The cloud currently provides the most promising platform for true globalization. US math lessons can be accessed in real-time from a rural school in South Africa; Australian tech producers buy components on Alibaba, and all sorts of small businesses can sell their wares globally. Digital asset management (DAM), furthermore, allows your business to work as a team and contribute to the same documents from anywhere in the world. These changes have meant that remote work is a real possibility, and as the world gets closer together, the possibilities for different types of work and business modalities will increase.
The Cloud
The internet has had a profound effect on the nature and speed of globalization and the type of integration and exchange of ideas that has occurred in the world of business over the last decade. Globalization was initially only seen as a possibility for large multinational corporations, but as digital platforms become more globally accessible, the costs have dropped, and entrepreneurs and small businesses across the world are able to participate in this global marketplace. Globalization has begun to change and adapt to the technology that now drives it with the improvement of cloud technology and the ability to work even closer online. Your local business can now use global applications to develop and create materials and access them anywhere in the world. Digital asset management strategies form a key component of the cloud mentality and allow companies to share files and data with other business sectors from anywhere. As the nature of remote and off-grid work changes and gains wider acceptance than ever before, it is only with cloud technology such as DAM that will allow for all workers to participate fully and have the same computing capabilities as well as access to files and company information that they require to perform to their potential. This is the cloud, and it heralds the following aspects of globalization:-
Global tech development and infrastructure control has a wider geographic spread in the cloud. From a position where most tech development and infrastructure control were held in the US, cloud tech has allowed this to spread globally, and now the infrastructure is held globally, from China to Israel and beyond. Data is a global business expressed through the cloud. Data centers have gone global to increase access speeds and reduce latency, and as such, the players in the new data-based world are also global. The cloud provides for a globally unified environment for development and computing operations and, as such, has levelled the playing fields on a global scale.
The new form of globalization
While the early days of globalization saw the spread of international trade and business, the new stage of globalization has been in the cloud. Data and information are primary aspects of current global exchanges. Tech has increased the spread of global business integration and is only expected to increase going forward. The new globalization is digital. Research shows that goods trade and financial flows have flattened while the cross border transmission of data is surging. This has changed who is able to participate and the nature of resource collection as it is all through the cloud and related technologies. The ability then to be able to access this technology in the cloud enables participation, and the lack thereof means that regardless of potential markets and resources may not be efficiently utilized. However, many have argued that unless the spread of technology and its use includes all, globalization will remain a myth or a concept more concerned with the global North. This is one of many concerns related to the new forms of globalization, and although every cloud does indeed have its silver lining and the opportunities are endless, there is also potential for storms and thunder.
Concerns
Ownership and control of infrastructure need to be further democratized if the cloud and digital globalization is going to go further than what we had before. If data is the new gold and the infrastructure to mine it and store it remain in the hands of the few, then instead of crossing and minimizing the global divide, it will only serve to exacerbate the uneven development trends that we are already faced with. Connectivity needs to be improved to allow for increased access to cloud technologies and computing power across the globe. This is related directly to the point above, and unless everyone is connected or have the option to connect to the information superhighway in the cloud, then the form of resultant globalization will be superficial and lopsided in favor of those who have connectivity and access. Global data storage increases the risk of cyber-crime, which uneven privacy and GDPR reðgulations are unable to deal with. Until such time as all nations have similar regulations to protect your data and company information, it will be essential to know where your data is and what specific regulatory guidelines are in place to protect your business. Transmission of data across continents and geographic regions increases the risk of data loss and theft as it is in transmission and at the network edge, that data is generally lost and stolen. Read next: Tips for Digital Photos’ Maintenance and Storage
Concluding remarks
The cloud is indeed the epitome of globalization and has played a remarkable role in bringing people and places closer than ever before. However, although the globalized online environment can now offer scalability and high levels of accessibility through the cloud, there are also some very real concerns as to the nature of globalization that this has resulted in.
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