(Expansion) – Throughout history, trade has been an engine of growth and development for societies by promoting the opening of their markets and thereby facilitating the exchange of goods, services, technology and knowledge, as occurs today, where the continuous application of best practices is also sought to promote economic recovery.
In this sense, and being an act of natural evolution, electronic commerce has opened the doors to new opportunities for progress and recovery by reducing operating and distribution costs, while promoting the competitiveness of companies and improving the experience consumer purchase.
It is not surprising, then, that we are also witnessing the progress and democratization of financial services, which have paralleled significant growth in Latin America, where levels of banking have reached up to 73% of its adult population ( ).
We are, therefore, in a process of economic digitization that, although it has experienced significant progress since the start of the pandemic, still needs a structural plan to consolidate.
An ordered revolution
Latin America has before it the possibility of promoting the recovery of its productive sectors by promoting an organized structural change in search of an objective, which in this case is economic digitization.
Although several steps have been taken to drive evolution, such as increasing Internet coverage throughout the region and facilitating access to digital financial services, an orderly revolution requires much deeper changes.
In the first instance, it is necessary that companies and governments seek to apply the principles promoted by the to generate financial inclusion through a digital approach, in order to balance innovation, amplify the ecosystem and generate an infrastructure that promotes the widespread use of information technologies.
These technologies, usually known as ICT (Information and Communication Technology), have the capacity to stimulate economic growth by favoring a generalized transformation and enabling tools with which the competitiveness of different industries and sectors is improved, while opening the opportunity to generate new fully digitized businesses (e-commerce).
The model of these digital businesses has a technological nature through which they take advantage of the data collected from their consumers to improve their purchase journey while they manage to reduce their operating costs by making decisions with information obtained in real time.
For this reason, ICTs play a fundamental role in promoting the digital economy.
On the other hand, the rise of e-commerce is promoting a much more inclusive trade where people, who have become more aware of their rights as consumers, are prioritizing their needs to access digital sales by diversifying their payment methods. .
A recent study indicates that up to 83% of Latin Americans consider using an alternative payment method ( ), a fact that represents an opportunity for millions of businesses, which can increase their sales by up to 25% by enabling a payment processor of a single integration.
In this way, they will take another step in their transformation process, making use of digital tools with which they can improve their customers’ shopping experience.
A digital hotbed
The rapid evolution of ICT requires duly trained professionals to interact with the digital ecosystem through technological, cognitive and social skills that will allow them to develop the full potential of a digital economy.
; The actions taken at the beginning of the pandemic have laid the foundations for a digital revolution that is taking place naturally. It is only a matter of paving the way and leading the actions in favor of an objective: economic recovery.
Editor’s note: Alejandro Pineda has 40 years of collaboration in BBVA Mexico, appearing as a key player in the strategies and actions of the retail segment, highlighting his experience in business with credit cards, personal loans and payroll, means and payment systems , among others. Currently, he serves as CEO of Openpay. Follow him on . The opinions published in this column belong exclusively to the author.
