How every city and town can capitalise on its digital capability

Around the country, towns are increasingly looking for their "Unique Digital Proposition", one that combines their culture, strengths and characteristics and adds a layer of digital capability to it. We see local digital hubs emerge organically and take root in refurbished bakeries, bus depots and breweries. They are all intrinsically different, there is no template.

Some centralized support from Government will eventually be needed including expert advice and a digital hub roll-out kit for towns that need it. The Government can also provide cohesion, so that the collective digital capability of Ireland's towns and cities can enhance the country's economic performance both at home and abroad.

When I was appointed Chief Digital Officer of Brisbane, the first thing I did was a digital audit of the city. This indicated a digital maturity of 6.0 out of 10, with every 1% increase in that score being worth an additional €400 million to the local economy. Here in Ireland, regional digital hubs are now emerging, with Ludgate in Skibbereen being the first cab off the rank. These have the potential to create hundreds of jobs.

Residents and local businesses will get behind these hubs even though they might not fully understand the changes that have come to their town. New things will happen and odd things will happen. Things will be done in different ways. New words will enter the language. Traditional businesses will be transformed and new ones born online. Residents who might have left will stay and new people will come to live there.

Digital destinations don't just facilitate the local economy but the experience economy and the sharing economy. Visitors will rate a destination for the quality of its WiFi as much as for its scenery. High net worth individuals who settle in an area for lifestyle reasons will be drawn into the local digital ecosystem. High speed broadband will provide global connectivity while the Unique Digital Proposition will create global curiosity. This creates the potential to attract investment and talent to the region.

In global terms, 80% of the value of the world's digital economy will be generated by traditional businesses. The regional digital economy provides an opportunity to acknowledge this. The Irish SME sector comprises 200,000 active enterprises and accounts for 52 per cent of total employment. However, while 63 per cent of Irish SMEs have a website, a staggering 91 per cent of those cannot process sales online.

Ireland's digital economy has grown by an impressive 60% since 2011 and is currently valued at €8 billion. However €5.6 billion of this is spent abroad, up from €4 billion in 2011. How much of this is accounted for by the fact that less than 10% of Irish companies offer the facility for online transactions? As well as keeping more money in the local economy, it is also estimated that 50,000 jobs could be created by doubling the number of companies doing business online over the next 5 years.

To achieve this, economic development and not ICT must become the primary driver and companies must learn to create business strategies for the digital age. Consumer adoption of digital technologies far exceeds that of businesses. Businesses must identify and adopt the specific technologies and channels that will connect them with their customer base and provide the best customer experience. There's no point in the local barber waiting for a 1Gb broadband connection when photos of his haircuts are already being uploaded by phone and rated on Instagram by his customers.