One of the most wonderful occurrences of the 21st century and which make distinct from previous centuries is globalization. Numerous governments, businesses and other entities from different nations are able to develop international interactions, impact and collaborations.

Different forces account for globalization. Examples include multinational organizations such as the European Union (EU) and United Nations (UN) that serve to increase co-operation among different countries. Social technology champions the seamless transfer of ideas and information within and beyond the target country.

What are the most prominent advantages of globalization?

  • The boost in economic power
  • Increased standards of living
  • Provision of rewarding opportunities
  • Increased productivity and general output.

Technology is the driving force of globalization. Technology provides some sort of template for globalization while also solving the challenges associated with it.

Let’s take a look at how technology resolved some barriers to globalization;

  • Trade barriers; handled by e-commerce, electronic delivery of services, etc.
  • Common standardization of products and services; this is provided by multinational organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) which employs technological strategies to regulate the world’s health sector.

 

  • Delay in information exchange; handled by the internet and social media

The internet (or ICT in general) remains the greatest gift of technology to globalization.

Smartphones and social media are the absolute GOATs (Greatest of all time) of globalization. Their influence spans through social, political and economic globalization. Smartphone users now access many sophisticated technological tools from the comfort of wherever they are. It eases many life activities and offers various opportunities. Such tools include artificial intelligence, geolocation, video calls, information search, and millions of mobile applications that are available for numerous purposes.

Social media remains in a world of its own. It has been an absolute blessing though some people have different perspective. Social media comes with a wealth of opportunities of its own, emphasizing the economic advancement of globalization. This is needed to meet up with global population demands. From Facebook to Whatsapp and Instagram, then Twitter…these social media platforms offer unique and important services. They control adverts of all sort, the media, social and entertaining interactions and so on. It is also worthy to note that global statistics state that over 60% of the world, population use a smartphone while over 40% of the same population use social media actively.

The use of blockchain technology – a transparent and incorruptible digital ledger has one way or the other   help and improve our businesses especially financial institutions. There are many used cases of blockchain particularly in payment system, KYC, Educational system, Land registry, health sector and many more.

Software developers utilize ICT technology to create a wide range of needed manipulations. E-commerce, for example, play a key role in trade globalization. It is not shocking that the founder of the front-runner e-commerce company (Amazon) is the richest person in the world.

Retail and wholesale trade constitute a diverse and buoyant economic sector. Technology has digitalized many businesses, providing better conditions of service. An example is the widespread acceptance of e-books. For a bookstore, this offers a more secure and better trade option. Conventional forms of trading would’ve required printing and shipping costs.

Freelancing, which connects global talents to opportunities, is a great technology-assisted globalization. The idea of ‘production at the point of consumption’ is made possible through technology. This has been exhibited in 3D printing (reducing work and supply chain), vertical farms and cultured foods.

We cannot really run out of technological applications driving globalization, they own this century.

By Franca Olisa – Coinratecap

Also Read: Regional peace, technology top German president’s visit to Kenya

 

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