The Digital Era 2

Introduction to Part 1

Digital devices and services are sufficiently well known today that they do not need to be described in detail. Personal experience is enough. On the other hand, the growth of applications and the great variety of concrete situations that flourish in all directions require careful analysis in order to identify and understand the mechanics of change brought about by new means of communication and trade. Their influence is growing rapidly, with more intensity than one would have believed a few years ago. The society at large reacts very strongly to disruptions, even if many activities adapt under the pressure of necessity.

This first part of the volume seeks to distinguish the nature, ways and means of change brought about by the digitization of operators and that of economic circuits. The three chapters deal respectively with business transformation (Chapter 1), media (Chapter 2) and the new class of intermediaries that is called digital platforms (Chapter 3).

In Chapter 1, Godefroy Dang N’Guyen discusses the problems brought forward to companies by the multiplication of networks, procedures and relationships using digital instruments. A first disruption concerns the market, competition and customer approach: in these three areas, information processing, distance communication and services available on the Internet force companies to change their practices and act imaginatively. The author points out that transition to digital processes favors imaginative, ...