In our Digital Future Blog I would also like to talk about specific innovative ideas, which may contribute to the transformation of digital industries, building the DIGITECCS economy and bringing about broad-based digital prosperity. I’d like to discuss such ideas irrespective of whether they come from startups, established companies, policymakers, industry thought leaders or elsewhere.
Today, I’d like to mention FastForward.ai, which raised US$8m in seed funding earlier this week. It was founded by serial entrepreneur and mobile industry veteran Augie K Fabela II, the American founder of VEON, the world’s tenth largest mobile operator. FastForward’s mission is to help mobile operators and enterprise customers bring a digital customer experience inside social media and messaging apps. The company wants to revolutionize how mobile users transact digitally, by bringing a real-time digital experience, one-click transactions and payments inside social media and messaging apps. Customers of mobile operators don’t need to download an app, everything is done inside social media, where mobile customers are spending over two hours a day, and over three hours a day in Asia.
Last year Mr. Fabela published a series of interesting articles about what he calls The Second Consumer Revolution, and which resonates with our concept of broad-based digital prosperity as well as our recently published consumer-focused vision for the telecoms industry.
https://www.digiteccs.world/how-to-bring-value-to-telecoms.
Mr. Fabela wrote:
We are at an amazing period of development and opportunity, where technological advancements in telecommunications, social networks, hardware, software, App-based services and digital distribution are uniquely synergistic — even though all the players in the digital consumer ecosystem may not see it fully, yet. This synergy, once realized, will be the catalyst for what I call the Second Consumer Revolution of the 21st Century.
The first Consumer Revolution, which spanned from the late 17th through the 18th century, was driven by consumer demand that was basically created due to trade and the new global access to goods. Consumers discovered and demanded goods and services they did not previously know existed and that they desired.It was an age of discovery. That consumerism drove very significant economic and social development that set the stage for our current modern consumer-led global economy.
The Second Consumer Revolution will have an even more significant positive impact on society and the global economy because of the tremendous advancements in technology and near real-time access and distribution of information, communications, consumer services and even physical goods.
The future belongs to the consumer. They will regain controlover what, when, where and how they consume and they will demand goods and services that deliver convenience, lifestyle, peace of mind and freedoms.
In relation to The Second Consumer Revolution, Mr. Fabela also called for Digital Consumer Bill of Rights. His emphasis on individual freedom resonates with our DIGITECCS principles (https://www.digiteccs.world/principles/). He proposed the following rights:
The First Right. The right to freely express our views online. To not be censored by the prevailing sentiment exercised by the ruling bodies of government or business.
The Second Right. The right to own our digital identity and digital actions and behaviours. To not have our consumer data exploited without consent and fair value exchange.
The Third Right. The right to defend our privacy through encryption and other IP rights over our own data and consumer behaviour.
The Fourth Right. The right to control what, when, where and how we consume everything and anything. The freedom to choose.
The Fifth Right. The right to not have our rights infringed upon by government regulations or business policies.
Dalibor Vavruska
Founder, DIGITECCS Associates
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