Information and Communications Technologies Drive Digital Disruption from Business to Life on Earth -Part 1-

The paper presents the complex context of the consequences of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) evolution and its prominent phases, digitization, digital economy, digital transformation and digital disruption, focusing on later. The content of these phases are analyzed based on relevant references, considering also their time sensitive implications of ICT exponential pace. An essential conclusion of the analysis is that the understanding and the realistic approach of the multiple implications of DD could dramatically influence the future of any company/organization and beyond of humankind. This conclusion could be considered a synthetic/generic answer for the generic question Why DD? , based on the above analysis which presented why, how and when DD appeared and subsequently why it deserves to be deeply analyzed. The analysis also approached the criteria which could differentiate these relevant milestones in the complex processes of ICT impact on digital economy and generally on Information society (IS) toward Knowledge Based Society (KBS), along with consequences on humankind life and evolution on Earth. The second section of the paper is focused on the necessary awareness and forecast capabilities in order to continuously improve the decision processes and the overall efficiency of digital economy. The paper presented the typical scenario for DD, where business is reimagined based on the innovation of (business) activities by introducing new digital technologies (innovations) and new model of business, using imagination and relevant refined information, which represent the main ingredients of the successful DD. It is also presented the specific solution for media industry: streaming their products and services using the advantage of performant ITC which offer wideband support and a lot of digital features for a better customer experience. In the same time it is remarked the double systemic role of ICT in IS/KBS, by technologies, products and services for all industries and activity fields, but on the other hand as replicated model of design, operation and development (precision multiplication). The analysis revealed the fundamental consequences of the fact that ICT development exponential pace is faster than humankind could deeply analyze and real time react against all long term implications of such evolution, showing that the latency of the pace of transformation in organizations is one of the crucial evidences of author general estimation about the limited capacity to react before is too late. Another feature of the actual DD, linked with the zero marginal cost trend, is changing of business model from selling products to selling services by subscription, a trend typical for ITC, now extended to other fields. We consider that the pace of changing/dropping complex products and services (like smartphones), especially when they include important resources, is a negative consequence of ICT exponential pace that could not lead to a sustainable development of IS/KBS on Earth. The analysis also presented the importance of the approaches, studies and even methodologies intended for quantifying the global impact of digital transformations and DD on digital economy. A special conclusion refers to the importance of holistic approach and the attention paid to the continuous improvement of the model for assessing such complex and complicated processes of digital economy, like DD, but it is worth to extend that to ICT in general, in the context of their driving role in IS toward KBS.