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1984 and coiner of the term “BigBrother.” The push to build afully digitized world continues.The amount of data generatedannually is approaching 35trillion gigabytes. In the nextdecade, 350 million Chineseare expected to move to newlybuilt cities, each of whichwill require as much as $35billion in investment for smartinfrastructure. It is estimatedthat the CO2 equivalent of 53million cars could be eliminatedif the U.S. were to invest in asmart electric grid, while smarttraffic management could savean estimated 4.2 billion workhours lost and 10.6 billion litersof gasoline burned annually ascars idle in traffic. Eventually,1 trillion sensors will bedeployed globally in the formof “smart dust,” gathering anddigitizing trillions of gigabytesof information from the analogworld, and sending it wirelesslyto a growing number of “bigdata” machines for storage andanalysis. In short, though thecurrent degree of digitizationhas already given us a worldthat’s very different from theone we knew just 20 years ago,the coming wave will remakeour world all over again. Ourresearch into the behavior ofGeneration C—people born after1990 who are just now reachingadulthood and entering theworkforce—shows that the trendto global digitization will onlyaccelerate, shaping in earnestthe ways in which technologyinvades every aspect of our lives.Pervasive broadband, ubiquitousconnectivity, cloud computing,social networking, “the Internetof Things”—all are coalescing totransform how we work, play,communicate, socialize, anddo business. The digitizationphenomenon has reached aninflection point.That leavesCEOs with a stark choice: Beginto invest now in the internaland external digital capabilitiestheir companies will need todifferentiate themselves fromthe competition. Or sit back,watch the digital revolutionunfold, and run the risk of beingoutflanked by more forwardthinking,faster-moving rivals.Three Driving ForcesThe outlines of the fullydigitized world have long beensketched.So why are we reaching thiscritical inflection point now?The reason is that three drivingforces, acting in concert, areThe effects of an increasingly digitized worldare now reaching into every corner of our lives.powerfully reinforcingone another.ConsumerPullConsumers, and particularlyGeneration C, are alreadyfully adapted to the digitalenvironment. They expect tobe connected every momentof their lives, through virtuallyevery device, whether theyare consuming news andentertainment, reaching outto their friends through social48 www.teletimesinternational.comDecember 2011