Fortune March 18, 2019
At the simplest level, digitization means changing something, particularly information, into digital form. But that elemental description well underplays the size, the force, the impact of this process. Across the landscape of business, digitization has been nothing short of a seismic wave, shaking the foundations of venerable industries that had stood imperturbable for decades. It has uprooted business models, seeded instant commercial giants and demolished others, erased some jobs and transformed others overnight.
For consumers, however, the digital wave has brought mostly good things, it seems: more convenience, more flexibility, more options. Indeed, it’s hard to think of any technological change that has delivered more power to consumers than this—thanks in large part to the digital devices we carry in...