Classroom Companion: Business

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Digitization of data
Digital
processing
and storage 
Digital ICT infrastructure 
. Fig. 1.5 Digitization of data, infrastructures, processing, and storage. (Authors’ own figure)
Analog data 
Video and audio cassettes, 
photos, vinyl LP, books, 
newsprints, letters
Digital data
PC hard disks, DVD, Blueray, CD, 
videogames, e-mails, digital photos,
smartphones, apps
. Fig. 1.6 Analog and digital data. (Authors’ own figure)
1.3 · Digitization of the Economy

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Today, an enormous amount of digital data is generated (Data is giving rise to 
a new economy, 
2017
). In 2017, for every minute that passed, 400 hours of video 
were uploaded on YouTube, 15 million text messages were sent between mobile 
users, three million search queries were handled by Google, 510,000 comments 
were posted on Facebook, and over 45,000 pictures were posted on Instagram. For 
every second that passed, more than 10,000 photos were shared on Snapchat 
(Schultz, 
2019
). And this is just a small fraction of the total data generated today. 
Data is generated directly not only by users but also by sensor devices connected to 
the Internet (e.g., weather sensors, wearable devices, and smart watches). These 
devices contain processing and data storage units and are becoming gradually 
cheaper and smaller and are rapidly finding new applications producing more data. 
In addition, huge amounts of historical analog data—letters, books, films, televi-
sion shows, pictures, church registers, and other documents—are converted into 
digital data.
This amount of data vastly surpasses what any human mind can process. Data 
has become abundant, whereas the human capability to process this data is a scarce 
resource. Since all this data is in a digital format, the data can be transmitted, pro-
cessed, and stored extremely efficiently and at low costs, producing a collective 
knowledge base most people will have access to. Companies and governments 
apply big data techniques and artificial intelligence to analyze these data for vari-
ous purposes.
Since the 1980s, there has been an extensive rollout of a worldwide digital ICT 
infrastructure. In 2020, the core element of this infrastructure is the Internet and 
consists of components such as local wireless networks, digital subscriber lines, 
public mobile networks, satellite networks, optical core networks, submarine opti-
cal cables, and dedicated networks for distress communications, air traffic control, 
and broadcast. The digital infrastructure has enabled worldwide communication 
of digital data with high capacity, low latency, and high reliability. The historical 
evolution of the most important of these technologies is examined in 
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Chap. 
2
.
1986
1993
2000
2007
Storage
Communication