India’s digital transformation

The country can only derive the digital dividend of faster growth, more jobs and better services by expanding affordable Internet access to all/

There is little doubt that China has stolen a march on India when it comes to leveraging the Internet. Of the top 20 Internet companies in the world, 13 are American, five are Chinese, with one each for Japan and the United Kingdom. Alibaba, China’s largest e-commerce company, has a market capitalisation that is 25 times higher than that of Flipkart, the largest e-commerce company in India.

Why did India, which has had the remarkable achievement of being the largest exporter of information technology services and skilled manpower among developing countries, fall behind China in digitally transforming its economy? Is it now making a comeback? The World Bank’s recently released World Development Report (WDR) ‘Digital Dividends’ provides some answers.

The WDR finds that digital technologies have spread rapidly throughout much of the world, but their digital dividends — the broader development benefits from using these technologies — have lagged behind. In many instances digital technologies have boosted growth, expanded opportunities, and improved service delivery. Yet their aggregate impact has fallen short and is unevenly distributed.

The report argues that for digital technologies to confer their full benefit on society, it is vital to close the digital divide, especially in Internet access. But greater digital adoption will not be enough. To get the most out of the digital revolution, countries also need to work on its “analogue complements” — by strengthening regulations that ensure competition among businesses, by adapting workers’ skills to the demands of the new economy, and by ensuring that government institutions and others are accountable.

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The Making of an Economic Superpower -- Unlocking China’s Secret of Rapid Industrialization

The rise of China is no doubt one of the most important events in world economic history since the Industrial Revolution. Mainstream economics, especially the institutional theory of economic development based on a dichotomy of extractive vs. inclusive political institutions, is highly inadequate in explaining China’s rise. This article argues that only a radical reinterpretation of the history of the Industrial Revolution and the rise of the West (as incorrectly portrayed by the institutional theory) can fully explain China’s growth miracle and why the determined rise of China is unstoppable despite its current “backward” financial system and political institutions. Conversely, China’s spectacular and rapid transformation from an impoverished agrarian society to a formidable industrial superpower sheds considerable light on the fundamental shortcomings of the institutional theory as well as mainstream “blackboard” economic models, and provides more-accurate reevaluations of historical episodes such as Africa’s enduring poverty trap despite radical political and economic reforms, Latin America’s lost decades and frequent debt crises, 19th century Europe’s great escape from the Malthusian trap, and the Industrial Revolution itself.

Full Report (180 pages)

Six Transformations From 2015 That Will Reshape The World

Looking at the list of finalists for the Crunchies, you could get the impression that the greatest advances of 2015 were sharing and delivery apps, software platforms, and pencils. Yes, these are cool. But much bigger things happened last year.

A broad range of technologies reached a tipping point, from science projects or objects of convenience for the rich, to inventions that will transform humanity. We haven’t seen anything of this magnitude since the invention of the printing press in the 1400s. And this is just the beginning.

Starting in 2016, a wider range of technologies will begin to reach their tipping points.

Here are the six amazing transformations we just saw.

1. The Internet And Knowledge
2. Doctors In Our Pockets
3. Bitcoin And Disintermediation
4. Engineering Of Life
5. The Drone Age
6. Saving the planet with unlimited clean energy

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Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy

Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy, a report from the McKinsey Global Institute, cuts through the noise and identifies 12 technologies that could drive truly massive economic transformations and disruptions in the coming years. The report also looks at exactly how these technologies could change our world, as well as their benefits and challenges, and offers guidelines to help leaders from businesses and other institutions respond.

We estimate that, together, applications of the 12 technologies discussed in the report could have a potential economic impact between $14 trillion and $33 trillion a year in 2025.

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10 Steps to IT Transformation

A few years back, EMC's own IT organization embarked on a journey of fundamental transformation.

No longer content with incremental improvements, the decision was made to refashion themselves into an internal IT service provider, and leave behind the traditional enterprise IT construct.

The story of their transformation -- motivations, challenges, successes and lessons learned -- has provided extremely useful insight for many hundreds of EMC's customers and partners. Yes, every IT situation is different, but time and time again we've seen that there's plenty that can be learned from their efforts.

Recently, they published a very insightful whitepaper: "An IT-As-A-Service Handbook: Ten Key Steps On The Journey To ITaaS". I think it does a superlative job of outlining the crucial steps needed to get organized and start to make progress.

While no recipe is perfect, once again there's plenty to take away from their experience and perspectives.

Read the post of the author Chuck Hollis.