Are You Ready For The Digital Economy? – Part I
The industrial age with its focus on productivity is coming to an end and in its place a digital age with a focus on choice is emerging. In the new age we have more access to information than any previous generation and are better connected to those around us and to those around the world.
Technology, globalisation and our level of connectivity and connectedness have helped to increase competition and reduce prices in a race to the bottom.
Ironically, they have also created more demand for quality products that command premium prices, as people are willing to pay more for what they value in a race to the top.
The difficulty with such polarisation is that it destroys the middle ground and the middle ground is traditionally where so many people live and work.
The challenge we face is to create something new, something different, and something of value that will succeed in the new world of low cost and high premium.
The old economy was good at providing jobs for those who needed them; the new economy is good at providing opportunities for those who take them.
In the old economy, we had to follow the rules and wait for an employer to choose us. In the new economy, we have to create the rules, engage and add value.
The new economy replaces the traditional approach of someone giving us a job to a new approach where we will have to create our own job.
Making the leap from the old to the new is possible because of greater access to information and technology that, in turn, creates opportunities.
The biggest difficulty lies in out traditional mindset that ties us to the old economy and the fact that the new economy can be scary and uncertain.
We may think not enough is being done to fix the old economy but the problem is not that it is broken; the problem is that the new economy is different and we need to welcome the difference.
SO, the old economy is no longer providing the comfort or the jobs we need and the new economy is uncertain and frightening; yet we must embrace it to succeed.
What do you think? Are you ready for the digital economy? Get in touch, we would love to hear your views contact Nick on 028 8224 9494 or via Twitter @nick_oec.
