| | March 20158CIOReviewBusiness in the Networked EconomyBy Michael Golz, CIO, SAP North AmericaT he way we interact both in our personal and business lives is changing rapidly. We've reached a point of hyper connectivity where we are always connected and always on. The rise of the cloud and the Internet of Things (IoT) has helped facilitate this shift. In business, we are witnessing the maturation of a globalized networked economy. For CIO's, our role is once again changing. We are being asked to think beyond the four walls of our enterprises and we're now interacting through business networks. Because of this connectedness, we are helping our enterprises become more collaborative, intelligent, responsive and efficient than ever before. What's more impressive is that this new connectedness has yet to peak. The number of connection points between people, applications and devices is set to reach more than 70 billion by 2020. The IoT is having an incredible impact on all aspects of life and it has led to a major shift towards the Networked Economy. We will see dramatic increases in productivity and economic value. It will transform the way we live and work, how business runs, and how society functions­and it will do this in a time frame that is radically shorter than any other major economic transition in history. In the networked economy data is king­and the ability to derive meaning from that data will rule. There are three characteristics of a networked economy. In the networked economy everything is digitized and tracked ­from our wearable devices to sensors in everyday products, everything is connected­from our cars to our homes to inventory in warehouses and everything is ready to be shared, our content and data are all part of a global network to the extent we decide to share it. There are 1.3 billion of us connected through social networks today and there will be an estimated 2.5 billion by 2017. In business, more businesses are connected through integrated supply chains and business networks opinionin my Michael Golz
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