some of the changes caused by the digital economy as it per-

tains to information and help organizations devise a roadmap to their path from the current state to one

more applicable for the digital economy.

SPECIFICS Much of the contents of this writing will be focused on information, its altered role in the digital age and

what that means from an organizational framework. There are some key roles required to facilitate this

transformation and some key concepts such as treating information as an organizational asset that must

receive attention. The creation of the industrial economy did not happen overnight and neither will the

digital economy. Early entrants, especially digital pure plays, will wield information more effectively in

the earlier phases of the digital economy, but no one will be insulated from the digital economy as it

matures. If you don’t think information is a key differentiator, then you aren’t thinking about your pres-

ence in the digital age, because some of the biggest changes are:

• You won’t be able to control your destiny entirely as you distribute your digital commerce foot-

print to a number of platforms. Gaining insight into what happens to your content and commer-

cial activities as information flows through these platforms is of key significance in the digital

economy. Agreements to have insight into the platforms involved in delivering your digital foot-

print will become commonplace as the digital economy matures.

Thriving with Information in the Digital Economy

3 | P a g e M a r k A l b a l a

• Digital products change faster because the physical constructs have smaller hurdles than the

previous economic models. Measurements have shown that digital products are overhauled

every 5 months, and this will likely accelerate. That means organizations must be willing and

able to question the assumptions and makeup of their digital products more often, and that the

time available to shift gears will be much less. It has been a common understanding that every

change to a sales organization takes three cycles to take hold, figuring out how to upset this fact

will be key to sales in the digital economy.

• One of the key differentiators of those who succeed and those who fail are well-oiled processes

that spotlight the strengths and weaknesses of the digital products of an organization, what the

key focus areas will serve be remediative to the digital deficiencies (it won’t necessarily be prod-

uct) and a relentless focus on eradicating the weaknesses to deliver products and services in the

digital economy. The weave of platforms delivering goods and services will be under scrutiny at

all times and will be up for overhaul if they are the source of weaknesses.

• The digital economy has an enlightened consumer able to interact at all times and at all places

at the total convenience of the consumer. The consumerism trend will continue to grow

through the digital economy.

• It is easy to give things away for free, not so easy to monetize free things. Google, Yahoo and

others have figured out how to monetize their services. As the cost of basic services to the con-

sumer are near free and as the flow of data, not information becomes ubiquitous, it is the pow-

er of the information catalyst that will really be at the heart of differentiating the success and

failure of participants in the digital economy.

• Digital commerce requires a flow of digital information to and through a weave of platforms to

be effective. The variety of platforms and channels weaved into a digital event ultimately define

your digital presence. You should anticipate that as the interconnections of platforms, channels,

capabilities and interfaces change by participants in the marketplace, a constant flow of change

that serves as the primary sources of disruptions in the marketplace. The maturation of the digi-

tal economy will introduce new capabilities and methods of interconnecting with consumers,

and those not adopting these new means of deriving commerce will be disrupted at both the

leading and trailing edges of the digital economy.

• That information flowing through the platforms is a key source of information. It is voluminous

and moves quickly and is a source for cyber-threats (much more on that later). But it is exactly

that unrestricted flow of information that together defines your digital commerce presence.

We are about to see a renaissance in the capabilities of mobile technologies which will allow mobile

technologies to expand in ways previously unconceived due to limitations imposed through battery

technologies. It is the disruption in battery technologies (from lithium ion batteries to either Graphene,

solid state lithium or sodium carbide batteries that will greatly extend the capacity of batteries powering

our mobile devices) that will revolutionize what is possible in mobile and wearable technologies.