The Inevitable Digital Future

The Inevitable Digital Future
The current pace of technological adoption is truly astounding with the world becoming more ‘digital’ by the day. Digital has permeated through every facet of our societies, transforming every aspect of our existence, bringing great prosperity and benefits that can be seen in the way it has helped the World through the COVID 19 crisis.
This revolution has generated elements that have improved the society, but at the same time it produced new series of challenges that must be addressed to minimize the negative impacts in order to satiate our growing hunger for the digital in a healthy and holistic manner. Digital has seen the development of entirely new ecosystems and supply chains, employing millions in roles that simply did not exist fifty years ago. The great economies of India and China are testament to this fact, becoming the technological powerhouses that is in turn shifting the balance of power from West to East.
Any economy that wants a place in our inevitable digital future must invest in its digital infrastructure and capacity. Those that control technology will control the world and that is why we are seeing an ongoing battle between countries such as the USA and China, with frequent technological sabre rattling. They know very well that those that can tame this beast will in effect control our world. For the ‘democratic’ West, this is an unfathomable prospect that keeps their administrations up at night.
It is a revolution beyond their control.
Barriers to entry are much lower than those of the industrial revolutions of the past, with the Internet providing all the expertise you could possibly need to become a part of it. Those that innovate will become the employers of the future, and it may be that the hunger of Eastern nations for technological development surpasses the ambitions of the West, leading to ‘turning of tables’ in the future.
My advice has always been that those that want to secure a place in this digital future must build capacity in technological areas and aspire to become digital workers that have the relevant skill sets to meet the demands of the global economy. Those that stop learning, adapting and improving will soon find themselves obsolete and unemployable. This has been seen time and again in history. I, myself, am a lifelong learner and a student of this age where I learn something new every day. From my very early days, I was interested in technology and saw the considerable potential it had in transforming both business and society.
This sparked my interest to learn more and led me to attend a computer course in High Wycombe, UK by IBM, showing their ‘office computer’. This was in 1965 and the ‘office computer’ was the size of an entire room and needed a team of technicians to operate. I immediately realized that this was the beginning of something significant, and in 1972, I established TAG. Global as provider of business and management consulting services with technology at its very core; which has now grown to over 100 offices globally. This would not have been possible had it not been for the advent of technology that now underpins every service we provide.
Governments and societies around the World that do not adopt technology and join this digital tsunami will find themselves obsolete, isolated from the global economy, inefficient and unable to adequately meet sustainable urbanization and climate change objectives. The use of technology is fundamental in the bid to develop sustainability in a manner that limits impact to the environment. The UN has called this the Decade of Action where serious work needs to be put in to accelerate global efforts towards meeting UN Sustainable Develop Goals (SDGs) by 2030. This in my mind can only be done through technology as we need to be smarter and working harder.
Over the last twenty or so there has been a trend for cities to start smart city initiatives to deliver more efficient, equitable services to their citizens. These initiatives have seen varying degrees of success, with some achieving world-class implementations while others failing miserably. What started as a utopia prophesized by many technocrats has actually been a difficult concept to materialize. This deserves to be revisited in order to refocus global efforts, as time is ticking. There are real issues that need to be addressed as this is an extremely complicated affair that requires multi stakeholder input, strong public-private partnership and pragmatic leadership.
I have discussed at length the development of smart cities in my new book called “The Inevitable Digital Future”, available in both English and Arabic. We have a responsibility to leave our grandchildren with a World that is sustainable and green.
I hope this book proves useful to those looking to build smart cities and paves a way that future generations can proudly look back upon, remembering us as fathers of action who acted with wisdom and insight.