Technologies for Digital Transformation in Marginalized Communities

Introduction

Digital transformation is defined as the use of disruptive technology to increase production, create value, and society's welfare (Abad-Segura et al., 2020). The goals of digital transformation are to encourage the development of an advanced culture of collaboration in businesses and humanity. This aims to transform the didactic system, empower people with new skills and future-oriented people to achieve excellence in digital work and society, build and maintain digitalized communications infrastructure, and ensure data security. It further sets the foundations for democratic accountability, convenience, and improved services and accessibility. According to Deganis et al., (2021), rapid digitalization, which had begun before the COVID-19 outbreak and continued to accelerate during the epidemic, caused a greater possibility for digital inclusion. The expansion of e-rapid commerce has created job opportunities and increased levels of income, with the ability to improve livelihoods, alleviate poverty, and build the resilience of remote communities. By boosting market access for rural farmers, e-commerce contributes to the revival of rural villages. The Chilean Ministry of Agriculture has developed digital channels to help farmers promote their products (Deganis et al., 2021). Agrocenta, a Ghanaian B2B e-commerce platform, connects 10,000 producers with consumers, allowing them to earn a higher price for their produce.

Technology has played a critical role in governments' immediate response to COVID-19 and as part of national recovery measures and social protection services to benefit the most disadvantaged (Sevelius et al., 2020). Governments have embraced digital tools to expand social protection coverage and efficiently distribute funds (often in partnership with the corporate sector and civil society organizations). According to Deganis et al., (2021), the government of Luxembourg has created “Letzshop,” an Internet-based and mobile phone sales platform that provides home delivery of over 40 basic commodities to the elderly with chronic diseases and those who are immunocompromised. By addressing inclusion and exclusion, improvements in database administration boosted openness in beneficiary lists of social security programs in Vietnam and the Philippines. People subscribe on their mobile devices, and those who meet the requirements receive bi-monthly cash transfers equalling 30-35 percent of the lowest wage, paid directly into their mobile money accounts. In April 2020, the government of Bangladeshi, in collaboration with the four primary national mobile money operators, launched a mobile-based cash support initiative for 5 million pandemic-affected households (Deganis et al., 2021).

In 2020, rapid digitalization hastened the transition to digital finance. Mobile money and electronic wallets, crowdsourcing, alternative credit sourcing score, and cross-border remittances are digital tools that help poor people and societies gain inclusion in monetary terms, reduce costs, and provide new business and economic prospects (Deganis et al., 2021). Deganis et al. (2021) cited mobile money such as M-Pesa used in Kenya and Alipay in China. In contrast, the COVID-19 epidemic has stimulated the development of digitalization, which is a dual-edged sword for initiatives to enhance community cohesion. While the crisis has increased awareness of the benefits of connectivity in preserving health of the public and livelihood, it is extending and worsening the technology gap in and between countries, promoting inequity and alienating everyone who is not available on the Internet. It will be vital to fully realize the capabilities of digital technology in furthering the implementation of the 2030 Agenda needed to guarantee that everybody has access to safe and low-cost access to the Internet. Given the underlying link between the digital gap and social economic inequity, increasing efforts to bridge the difference and promote digital inclusion is vital. The authors of this chapter have recognized internet technologies, the Internet of Things (IoT), analytical technologies, and mobile technologies as tools for digitally transforming marginalized populations (Ramakrishna et al., 2019; Tech-Student, 2016).