I think so. I think there are a few key points. The first is that IBM, with the Economist Intelligence Unit, has undertaken studies since 2000 that rank countries internationally on the state of e-readiness. The last study was completed in 2010 and a major finding is that all 70 countries surveyed in one way, shape, or form have reached a certain state of e-readiness for the most part.
There is a broad consensus that there is a need to invest significantly in the core connectivity infrastructure, that there's a need to encourage businesses and consumers to use it, and that there's a need to create a supportive policy environment. There's a gap, but it's narrowing, and it continues to narrow.
So the point is how one defines advantage where what was previously considered advantage has become somewhat commodified. Of course, I'm referring to everything I just mentioned.
The issue at hand is that, as a result, combined with just the sheer force of technology decreasing costs, anything and everything can be connected. There are 30 billion radio frequency ID tags in the world today connecting cars to manufacturers, rivers to conservation authorities, and so on. How do we deal with the amount of data that is being produced daily at a rate eight times more than the size of the holdings in the U.S. Library of Congress?
In regard to the comment about mobile payments, it's really important to note that mobility is not just about commerce in itself, but about the exchange of information between a product and a consumer, a consumer and other consumers to get ideas about what they should buy. Four in ten people use a mobile device when in a store to look at whether or not they should buy, and while they're doing that they're communicating over Facebook, or whatever medium, to make the decision.
So one in three business operators feels they're operating with blind spots; 83% of CEOs think their priority is analytics to get a better handle on the information that is swirling around their business, their product, their market, and their supply chain.
So it really comes down to the following. There's a significant amount of connectivity. There's a permissive environment. The issue at hand is how to gain advantage, and it is going to be gained by superior insights about product, process, and market, and gaining that insight becomes the basis of the intelligent enterprise.