One cannot easily correlate connected sensors with consumer broadband, as connected sensor devices are sometimes used by consumers, but also by enterprises and other organizations. Still, in some Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries there are as many as 40 machine-to-machine connections per 100 persons.
The OECD average is about 27 M2M connections per 100 persons.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
The correlation between gross domestic product and broadband penetration in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries is about 0.55. In other words, there is a correlation. What we cannot say is that there is a causal relationship.
Within the OECD, cable modem connections are significant in many markets, which shapes the business case for fiber-to-home deployment. Countries where digital subscriber line is a major platform arguably will have different payback models than countries where significant market share is held by cable operators or fixed wireless.
Fixed broadband penetration has grown over time, generally reaching levels between 45 percent and 25 percent in various OECD countries.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Tradeshift, which provides e-invoicing and accounts payable services has posted some contradictory evidence about the state of global enterprise business travel.
On one hand, enterprise travel globally--based on transaction volume--has returned to nearly 70 percent of pre-pandemic levels, according to the data published by Tradeshift. That likely is more robust than most of us would have predicted.
Note that Tradeshift tracks the volume of transactions, not the value of the transactions.
On the other hand, corporate hospitality spending has not budged from its second quarter 2020 levels, when travel restrictions were widely imposed as a result of Covid, reducing such spending 82 percent. In the second quarter of 2021 the figures still had not shown any improvement.
That suggests “client entertaining and networking events will remain virtual, at least for the time being,” the firm says.
Communications transaction volumes, on the other hand, seems about 80 percent higher than before the pandemic, Tradeshift notes. Transaction volumes across the sector are 89 percent higher than prior to the pandemic.
At least anecdotally, that seems borne out by U.S. connectivity provider revenues. In second quarter 2021 financial reports Comcast reported record internet access net additions while all three big mobile service providers reported growth as well.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
We do not yet know whether Covid business-to-business sales processes have changed permanently or not. But a McKinsey survey suggests at least 30 percent of sales journey operations are conducted entirely on a “self serve” basis, not face to face. About 32 percent of B2B research, evaluation and ordering operations are conducted digitally.
About 34 percent to 36 percent of sales processes are conducted digitally with a sales person. Only about 34 percent to 36 percent of such processes are conducted face to face.
Altogether, roughly two thirds of B2B transactions are conducted digitally, not face to face, by phone or fax.
Compared go pre-Covid patterns, fewer sales are concluded in person; more are conducted using video conferencing, online, by email or e-commerce methods.
The survey suggests growing comfort with remote interactions. In April 2020 only 27 percent of respondents thought the remote sales processes were more effective than face-to-face methods. By February 2021 that percentage had grown to 58 percent.
Fully 87 percent of respondents believed they would continue with remote interactions for at least a year after the pandemic ends.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
The way entities go about digital transformation might be different now, compared to pre-Covid expectations, according to George Westerman, principal research scientist for workforce learning in MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab.
The prior assumption was that customers value the human touch. In some cases, Covid experience suggests a well-architected digital experience can offer an equivalent or even a more personalized transaction than an in-person engagement, at least in some cases, he argues.
Many entities might have assumed it was prudent to be a “fast follower.” But there was nobody to follow during the instant economic shutdowns Covid policy required. Business closures required immediate action.
Digital transformation is not an especially new concept, but it also is a term used in several distinct ways. In some ways DX is a deepening of the “data-driven decisions” mantra.
It can refer to customer experience, operations or business models. In rare cases DX is a combination of all three, though generally beginning in silos. Connecting dynamic operations therefore tends to be a longer-term goal, no matter how the discrete initiatives unfold.
Customer experience, customer intelligence, sales processes and growth, customer touch points, operations and business models (customers, products, problems solved, revenue generation models, fulfillment) all are parts of the broader DX agenda.
The key point is that DX is about transformation, not simply “going digital.” That noted, the foundation for digital transformation is a clean, well-structured digital platform.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Cloud-related platform spending will a major driver for small and medium businesses globally in 2021, according to Analysys Mason. Since most major information technology apps and services are supplied using remote computing (cloud) mechanisms, that will come as no surprise.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Marc Halbfinger, PCCW CEO will be featured on a podcast sponsored by Ridge Innovative. Mark your calendars for July 28, 2021listen in at innovationwithapurpose.
Here is the podcast.
Marc will be talking about federating communications services and suppliers. If I had to guess, I’d bet he’ll talk about how to create ecosystems of buyers and sellers that can function largely autonomously.
Here’s another talk Marc did that might present the framework.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
