'Digital Platforms' Help Companies Create Jobs, Business And Add Economic Value

27 Sep 2013

YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and other ‘digital platforms’ are changing the way companies work. A report says that they add economic value, create business and jobs, employ over 80,000 people and contribute $7.3 billion per year to Canada’s economy.

The report called “Canada’s Digital Imperative: Measuring Digital Platform’s Labour Market and Economic Impact” says that, whether they’re being used to interact with customers, disseminate music or provide remote access to health care, digital platforms are creating efficiencies and transforming businesses.

However, the report by the ‘Information and Communications Technology Council’ found that even this industry faces challenges, along with lack of skilled workers, inadequate research and development, and constraints on corporate resources.

According to the report, digital platforms are anything that permit digital content producers and consumers to interact, including meeting applications like WebEx, user-generated content like YouTube and social media like Facebook.
The industry is growing exponentially with expectations of the revenue to double within five years, while employment is anticipated to increase by more than a quarter, creating 22,000 new jobs by 2018, according to the estimates of the report.

Most of the jobs and revenue is ascribed to companies that have adopted digital platforms. The report said that less than 20% of the sector has Canadian companies that provide digital platform services.

The study found that three-quarters of Canadian businesses use at least one digital platform for communicating either with suppliers or customers or staff. Nearly half of the study participants said using digital platforms helps them cut costs and half also said that digital platforms significantly improved customer service.