Switch off your broadband for a day...

Last week we lost broadband at home for 2 days... 

There was a mistake in changing providers. The new provider was supposed to have sent the new router, but it didn’t arrive, and the old provider turned us off…

There was an awkwardness and difficulty in doing the most basic things...it actually stopped us doing some things.

Now, for a business who rely on connectivity, this was a bit of a blow, but it also hit hard on the domestic front.  Heating control, TV and just simple connectivity for all the devices we’ve becomes so accustomed.

There are 7.81billion of us on this planet right now and 4.66billion of us use the internet.

We rely on connectivity domestically and commercially.

Today, an incomprehensible amount of digital activity is occurring at any given moment.

But look at how far we’ve come in such a short time, you only have to think back to 1990…

To message someone in another country you would have to send a letter through the Postal Service, to make a phone call you would have to use a landline as mobile technology wasn’t fully developed.

So much has changed in the last 30 years, but how will the world be different in years to come?

It’s a safe bet that the most forward looking and revolutionary change will take place in the digital sector.

• Will Virtual Reality become the norm?
• Will Artificial Intelligence become a visible part of daily life....?
• What will be the new forms of digital communication?
• What will happen with Health Data?
• How will wireless networks develop?
• What will be the advances in Social Media...?

Off the 4.66 billion internet users mentioned above, 4.14 billion are active Social Media users. 41% of people who have the internet use Social Media for work.

Think about that for a second...

All checking each other out. Clients looking at suppliers, suppliers looking at prospects, partners looking for partners, people looking for jobs....and so on. We all check each other out on Social. In 2020, its pretty much a certainty that before a company spend money with another company, someone checks them out on LinkedIn.

This number will rise and they way we are using Social Media at work will be become more advanced.

Gartner tell us:

"Over the next five years, an exponential rise in digital interactions between buyers and suppliers will break traditional sales models, according to Gartner, Inc. In fact, Gartner's future of sales research shows that by 2025, 80% of B2B sales interactions between suppliers and buyers will occur in digital channels. This is because 33% of all buyers desire a seller-free sales experience – a preference that climbs to 44% for millennials".  

Many organisations have taken this seriously and looked to redefine how their business works in digital...

....have you done this for your organisation?

What happens in an internet minute in 2020 is staggering...

Lack of internet brought us to a standstill on some levels of life, which made me think that broadband is now of such domestic and commercial importance that its included with water, electricity. Broadband is an essential service.

Being cut off wasn't great but, I’m glad we did change broadband providers. We’ve gone from a flaky 40Mbps to a reliable 100Mbps just by changing provider, and its cheaper!

Now, what to do with all this new capacity.....

What will the next 30 year of internet development look like? What will the next 10 years look like and how have you prepared..?

Eric Doyle

Crux / DLA Ignite