With information and communications technology access approaching ubiquity, policymakers are faced with the challenge of ensuring individuals, businesses, and governments are making the best possible use of networks and applications, thereby encouraging digitization that has the potential for dramatic economic, social, and political improvements.
Policymakers today face a different environment for information and communications technology (ICT) than the one for which they designed policies. ICT technologies are far more pervasive than they were previously: More people today have access to a mobile phone than to electricity, powering exponential growth in global data generation.1 With ICT access approaching ubiquity, policymakers’ next challenge is to ensure that individuals, businesses, and governments are making the best possible use of networks and applications. Countries that have achieved advanced levels of digitization—the mass adoption of connected digital technologies and applications by consumers, enterprises, and governments—have realized significant benefits in their economies, their societies, and the functioning of their public sectors.
Previous attempts to measure the impact of ICT have focused primarily on assessing the economic effects of widespread access to either wireless or broadband technologies. But in developing a comprehensive methodology to measure the impact of digitization, Booz & Company found greater benefits linked to growing usage of digital technologies and applications, rather than access alone. We also found that benefits are not just economic, but encompass social and political spheres as well. Digitization offers incremental economic growth: countries at the most advanced stage of digitization derive 20 percent more in economic benefits than those at the initial stage. Digitization has a proven impact on reducing unemployment, improving quality of life, and boosting citizens’ access to public services. Finally, digitization allows governments to operate with greater transparency and efficiency.
Policymakers have an important role to play in ensuring that their countries are progressing toward advanced stages of digitization. They need to acknowledge where they currently stand and recognize the benefits of digitization. Finally, they need to shift focus away from access and set into motion programs and plans that focus on the widespread adoption and usage of technology. That includes elevating digitization on the national agenda, including the systematic planning and tracking of their efforts; evolving sector governance structure; adopting an ecosystem perspective; enabling competition; and stimulating demand.
Read more (PDF 38 pages): www.booz.com/media/uploads/BoozCo_Maximizing-the-Impact-of-Digitization.pdf
Policymakers today face a different environment for information and communications technology (ICT) than the one for which they designed policies. ICT technologies are far more pervasive than they were previously: More people today have access to a mobile phone than to electricity, powering exponential growth in global data generation.1 With ICT access approaching ubiquity, policymakers’ next challenge is to ensure that individuals, businesses, and governments are making the best possible use of networks and applications. Countries that have achieved advanced levels of digitization—the mass adoption of connected digital technologies and applications by consumers, enterprises, and governments—have realized significant benefits in their economies, their societies, and the functioning of their public sectors.
Previous attempts to measure the impact of ICT have focused primarily on assessing the economic effects of widespread access to either wireless or broadband technologies. But in developing a comprehensive methodology to measure the impact of digitization, Booz & Company found greater benefits linked to growing usage of digital technologies and applications, rather than access alone. We also found that benefits are not just economic, but encompass social and political spheres as well. Digitization offers incremental economic growth: countries at the most advanced stage of digitization derive 20 percent more in economic benefits than those at the initial stage. Digitization has a proven impact on reducing unemployment, improving quality of life, and boosting citizens’ access to public services. Finally, digitization allows governments to operate with greater transparency and efficiency.
Policymakers have an important role to play in ensuring that their countries are progressing toward advanced stages of digitization. They need to acknowledge where they currently stand and recognize the benefits of digitization. Finally, they need to shift focus away from access and set into motion programs and plans that focus on the widespread adoption and usage of technology. That includes elevating digitization on the national agenda, including the systematic planning and tracking of their efforts; evolving sector governance structure; adopting an ecosystem perspective; enabling competition; and stimulating demand.
Read more (PDF 38 pages): www.booz.com/media/uploads/BoozCo_Maximizing-the-Impact-of-Digitization.pdf
