Advancements in technology have transformed many aspects of society, helping people to live their lives far more efficiently.
Online digitalisation brings information to our fingertips, allowing us to perform a multitude of tasks wherever we are in the world.
The convenience offered by digital tech is undoubtedly one of its strong points, giving people more time to focus on the fun things in life.
Read on as we look at some of the areas where online digitalisation has had a massive impact over the past few years.
Streaming Platforms
Streaming services have become part of daily life, with outlets such as Netflix and Spotify revolutionising the way that people consume entertainment content.
YouTube is another platform that has driven innovation in this area, providing users with the opportunity to stay connected, learn new skills and find accurate information.
CEO Susan Wojcicki is proud of the progress YouTube has made, particularly regarding how the platform has helped power economic growth in media.
“Creators are building next-generation media companies that impact the economy’s overall success,” she said.
“According to an Oxford Economics report, YouTube’s creative ecosystem contributed approximately $16bn to the US GDP in 2019, supporting the equivalent of 345,000 full-time jobs.
“We’re also seeing real impact in other countries around the globe. The UK in 2019 saw approximately £1.4bn contributed to the British GDP and the equivalent of 30,000 full-time jobs.
“And in France, there was an estimated €515 million contributed to the French GDP and the equivalent of 15,000 full-time jobs.
Online Gambling
Enjoy an online bingo night
The gambling industry has been completely changed by digital tech, and online platforms are certainly where the best action can now be found.
Whether you like to play bingo games online or wager on sports, the internet provides you with a plethora of websites you can visit.
Bingo in particular has enjoyed a huge resurgence in popularity over the past few years, with operators expertly leveraging digital innovations to their advantage.
The best bingo sites offer players a diverse range of games, providing a much greater choice than can be found in land-based venues.
Improvements in mobile tech have also been hugely beneficial to bingo, providing people with the ability to play their favourite games on a 24/7/365 basis.
With people now spending an increasing amount of time at home and on their devices, the entire online gambling industry looks well placed to cash in over the next few years.
Online Shopping
Another sector where digitalisation has sparked massive changes is retail, with millions of people now preferring to shop online rather than visit physical stores.
The switch in consumer habits in recent times is perfectly highlighted by the $861bn that was spent online with US merchants in 2020.
That figure represents a year-on-year increase of 44 percent, and significant further growth has been predicted for 2021.
Greg Sterling, VP of Insights at Uberall, has forecast that digital innovations will allow the retail sector to improve its offering even further in the future.
“E-commerce and traditional retail have been largely separate channels,” he said. “Going forward, the hallmark of successful merchants will be deeper integration between online and offline assets.
“This includes distribution of real-time product inventory online. Roughly 40 percent of online purchases will be picked up at local stores.
“The ability to search for a product, buy it online and pick it up the same day or next day locally will become a permanent feature of the customer experience for major retailers and a key success factor.”
Food Delivery
Specialist food outlets are cashing in on digitalisation
Digitalisation has also changed how people buy groceries, with most supermarkets now offering online shopping and home delivery services.
This has had a knock-on effect for suppliers of fresh produce, as health-conscious consumers have sought to find outlets for meat and vegetables.
Ben White-Hamilton is the founder of Harvest Bundle – a digital marketplace that supplies produce from farms and fisheries across the United Kingdom.
He says that online digitalisation not only benefits consumers, but also presents opportunities for specialised grocery outlets to cash in.
“People don’t live near farms anymore, they live in cities,” he said. “Farmers’ markets have worked well for centuries, but with people leading lives that are incredibly busy it’s often hard to make time to visit them.
“What e-Commerce allows is modern technology applied to an almost forgotten historic tradition of buying direct.
“This has formed a potent mix and sped up the whole process of people shopping for food directly from the businesses who they want to support.”
Remote Working
Working practices have also changed massively over the past few years, with digital tech allowing businesses to adopt more flexible operational modes.
Many people now work from home, while others choose to use the freedom offered by digital to adopt a nomadic approach to their employment.
Stewart Butterfield is the CEO and co-founder of Slack – an online platform that has made it much easier for employers and employees to stay connected remotely.
He believes that the way people work in the future will never be the same, and predicts that digital will continue to make processes more efficient.
“We all know that work will never be the same, even if we don’t yet know all the ways in which it will be different,” he said.
“What we can say with certainty is that the sudden shift to distributed work has provided a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine everything about how we do our jobs and how we run our companies.
“If we can move past decades of orthodoxy about 9-to-5, office-centric work, there’s an opportunity to retain the best parts of office culture while freeing ourselves from bad habits and inefficient processes, from ineffective meetings to unnecessary bureaucracy.
“Every leader believes they can do better, and things can move faster – this is their chance.
“From the employee perspective, the shift is massive and very consequential – people are making new choices about where they want to live and creating new expectations about flexibility, working conditions and life balance that can’t be undone.”