Focus on Digital Revolution

Whether you are a maker of high technology equipment, a user of it, or both, the Digital Revolution has changed your business irreversibly. Life has not been the same since 1969 when scientists connected the fi rst node to ARPANET, a system that would 20 years later become the Internet. The march of digital progress has been unstoppable, exciting, and profi table for many of us.

The progress does not stop. In fact it gathers speed. The Apple iPad is already promising to reconfi gure the world of computing once again and provide the latest paradigm shift in computer technology. It has the capacity to revive the fortunes of ailing publishers and advertisers.
Meantime voice communications that use internet protocol telephony will radically impact on the ways companies do business and on the effi ciency of their communications systems.
While the profi ts of the digital universe have been widely acknowledged, let us not overlook the risks. The dot.com bubble burst soon enough, leading many investors to mutter : “Once bitten, twice shy”. Yet more strategic minds realise there is no turning back. Any businessman, however small, any accountant, lawyer, university tutor or doctor without an email address is likely to lose business and customers.
Investing in digital technology is beset by timing issues. Buy it too soon, and you may pay too much and be in advance of the game. Buy it too late, and your competitors steal a march and you are left with old-fashioned technology while they are looking for the next breaking technology.
So Facebook and Twitter, for instance, were till recently dismissed as forums for gossip or fi nding old friends ; today they help businesses run virtual conferences and maintain their competitive edge. Digital Revolution They may have even infl uenced the recent British elections.
The speed and direction of change will in part be determined by the impact and scope of regulation. There can be no escaping the fact that governments and regulators – from the UK to China
— are increasingly monitoring the latest services and assessing their impact on users, young and old. So we have seen how the UK government has rushed to keep pace with technology’s advance by launching a Digital Bill earlier this year.
Both internet entrepreneurs and human rights activists criticised the government for failing to fi nd a balance between the need to preserve copyright and the individual’s right to free speech.
Welcome to the Digital world Revolution ! [...]

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Focus on Digital Revolution

Un article issu de INFO Magazine,
Mai 2010 / Juin 2010
une publication de la Chambre de commerce et d’industrie française en Grande Bretagne

Hannah Meloul, Editorial Assistant, INFO Magazine
Tel : +44 207 092 66 48
Site : www.ccfgb.co.uk - @ : hmeloul@ccfgb.co.uk