Are You Part Of The 'Digital Economy'?

The term 'Digital Economy' was coined in Don Tapscott's 1995 best-seller The Digital Economy: Promise and Peril in the Age of Networked Intelligence.

The Digital Economy was among the first books to show how the Internet would change the way we did business. It became an international best-seller within one month of its release, appearing on a number of best-seller lists, including the New York Times Business Book list and a seven month run on the BusinessWeek best sellers list. BusinessWeek also named The Digital Economy the top selling business book for 1996.

According to Mesenbourg (2001) three main components of the ‘Digital Economy’ concept can be identified:

• supporting infrastructure (hardware, software, telecoms, networks, etc.),
• e-business (how business is conducted, any process that an organization conducts over computer-mediated networks),
• e-commerce (transfer of goods, for example when a book is sold online).

But, as Bill Imlah comments, new applications are blurring these boundaries and adding complexity – for example, social media, and Internet search. What this means for all of us, is that the world is changing. Ordering and paying for products and services online is nowadays common practise and for years now the High Street has changed. For most retail outlets, there has been a tremendous pressure to remain economically viable compared to their competitors who have developed a more mature 'online strategy'.

 

Buyers in far flung parts of the world are able to get access to a vast array of products which previously would have involved possibly days of travel to get to the nearest town or city where retailers would have the item in stock. Companies like Amazon and Ebay are turning over literally Billions of dollars every week and even smaller online retailers are creating huge incomes with reduced overheads or costs.

Initially, there were some concerns about entering credit card and personal details into a website and a number of online payment services like Paypal and WorldPay were quickly on the scene to bridge the gap between traditional payment methods and online payment. These Companies also have enjoyed huge success in the rise of the 'Digital Economy' For smaller Businesses, the opportunities to trade in the 'Digital Economy' brings great rewards since the old model of expensive premises and huge marketing costs no longer apply for many traders who run their Businesses exclusively online.

The rise of video sites like YouTube and Vimeo have seen more than their share of young Business opportunists raking in millions of dollars in Advertising Revenues as their YouTube channels attract millions of repeat visitors.

We may be at the peak of the 'Information Age' and now more than ever, it is easier and cheaper to produce high quality, relevant content which people are searching for online. 'Niche Marketing' may be a relatively new term but it does well to describe how independent content providers are able to deliver meaningful information to an audience willing to pay for the privilege 0f receiving the right kind of material.

The future is posed then for a world that communicates and trades in a very different way and the opportunities for the 'Every Man' to secure a personal income without the need to confine themselves to a regular type 'J-O-B' has become increasingly possible.


  Join the 'Digital Economy'              

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