The New Digital Economy
A lot of changes have been ushered in by thel COVID-19 pandemic. The question is if your business or professional practice is positioned for this new era; are you or your business ready for the Digital Economy that is taking over?
The COVID -19 pandemic as we all know has brought social distancing and forced stay at home. As a Finance Expert who is tech savvy let me welcome you to the era of the Digital Economy. The Digital Economy is an economy in which digital computing technologies are used in economic activities. The question for existing and future entrepreneurs is if your business is ready to embrace the new wave of digitalization. Even with the gradual easing down of restrictions, the waves of the pandemic will continue to get tougher and stronger.
According to world economic Forum report, labour market is changing faster than we realized; demographic changes and technological advancement may lead to the net loss of 5 million jobs by 2020. According to the report, a total of 7.1 million jobs could be lost, majority of which will be white collar jobs.
The report called the future of jobs surveyed executives from more than 350 employers across nine industries in 15 of the worlds largest economies to come up with predictions on how the labour markets will evolve. While the job landscape is expected to undergo radical changes over the next few years, the report predicts that there will be certain occupations that will be more in demand than others such as information and communication Technology due to emerging technologies.
What the new normal will be is not known yet. Most business owners and employees may find it difficult at first, but they must be proactive in taking decisions that will strategically position them for the emerging Digital Economy. Given the broad impact of Digital Economy, traditional firms need to actively assess how to respond to the changes and the timing of their response is of the essence, because as they say, delay is dangerous. The only way out of it is, to be proactive by getting the necessary skills and digital tools needed to position for the mass opportunities that will abound. After working so hard to start up a business, allowing it to be rendered obsolete should not be an option but working on yourself and business to adapt and be the best version it can be to embrace the digital challenge is the way to go.
One thing we can all agree on now is that, by the time the COVID-19 pandemic is over, the world as we know will never remain the same. The world is emerging into a global digital community with emphasis on remote access. Therefore, get yourself and your business involved.
All areas of business and employment will be affected directly or indirectly as people will do all they can to protect themselves of any future eventualities. The traditional way of operating in the workplace will be and is already affected. The practice of law, accounting, architecture, engineering, medicine etc. is also gradually been taken over by continuous emerging technologies.
Businesses and firms will have to adapt to the New Economy. The growing trend of “Remote access will certainly become mainstream in all areas of business practice or service provision even in countries like Nigeria as we are beginning to experience.
The conventional practice that requires physical presence in workshops, training centres, schools and offices to work may go under as virtual meetings via the zoom platform, Skype platform among others have now become the new norm for holding such meetings, trainings and other delivery services where you can practice remotely using technology.
In order to strategically align with this new era, business owners both emerging and existing are expected to waste no time in making deliberate efforts to adjust to this new way of living and set up team members that will come up with urgent practical strategic measures in order to ensure that their businesses continue to operate digitally despite the lockdown in some part of the world and the COVID19 challenges generally.
New industries emerging should create platforms that will be tech savvy as that is the future, this is because digital skills and technology will play an increasing role in business.
Using digital tools to improve traditional business practices should be topmost on every business owners’ to-do-list. The time to get yourself and business ready for the digital economy is Now. Position yourself to leverage the opportunities that will abound when the pandemic is over.
