Illustration 1: A Definition of Web 3.0
The Third Wave of Internet
We are in the throes of what most consider as the third wave of internet. The first wave (1985–1999) mostly concerned with Data Processing. The second wave (2000–2015) was about Information Processing and Socially Mobile Applications. The third wave (2016 — ) is more about Intelligent Computing.
The evolution of the internet has shifted the three fundamental S’ that shape the course of life:
Structure: The Power of Money has shifted to the Power of Ideas & Concepts that deliver Value to Life. Because we are at a strategic inflection point on the planet when the previous power has been exercised mostly to create Products & Services of convenience without adequate thought to future consequences of an Ecosystem.
Synergies: The Culture is shifting dramatically from instruction driven societies to free thinking people searching for a meaningful existence; not merely surviving but rather thriving with Innovation.
Systems: The Operation of our societies has moved from random to disciplined approach to functioning enterprise and societies that deliver On-Demand.
The conventional Financial Ecosystem led societies needs to give way to Human Ecosystem led societies. Where the power of Ideas / Concepts creates Wealth; not Money.
Data Ownership
The Point of Arrival (POA) on Data is having evolved from a financial ecosystem led economy conventionally, the individual data is owned by the businesses. Technology was developed to facilitate data collection and analytics that allows businesses to be able to sell their Products and Services; not to the strengths but rather to the vulnerabilities of individuals. There is no incentive for businesses to build a human ecosystem ahead of the financial ecosystem that keeps their shareholders happy at the cost of Customers and Consumers.
Artificial Intelligence that by necessity needs to curate Customer / Consumer Life Cycle data has made stuttering progress because of this conflict of focus on Product / Service Life Cycle of businesses rather than the lifecycle of the customer / consumer.
The Power of Individuals being able to dictate the kind of Products & Services they deserve to grow individually and collectively as a society can only be possible when the shift of data creation and ownership shifts. The algorithms (Business Logic and Rules) at the business end will then depend on what the data from the Life Cycle of Humans dictates (Aspirations, Expectations, Wants & Needs) the lifecycle of Products and Services.
We have to remember that we are not talking about aliens working on this but rather we humans. The topic of Future of Work should start here and unless we resolve this issue of data ownership, we can never accomplish the three factors of
Hybrid Work (Read as Security & Privacy in our Enmeshed Networks),
Meaningful Work (Read as the right Capabilities = Capacity to Transform + The Ability to Perform)and
Efficiencies in Products and Services (Read as Value) that enhances the Quality of Living through inclusiveness.
Through the process of Education, Ownership and Commitment, Giggr — The Future of Work aims to create the necessary understanding that institutionalized the discipline in individuals to Immersively Participate in the Creation of their data that they can own and use to catalyze their growth.
The Power of Ecosystems:
Illustration 2: The three distinct level of an Ecosystem
Ecosystems have been restricted to businesses conventionally; working with each other physically or online with little trust. Each one grudgingly operating with the other only out of compulsion, not out of choice. The end customer / consumer has never been part of this ecosystem. That is changing dramatically in a digital world where Customer / Consumer Voices are amplified; be it on engagement or experience. The growth of Application Programming Interfaces (API) has a contribution to this.
The fifth dimension of Value which is Flexibility which essentially translates into “On-Demand” now rules the other four including Quality, Cost, Delivery and Service. The monopolies of Google, Apple and Amazon have managed to ignore this growing crescendo with more of the same; acquiring and investing in their monopolistic drive; cornering Customers and Consumers and killing competition.
On the other hand, businesses such as Netflix and Spotify have found the trust of customer universe and readying themselves to be the torch bearers of the technology ecosystem bearing the potential to connect with extended ecosystems; facilitating Customers and Consumers to leverage their data in their best interests. But as of now, even these enterprises are focused on building the first step of their Customer Ecosystem; leading to the other two stages of the extended ecosystem.
There can be no doubt that the way businesses create Products and Services must move the needle from being evaluated on a Pipeline of Intellectual Property (IP) as opposed to a “Pipeline of Customers”. Value flows through an ecosystem and the scope of this flow needs to be respected. Customer / Consumer is the sea which is where this river of data flows into and without their inclusion and immersion it is impossible to Curate and Contextualize data for Collaboration in a given ecosystem.
The Premise of Digital
The very premise of digital is for systems to be Smart, Sensitive and Serendipitous; isn’t it?
Smart demands that the Human — Machine interface is Intelligent (Smart)
Sensitive demands computation in systems is Contextual to the life of Humans.
Serendipitous demands every transaction and / or interaction with the systems creates a new Learning Experience that is not based on static but rather dynamic Engagement.
Illustration 3: Moving the needle from Automation to Orchestration
As the above Illustration reinforces, there is an ongoing migration Information Technology (Data Processing) to Digital Technology (Data Computing) that creates a need to transform the flow of data. Such flow of data is also the flow of Work. This data is generated with Work in the Customer, Industry and Life Ecosystems. Illustration 5 depicts how Individual and Enterprise data must move from Creation to Contextualization in a Continuum which also becomes the source for Conceptualization to Commercialization of Products and Services that are prioritized against the lifecycle of a Customer / Consumer as opposed to the conventional Lifecycle of an Enterprise Product / Service.
Platform is not a Marketplace
It is essential to make a difference between a Platform and a Marketplace as they are completely two different entities with different objectives and outcomes. A platform is where life converges (ex: Airport/ Rail Station) that is a mechanism to support Life Journey where as a marketplace is a transactional exchange of goods and services. The former is more continuous than the latter.
A Platform is a place to share Products and Services collaboratively, reducing the cost of Acquisition, Ownership and Renewal. It must be inherently intelligent and conducive to scaling growth of its ecosystem. It brings the power of distribution and reach in addition to the orchestration of Operation and Innovation. It is inevitable therefore that a platform has a trusting environment with a neutral objective of creating growth for the entire ecosystem.
Your Takeaway
The shift of Data Ownership is inevitable and critical for the success of Digital Web 3.0. Investors must stop seeing this as a new lexicon in the path of technology progression; not a jargon.
Without the shift in data ownership, ecosystems can never be scaled. The World Bank projects the combined revenue of global businesses will be more than $190 trillion within a decade. If digital distribution (combining B2B and B2C commerce) represents about one half of the non-production portion of the global economy by that time, the revenues that could, theoretically, be redistributed across traditional sectoral borders in 2025 would exceed $60 trillion — about 30 percent of world revenue pools that year.
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) marked for 2030 are real. Governments and Enterprises have little stake to rush with initiatives that find sustainable outcomes unless a human ecosystem compels them into action. A new approach is therefore critical to arrive at the party that is already in full swing.
Digital Transformation is not an appendage but a completely new way of how we conduct our lives. This cannot be accomplished with just a few lazily experimenting. It needs a majority to adopt agile ways of experimenting and succeeding with measurable progress in every sphere of life.
The concept of shared services must be understood differently from the past. It will be a many to many relationship starting at the Individual Level and moving to Industry and Life Ecosystems that must be reflected in the Design Thinking and Design of every enterprise, government and society on this planet.
Please feel free to connect with me at subbu.iyer@giggr.app for a more detailed interaction on the topic. What is presented here is just the tip of the subject that is deep, difficult and dramatic in its inception.