The spine of the national and globalized digital economy is hyperconnectivity. This bourgeoning interconnectedness of humans, machines and transactions using virtual assets, time stamps, Clickwrap and Browse-wrap contracts that results from the Internet of Things (IoT), market platforms, mobile technologies, and low-priced sensors is undermining conventional notions about: 1) how companies are structured; 2) how firms interrelate; 3) and how consumers obtain goods, services, and information.
By 2030, the global middle classes are projected to expand threefold. Necessary business resources are growing at a slower rate of 1.5 times. This incongruity can only be counteracted by new intelligent networks of networks that optimise the way commerce is managed and optimised using open data polices and shared services in real time. This will enable next-generation commerce applications to self-propagate. The European Open Data Maturity Report 2020 positions Estonia in fifth place and describes Estonia as a “trendsetter” alongside Denmark, France, Ireland, Spain, Austria, and Poland.
Along the Old Silk Roads and during the Industrial Revolution that was capitalized by the Triangular Transatlantic Trade, countless complex supply chains emerged among engineers, artisans and manufacturers. Networks flourished among distributors, importers, wholesalers and retailers. During these stages of economic globalization, a seamless stream of products allowed countless products to be made, transported, traded and enjoyed in the far reaches of civilization. But today, the internet is both the ship and the compass. Mobile wallets, digital currencies, customer interfaces, and digital signatures have unleashed a surge of disruptions during the pandemic portal which are erasing various pre-pandemic layers of commerce and shifting power to new places.
The value is in the software interface, not in the products along the New or the Old Silk Roads. Twitter started out as a microblogging platform. Now it distributes TV content. Snapchat’s discovery features turned the IM platform into a way to consume TV content. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Tom Goodwin of TechCrunch+ highlighted that Uber has no vehicles. Facebook creates no content. Alibaba has no inventory. Airbnb owns no real estate. For countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) the question remains – how do regional companies reimagine the boundaries and value proposition of their industry?
What learnings can LAC states harvest from fresh companies like PinkCab in Trinidad and Tobago? PinkCab offers a ridesharing service for Women with Women drivers only. What can PinkCab teach heirloom firms in LAC countries about leading a digital transformation? PinkCab is not a taxi service. From the onset, the core value is that PinkCab is a community. It is a movement. PinkCab is a women-only ride sharing platform that is meant to empower and meet the needs of female drivers and riders.
Today, the interface coating is where all the added value and profit lurk. The Withing’s Body+ Scale does not give just weight measurements. The scale presents a comprehensive portrayal of body composition to enable the user to make smarter choices that have a significant impact on meeting fitness targets. The scales are not low-cost weighing solutions. But the addition of an App as an interface makes all the difference. Phillips Hue LED lights are not coloured light bulbs. They are part of a home emotion network system. Sonos is not a music system. Sonos works with all the services the user adores. It streams from Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, Audible, Deezer, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Google Play Music, and YouTube Music to let you listen to what you want, where you want, how you want.
A post-pandemic flexible global enterprise architecture requires companies to now acquire and manage a dynamic ecosystem of talent that enables digital business processes to be distributed across locations and time zones. Moreover, citizens are now demanding brand experiences that are omnichannel, direct, tailored, seamless and contextual. Even those from government agencies. This novel digital economy rests resolutely on which law and which jurisdiction can attract digital investment. The rule of law is a platform for economic growth. Property rights and the integrity of contracts underpin trade and investment which in turn impel economic growth and development.
But without data, Open or Big, there is no transformation. Professor Walter Brenner at the University of St. Gallen notes that data is “transforming business models, facilitating new products and services, creating new processes, generating greater utility, and ushering a new culture of management.” An essential legislative meshwork that is a swivel for the IoT and the Network Economy in Trinidad and Tobago is, The Electronic Transactions Act No. 6 of 2011. This law was passed in the House of Representatives on 11th February 2011, assented to on 28th April 2011 and proclaimed on 6th January 2012.
Where is the IoT? The IoT is the neural-lace that connects the digital and physical worlds by measuring, gathering, and analysing data using sensors and market platforms to automate business processes. The IoT is the convergence of the digital and physical worlds. Digital transformation remains an open challenge to Kant’s idealism that the corporeal world will at once vanish with the removal of the thinking subject. But the melding of the virtual and physical is bringing every asset into the digital domain where software, softlaws and interfaces now dominate.
