Trends in the digital economy 2016

In addition to the ever-increasing relevance of data, the focus is on the transformation to the Internet of Services, the automation of all segments of the digital value chain, connected commerce and the digital world of work characterized by the elimination of conventional forms of organization.

The BVDW trends in the digital economy 2016 in detail:

The Internet of Things is leading to an exponential increase in data

The increasing number of networked end devices is leading to a rapidly growing database. Across business models, the collection, analysis, use and management of data will become increasingly relevant, as will the aspects of data protection and data security. The growing database will also make it much easier to map the customer journey across all channels and devices, offering all market participants and consumers themselves considerable added value in the future.

The Internet of Things is becoming the Internet of Services

As data-processing mobile devices and other connected things become more widespread, new business models based on the principle of "pay what you do" will become established. Sharing economy services in particular will experience a further boost as a result. End-to-end digitalized processes are the basis for automatically individualized services that meet the needs of consumers.

Further automation in all areas of the digital value chain

While data-driven automation has already established itself in marketing, in future it will also permeate all other areas of the digital value chain on the basis of a significantly improved data foundation. Increasing automation will meet the growing need for personalization in particular. Be it content that is displayed according to personal preferences or the mass production of customized products made possible by automated processes.

The networked shopping experience becomes real

The interlinking of previously separate contact points between retailers and consumers will increase enormously, particularly due to the growing number of networked end devices on the Internet of Things. The boundaries between stationary and digital retail are becoming increasingly blurred, resulting in an interlocking user experience. The shopping process will be supported entirely digitally, giving consumers a consistent, context-specific user experience.

The digital world of work breaks through spatial and hierarchical restrictions

Advancing digitalization is changing the current world of work and breaking up established structures. Digital specialists are more likely to feel that they belong to highly specialized, cross-company communities than to their own company and question systems of order and hierarchy. The geographical location of the service provider will become less important, while responsibility for an increasingly complex range of tasks will grow.