11. Digital for the Greater Good

Whilst most of the current debate on media is on the many legacy issues inherited from the global financial crisis and on the further challenges that re-regulation is posing on incumbents, digitization is acting becoming the major force for change acting in the global financial—and potentially for the benefit of the overall society. Customers, first and foremost, should be benefiting, albeit with some new and little understood risks arising, mostly driven by the uncertainty introduced by uncontrolled innovation and by its (somehow related) regulatory arbitrage. Eventually, a new form of “digitally inverted pyramid” could ensue, introducing new systemic risks and unbearable lightness. Even more importantly, a critical issue to address to make sure the “great disruption” will bring about a greater value for the multitudes will be around the ownership, management and utilization of data—avoiding the insurgence of few “big brothers” that could build a quasi-monopolistic positioning in the market—hence stifling competition value sharing for customers. Still, aside from these risks, the digitization disruption is going to change our ways of living—potentially for the better.