Businesses must 'go digital' with 3 billion people expected to have online access by 2016 new research claims
By 2016, 3 billion people, 45% of the world’s population, will be using the internet a report by The Boston Consulting Group has found, with mobile devices expected to account for the majority of broadband connections during the same period.
The report states that all businesses must ‘go digital’ as the online world continues to grow with the take-up of mobile devices such as smart phones and social media heightening the impact being made by the internet.
According to ‘The Digital Manifesto: How Companies and Countries Can Win in the Digital Economy’, businesses the world over will be transformed over the next five years, recommending that companies create a ‘digital balance sheet’ and for company bosses to look online in developing their business.
“No company or country can afford to ignore this development. Every business needs to go digital, commented David Dean, senior partner at BCG and co-author of the report. “The ‘new’ internet is no longer largely Western, accessed from your PC. It is now global, ubiquitous and participatory.”
According to the report, mobile devices will account for 80% of all broadband connects by 2016, while it was found that the perceived value within the largest G-20 countries that consumers placed on the internet was $1.9 trillion, or $5,000 per connected household.
The report, which charts the rise of the internet, expands on earlier analysis which studied the impact of the internet across 14 countries. In order to conduct the research, over 15,000 SME’s were surveyed around the world.