There is the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, robotics, blockchain technology, and other emerging technologies. Our world is moving apace, set permanently at fast forward.
We are about to experience the most consequential socio-economic shift in the history of human civilisation. In the next few decades, every social institution will undergo a radical transformation.
An article on the management-issues.com website claims that one of the first institutions to feel the effects of this major shift will be the commercial firm.
It will be big
Commercial entities are well used to implementing new technologies. Businesses have always been in the forefront of new technology, thanks to which they have gained competitive advantages for decades.
Computers were also swiftly deployed by businesses to maximise cost efficiencies. However, with the advent of interconnected networks, many businesses may lose their dominant market power.
Connecting things will change the fundamental architecture of how things will work. That is why the digital transformation is both a technological and socioeconomic revolution. It will have a profound impact on everything. When things are connected, the dynamics of networks accelerate. In a network, the need for a chain of command to get things done disappears: people organised in sophisticated networks are able to self-organise very efficiently. That is the basic element of success of such highly practical platforms as Airbnb or Uber.
-jk-