Nina Stepnicka
The notion of post-digitality does not send digitality into oblivion. Instead, it is an impetus for an in-depth, much-needed critical reflection on digital technologies, their often uninvited ubiquity and mutation into unpredictable forms and practices.’
The term ‘post-digital’ appears alongside other terms: ‘post-internet’ (post-internet), “great disruption” (Great Disruption), or “post-web 2.0” (post-web 2.0), which similarly define the end of a phase and the transition to the next phase in the digital age. The use of the prefix ‘post’ e.g. in relation to the industrial era (post-industrial), modernity (post-modern) or the real world (post-real) is seen as a sign of life in transition.
In economics, this phase and the direction of the evolution of the 21st century economy are determined by four features: transformational innovation, the neo-customers, social interactions.
Transformational innovations are the most important game-changer in the 21st century economy and are the result of the disruption of existing ecosystems caused by meeting customer needs with new technology-enabled business models. What this means, therefore, is that, regardless of the industry, companies that have been regarded as market leaders for decades may be displaced by newcomers, and competitive advantage is no longer sustainable in the long term as it was before.
Neoconsumers are consumers, who used to be needs-oriented, while in the post-digital economy they are demand-oriented, have more demands, less time to spend and limited attention spans. Furthermore, neo-consumers in the post-digital economy are entering the role of professional prosumers who, together with actors, design ecosystems, products and services, adapting them to constant change and thus becoming co-owners of them.
Social interactions refer, inter alia, to treating neo-consumers not only as purchasers of products and services, but in particular as consumers communicating experiences to a larger audience, taking into account messages from the immediate environment, other customers and experts.
