DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AS AN ECONOMIC CHALLENGE IN THE CONDITIONS OF ACCELERATED GLOBAL CHANGES

Abstract

The mass application of digital technologies has brought substantial changes to the business environment and everyday life of people. The digital transformation is provoking an intense debate among policy makers, economists and industry leaders about its social impact and economic challenges. Conflicting views on the effects and consequences of digitalisation and digital transformation often arise, ranging from the completely optimistic views about future trends to the views that indicate reasons for concern about their possible negative impact. The aim of this paper is to point out the most significant economic challenges of digital transformation in the conditions of accelerated global changes. The paper emphasizes that digital transformation creates disruptive „chaos“ in some areas, while at the same time in other areas it leads to business improvement. Also, the paper considers the position of Serbia from the aspect of economic challenges brought by digitalization and digital transformation. Accelerated global change due to the development of technology requires that all economies, if they want to be successful, must adapt to "digital time". In this adjustment, it is especially important to avoid possible negative impacts of digitalization and application of digital technologies in all spheres of life and in the business environment. This especially refers to the possibility of creating or increasing the digital divide in all its manifestations, and some of them are especially emphasized in this paper.