Collaborative Discussion 1 - Digitalization - Summary Post

In this week, students were required to conclude on the Collaborative Discussion 1, Digitalization. This summary post was generated taking into consideration the first initial post and peer’s responses.

POST: Over the past three weeks, interesting discussions were held regarding digital enterprises, the challenges surrounding digitalization, whether a small company or large and the cyber threats that are evolving. One thing that is for certain, in the world that we live in, it is inevitable for any organization to adopt some degree of digital transformation, to maintain resilience and ensure sustainability. Interconnected nature of many digital technologies and important or critical infrastructure systems has introduced a host of new vulnerabilities with far-reaching implications. (Spremic & Simunic, 2018) In the United Kingdom alone, 32% of UK businesses reported suffering an attack or breach between 2022-2023. Undoubtedly, more exist which were not reported. However, advances in technology also produce vulnerabilities within the software/hardware themselves as companies that create them are trying to launch their products into the market to gain a competitive edge; in doing so, security can be overlooked, which is then exploited by cybercriminals (Barker, 2023). Taking all of this into consideration, brick and mortar businesses face a critical decision: invest in technology to help grow with the times, or miss out on a huge portion of sales and opportunities? Regardless, cyber-attacks are evolving and are happening. The correct security infrastructure is key, as well as sound policies to manage and deal with these attacks, should they occur. On the other hand, digitalization has seen a huge rise in use of Artificial Intelligence. According to Accenture, AI could boost profitability across industries by an average of 38% by 2035 and is expected to generate an additional $14 trillion in revenue. It is said that AI is still in the stage of weak AI, and the stage of strong AI and super AI has not yet arrived. (Jingrong, L. 2023) By enabling businesses to optimize energy usage, it can help them achieve green, net zero targets and reduce costs. AI is set to play a vital role in the move to “low-emissions, ultra-efficient and interconnected energy systems”, according to the World Economic Forum.

References: Jingrong, L. (2023). Application of Artificial Intelligence in Enterprise Digitalization. [online] Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/370579499_Application_of_Artificial_Intelligence_in_Enterprise_Digitalization [Accessed 14 November 2023]. Ford, N. (2023). List of Data Breaches and Cyber Attacks in 2023. Available at: https://www.itgovernance.co.uk/blog/list-of-data-breaches-and-cyber-attacks-in-2023#:~:text=According%20to%20our%20research%2C%20there,total%20to%20over%205%20billion. [Accessed 15 November 2023]. Barker, J. (2023). Confident Cyber Security: The essential insights and how to protect from threats. 2nd Editon ed. S.l.: Kogan Pages. Spremic, M. & Simunic, A. (2018). Cyber Security Challenges in Digital Economy. Available at: https://www.iaeng.org/publication/WCE2018/WCE2018_pp341-346.pdf [Accessed 15 November 2023]. Bethell, T. (2022). How AI is helping businesses survive the energy crisis. Available at: https://kaodata.com/blog/how-ai-is-helping-businesses-survive-the-energy-crisis#:~:text=By%20enabling%20businesses%20to%20optimise,to%20the%20World%20Economic%20Forum. [Accessed 15 November 2023]. Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (2023). Cyber security breaches survey 2023. [online] GOV.UK. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/cyber-security-breaches-survey-2023/cyber-security-breaches-survey-2023. [Accessed 23 November 2023].

Reflection: This post was the most challenging from the collaborative discussion. At times, it was difficult to consider the first initial post, peer’s responses and create a new content, without becoming repetitive or using material which other students have already implemented in their own posts.