Digital Business: Connected lives
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Connectivity may be rising rapidly up the political agenda, but it has been high on the Digital Business agenda for some time and today we pull together the strands, analysing the implications of a connected planet in this special report.
Get ready to connect
This report considers the effects on business of mass collaboration; the change in working behaviours that mobility introduces; and the spotlight it places on skills and generational differences.
The world connected: Society’s new highway roars up the agenda
Paul Taylor says countries should invest in improving skills and lowering costs for broadband
Skills: Business must learn from the new tribe
So-called ‘digital natives’ are bringing down the barriers to collaborative working, finds Jessica Twentyman
Mobility: Flexibility is driven from the bottom up
But organisations must ensure employees are not slaves to mobile devices, notes Stephen Pritchard
Methods: Revolution sweeps the workplace
Alan Cane says connecting with customers, suppliers and partners will require re-examination of business processes and beliefs
Related content and features
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Interview: Stephen Prentice
Stephen Prentice, VP at Gartner, explores how people’s behaviour has changed with the advent of online communities and explains how companies are having to adapt
Interview: Francis Keeling
Peter Whitehead, the FT Digital Business Editor, asks Francis Keeling, Universal’s digital manager, how customer behaviour has forced it to adapt its business
Interview: Alistair Laycock
Peter Whitehead, the FT Digital Business Editor, talks to Alistair Laycock, the taxi firm’s marketing manager about how the company is seeking to engage with its customers and the latest technology
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Overcoming the fear of connectivity
Some organisations, fearful of untoward consequences such as reputational damage, ban social networking websites. Others embrace them enthusiastically and try to persuade others to do likewise.
Case study: GPS helps Brazil’s environmental team save the forest
On the southern fringes of the Brazilian Amazon, internet connections are a rarity, writes Jonathan Wheatley. But GPS systems work anywhere.
Developing world: ‘Have-nots’ no closer to catching the ‘haves
Cellphones are nearly ubiquitous but internet access is still very patchy, says Paul Taylor
Case study: Text messages give shopkeepers the power to bulk buy
Stroll through South Africa’s villages – as steeped in ancestral tradition as they are deprived of basic services – and you will come across the convenience store, writes Tom Burgis.
Opinion: IT makes poverty a ‘curable affliction’
Olav Kjorven of the UNDP argues that innovative programmes in developing nations have helped people increase their choices and opportunities
Donor programmes: Sponsors can now view benefits online
Non-governmental organisations and government bodies can see exactly how their money is being spent, writes Danny Bradbury
Developed world: Those with no access miss out on opportunities
Jessica Twentyman examines the evidence that digital exclusion and social disadvantage go hand in hand
Case study: Is there a doctor in the mouse?
Telemedicine has come of age in rural America, where it is being used to provide specialist intensive care that would otherwise be costly and difficult to obtain, writes Geoff Nairn.
Case study: Monks accelerate
Broadband access has made a huge difference to the Caldey Island monks’ internet usage, writes Jessica Twentyman
Connecting the world: Ubiquity will be a hard state to reach
Network access for all requires money but there are also significant technical hurdles, writes Stephen Pritchard
China: Subsidy and support gets villagers online
Providing rural areas with computers and internet access is a national policy in China, writes Kathrin Hille
