Central banks across the globe have two main levers as part of their monetary policy – tinkering interest rates & printing money. Interest rates and its impact on economy is closely watched by borrowers, lenders, producers, consumers & analysts.
Apart from interest rate & fiscal measures, there are other forces that drive the economy, and one of them is messaging.
From birds in ancient times to contemporary chatbots, messaging mediums have evolved to serve the need of delivering right message to right person in real time.
Messages fuel world economic engines, allowing transactions to take place seamlessly. It not only drives micro economic activities, but plays a significant role in macroeconomics as well.
Following are some of the ways messaging plays a key role in world economy.
Transaction & commerce catalysts
Transactions are fundamental blocks of any economic activity. Think about the last purchase decision you made based on the messaging campaign you received on your mobile, to ordering the good or service from the mobile app, and receiving the notification about the delivery date.
The entire cycle of commerce is enabled by contextual messages and notifications.
Similarly, messaging plays an important role in banking transactions. A borrower can make a loan request from the lender via different channels and the process can involve numerous messaging interactions before the final approval.
Messaging brings producers, suppliers, consumers and borrowers, and lenders together, acting as catalyst for economic activities & thereby contributing to gross domestic production (GDP).
Job creation, recruitment, and talent management
New job alerts and recruitment notifications for existing roles helps reach out to larger talent audience, enabling the best potential candidate to get the final offer.
New jobs opportunities increase the purchasing power of the people.
Messaging empowers world economy bridging talented individuals with job opportunities.
Exchange of ideas and innovation
“For good ideas and true innovation, you need human interaction, conflict, argument, debate.” – Margaret Heffernan
Person to person messaging results in the exchange of ideas and thoughts, leading to innovation. Innovation increases productivity, and productivity adds value to the world economy.
Fiscal policy and tax alerts
Governments use fiscal policy to influence the economy. Taxes are the source of revenue for governments. Tax reminders in advance through SMS, email, and other channels allow citizens to pay their taxes on time, thereby benefiting the economy.
IOT and asset management
Smart asset management with Internet of things (IOT) leads to productivity in manufacturing and other sectors. Critical messages from the IOT enabled assets help in better monitoring of utilization leading to productivity and economic growth.
Messaging thus plays a significant role in world economy. There is a debate around whether GDP (Gross Domestic Production) is a good indicator for economic progress and holistic growth or not, and new concepts like Gross National Happiness (GNH) have come to existence for example in countries like Bhutan.
Think about those early morning messages with pictures ‘wishing great day ahead’ or evening messages confirming the safe return of the distant relative or friends, increasing the collective happiness and contributing to gross happiness.
