Building incentives to capitalise on the digital economy

OUR way of life is changing. Our economies are shifting from the third to the fourth industrial revolution - from computers to digitisation and the Internet of Things (IoT). Wearables, robotics, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, smart homes are increasingly gaining traction around the world. The advent of the industrial IOT is a once-in-a-lifetime business disruption and it's coming faster than expected. In recent decades, technology-enabled disruptions have turned different sectors upside down.

By 2020, an estimated 50 billion devices around the globe will be connected to the Internet. IoT represents a transformative shift for the economy, similar to the introduction of the PC itself. It incorporates other major technological trends such as cloud computing, data analytics and mobile communications, and goes beyond them. Smart technologies are rapidly shifting consumer behaviours and lifestyles.

The above trends coupled with the advent of the Internet and digital marketing have enabled businesses to also progressed towards an era of the "digital economy". The likes of Alibaba, ebay and Amazon are now commonplace, where sales transactions and services rendered can occur without a traditional "brick-and-mortar" shopfront. Instead, we see consumers turning to mobile apps, electronic commerce, online marketing or online payment services for the purchase of goods or services.