May The 4th Be With You: The World Goes Digital

May 4, 2020 – Ashtar Naqvi, MBA, MS (Find me on LinkedIn)

I’d like to begin writing this paper by saying – I’m using a Bluetooth connected keyboard with an iPad Pro, and this document is being auto-saved to my OneDrive account and synced across the cloud to at least four other devices connected to my account. I have just now also taken some photos on my iPhone which I will add to my OneDrive so that I may add them to the end of this paper as well as having access to them on every other device for future use in other places. So far, I haven’t felt much of a difference in terms of practical use with the MS Word application on the iPad, but it does feel like I’m in a slightly fancier set up on screen, optimized for this specific device and the way its likely going to be used by me, the end user. (I have now switched over to my Microsoft Surface Pro to continue writing. And, yep, it’s transferred right on over to the open doc I had on my iPad where I can now continue typing the rest of this paper.)

After hearing one of my best friends rant about the “4th Industrial Revolution” for who knows how many years now – I am finally prepared to admit that his concern was completely valid and I myself am a proponent of making serious changes in our personal lives and hopefully society as a whole to create a more sustainable and equitable future for the benefit of us all. I argue that in order for a somewhat functional and free society to exist in the current and future times, developed economies will most certainly need to respond with a statist approach to providing what is needed in the short term, as well as for the long term. The state will have to step in and create or repurpose jobs vital to maintaining and improving upon safe and sustainable public infrastructure. The private sector will have to renounce its strongly held inclinations towards profit maximization and shareholders-first philosophies and instead accept sustainability- and stakeholder-focused visions for the future. With the rapid digitization and automation of many aspects of work and life, the foundations for a universal basic income will be required in order to recapture humanity’s dignity and civility – the main drivers behind the many marvels the human race has discovered and invented over time.

There is no question about whether the economy will be truly remote or digital – we have been partaking in the transformation unknowingly for decades and now it is going to manifest itself rapidly and we must evolve with it. As for whether the state should be involved in the cementing of this shift towards the digital economy – it does not have a choice to ignore it since it is an inevitability. I say this not because I have now begun my descent (read: ascent? I cannot tell which just yet) into the depths of the virtual and global economy, but rather because I know that there is no time left to debate the idea of the digital economy. Everyone, and I mean, everyone, whether its local businesses or global consultants and professionals, or politicians and other public personalities, will have to move full force ahead into the digital economy.

So, where does that leave the modern marketer, and how will the global economy come out of this? While in the past, we may have found it more convenient to adhere to the status quo and to just go with whichever ideas gained momentum and traction, I truly believe that only those marketers that commit to serving the true needs (emphasis on NEEDS) of the human global society will prevail, and that they will be tested thoroughly by the consumers they seek to engage. As for the global economy, I believe it will also rapidly go digital and the developed economies will actually be integral in speeding up its transformation to digital. I say this as I know that no matter how much the developed economies have touted their philosophies of individuality, imagination, entrepreneurialism, freedom, and self-expression; at the end of the day, even those ideas have all along been dependent on the world’s supply chains – not only in products and services, but in intellectualism, creative and free-thought, artistry and community, and philosophy itself.

Developed economies’ reliance on the not-so-developed economies will force them to bring those economies up to par as fast as they would like to get their own economies back up and running. Now that the world has adapted to digital communications and the barriers of language and location are being broken, developed economies must engage in more equitable, morally sound, and sustainable business and governance with the globe or risk losing completely. In order to better prepare for unexpected turns in the world (climate change, invasive species, military aggressions, public health, sociopolitical externalities, etc.) and to prevent future disruptions to the world’s supply chains, developed economies will need to invest their resources in global economies, their digital communications, and information security technologies, enabling them to safely and effectively engage in business without borders.

Whether or not the world unites under something divine or under the scientific and natural, there should be no doubt, humans, the earth they live upon, and the essence of humanity are infinitely interlinked – past, present, and future – politically, economically, socially, and, yes, geographically – and a denial of such a truth by developed economies will only lead to their own demise. Products and services put into the market moving forward will need to be truly valuable in the lives of humans first, and the pockets of investors last. Marketers who understand and effectively communicate this true value will win both the trust and the trinkets of the humans they are hoping to serve. Those marketers whose products and services show greater concern for the collective will earn media attention more readily and capture the hearts and souls of the public. In the emerging global digital economy, gone is the age of the individual, as we usher in the age of social.

Here are pics I promised from the first paragraph. (Also, I used the “read aloud” function to edit and check this paper on both devices. Thought I’d share just to further drive in my stance that we are going all in.)

This paper was written as a part of an International Marketing class with Professor Evanthia Geroulis at Loyola University Chicago’s Quinlan School of Business. You can also read this at my Linkedin page – thanks for reading!