The cost of digital
There is undoubtedly a huge obsession now to go digital. From unlocking your car with your smart phone to consultations with one’s doctor being done over the internet with video/ audio chat to making payment via digital devices such as smartphones, smart watches and NFC enabled devices. It’s a huge convenient for users and gives service providers valuable insights for decision making on improving their products and services. There are even efforts by various governments currently to build smart cities where smart devices such as home appliances and city infrastructures are interconnected, and citizens live in a state of ultra-convenience.
But what happens during a network black out or service downtime, which results in customers not being able to open their car with their smartphone or not being able to consult with their doctor via video chat or not being able to make urgent payment at a hospital/shopping mall/restaurant with their debit/credit cards/mobile app or not being able to run basic household appliances like their thermostat/toaster/tv/fridge.
Recent network downtimes from tech giants who power a vast portion of the internet such as Amazon, Google and Facebook which have lasted from a few minutes to several hours have painted a scary picture on the cost of over-reliance on these digital platforms and what it might cost us as a society going forward as we continue to digitise various processes and systems. From the millions in revenue lost by companies and individuals that are reliant on these digital platforms to work, to simply being locked out of your home due to network downtime, people are finally realising is a huge cost to going digital and it is not all sunshine and rainbow.
But there is no going backwards in this movement to digitise everything because we can’t go back to riding horses, using birds to deliver messages, or carrying huge wads of cash around to make payment. However, digital systems must be trustworthy and reliable because that patient making a deposit payment for a critical/urgent treatment at a Nigerian hospital with his mobile app/debit card has his life literally hanging on the balance as such payment is being made or that couple who gouged at a restaurant risk embarrassment if their card is declined due to bad network. The incumbent of payment which is cash is a 100% reliable in that it doesn’t fail, and settlement is instant. If digital payment is to override it or compete with it, even a 99% uptime might not be enough.
